Five Years

Written by: pinetrees on Oct 17, 2007 2:08 PM EDT

Five years ago, anticipating a war we couldn't see a reason for, didn't believe the media about, and wanted to prevent, and seeing the health care crisis worsen, we, who had not been politically active before, went to meet-ups on Wednesday nights to support the Presidential candidacy of Howard Dean. Howard Dean had shared our views and was a candidate we could identify with, a real professional person with education. We started with small actions, such as writing letters to voters. Some of us stuck with it, and we should look back on what we have achieved, built and accomplished, and how this has changed our lives. Some of us never dreamed we would hold a political office, and by now many of us have held a position in public office or in the Democratic party. I had never thought a person like myself, coming from a working class, non-wealthy background, could hold a Democratic party office. We have helped candidates get elected, sometimes by narrow margins. Bush may not have changed his mind on the war, but the public is "voting with its feet." Some of us have known each other for as long as five years now. He are now connected to people all over the country who share our values.

As a senior citizen I would like to say a few things about change. I am seeing some younger people become discouraged and frustrated. I hope that people will be patient and try for one attainable victory at a time. Unfortunately, sometimes change does happen more slowly than we wish. I personally find that the struggle for equal employment and salaries for women is still facing enormous resistance and a backlash that one wouldn't expect after three decades of the civil rights laws. The slowness of change in health care policy is bizarre. Destructive actions such as getting arrested are not a substitute for detailed, knowledgeable work to get things done. They are not a substitute for community action. (For example, New Mexico health care leaders have set up non-profit community health clinics and the university and university pharmacy there serve thousands of people every day, getting help from the government without being called "socialized medicine.")

I hope everyone will not become discouraged and will not find some of the frustrations to be overwhelming. I have seen some people become overwhelmed at meet-ups, and I hope that we will all take care of ourselves and keep ourselves in the kind of shape we need to be in to commit the necessary time and energy. We have all made "left turns" away from our previous career paths and are finding ways to integrate activism with our careers, education and professions and to think about who we are now, as opposed to who we were five years ago. We may not achineve everything this year, but we can help get a law enacted or repealed, or achieve more meals for some children in school, or get some health care for an increasing number of people.

I would like to thank all of the leaders who have paved the way and those in public office who have voted for progressive positions.

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