Canvassing Conversations: Wealth and Hospitality

It seems to be generally accepted that one’s wealth does not necessarily reflect how happy they are. The craving that we have for more is almost inevitable even though those of us who seem to be the unhappiest live more than comfortably. I do any more than speculate about the overall happiness of the ones whom I’ve spoken with when canvassing, but I do have something to say about how open and genuine they were.

The congressional district that I was campaigning with had trailer parks, houses worth upwards of a million dollars, and just about everything in-between. After a couple of months of being sent anywhere and everywhere to knock on doors, I decided to make my boss aware that it would make me the happiest intern if i were only sent to neighborhoods in one specific, lower-income city from then on. Why? Because they were legitimately the nicest strangers I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Before long, I had people in this aforementioned city recognizing me since I had eventually gotten around to knocking every neighborhood in that city several times (and yes, I spent an entire hour on Google Earth confirming this). They took time out of their busy lives to talk about politics. This was initially surprising to me because many of those who chose to speak to me knew little to nothing about politics — I still am not entirely sure if it was because they actually wanted to learn about our candidates or if they simply wanted to speak with me. Before being on a campaign and realizing how important conversations are, I probably would’ve been one of those who would not want to open the door.

This open-mindedness was definitely not present in the wealthiest neighborhoods I’ve been in. In fact, it was quite the opposite. People were incredibly rude to me and even though I’m not asking people to be super welcoming, it’s a real bummer when you spend hours in the hot sun, rain, or even flurries and people are yelling at you for asking if he or she is meaning to vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate. I just want to put it out there for anyone like that who might be reading this that it is possible to say that you’d rather not respond instead of giving a 16-year-old unpaid intern shit.

Ranting aside, my point here is that many of us, especially those in or above the upper middle class, tend to take the little things for granted and hide themselves in their houses where they can hear what they want to hear behind closed doors. Maybe sparing a moment of our time to hear opinions which might not necessarily reflect our own wold be good for us. Maybe we can choose to appreciate and celebrate the little things that money might not be able to buy.

Why I Want Bernie Sanders to Run for President in 2016

I like Bernie Sanders. I really, truly do. There are a few things he’s got going for him that I am a particularly strong supporter of, among them being how straight-forward he is with his intentions, the fact that he is such a strong proponent of lessening the massive wealth gap, his emphasis on prioritizing fixing America while not neglecting international crises, and his avid support of social equality. Frankly, I would not care if he ran as a Democrat or an independent Democratic Socialist (that’s a lie, it would be best if he ran on the Democratic ticket). It’s his firm policies and unwavering morals that make him who he is.

You can’t really say that Sanders isn’t straight with us. He cuts through the bullshit and gets to his policies and the core of his intentions. He actually follows through, too — not only does he disapprove of Citizens United (so do I), but he actively stands up to it. Sanders introduced Constitutional amendment S.J.RES.33 that, if passed, would “prohibit corporate spending in all elections” and allow Congress and States to regulate spending on elections, because big businesses and corporations should not be the ones deciding elections. Bernie goes as far as to refuse to accept PAC money for his campaigns, which is something incredibly admirable that I have never heard of any other candidates doing.

Senator Sanders is also a firm believer in reducing the widening wealth gap that, according to the rating agency Standard and Poor, increased the likelihood of the economy to fall victim to boom and bust cycles as well as slowing the progress of the recovery from the recession of 2008. According to Bernie’s website, he has called for raising the minimum wage to $10.10, investing in infrastructure (creating jobs), re-writing trade policies, and investing in renewable energy (creating even more jobs). These are things that, simply put, make sense. See this link for more information on his wealth gap policies.

Let’s also take a moment to reflect on all of the controversial overseas wars that we’ve been involved in in the past few presidencies and how many ended up doing more harm than good. Billions of dollars have been poured into overseas operations, yet we still have so much reforming to do in our own county. Bernie recognizes this and while he does not move to neglect foreign affairs and involvement by any means, he does not want to meddle.

Bernie has also been a vigilant advocate for social equality. Need proof? Look no further than his voting records. He’s co-sponsored bills promoting gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights such as the Student Non-Discrimination Act, the Paycheck Fairness Act, and the re-introducing of the Equal Rights Amendment. He has also signed onto many more bills and has received perfect or near-perfect ratings from numerous activist organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, and the NAACP.

The Wrap

America has become increasingly afraid of the alarming number of politicians that are all talk, corporate sell-outs, or both. Politicians who are as reliable and true to their morals as Bernie Sanders are few in number. Because he does not accept PAC money, his presidential campaign will only be made possible through supporters volunteering for his campaign on a grassroots level. This is someone who you’ll definitely want in office, so please help him to help us by spreading the word!

Why We Need Politically Active Young Adults

On one of the days that I spent registering voters at a local college campus, I encountered at least six people within the hour who were of voting age but still asked me how old one has to be to register to vote. 41% of young adults ages 18-41 who were perfectly eligible to vote during the 2008 presidential election did not get registered. Things like this are definitely not a great sign.

The amount of politically informed people in our society is highly dependent on our culture. There are plenty of people whom I have spoken with when going door-to-door telling me that they did not know who the candidate I was there for was, yet they had a strong position either for or against him based on his political party affiliation. Unable to pass up the opportunity to gain some insight on their thought process, I would ask the voter why they were voting straight Democrat or straight Republican down the ballot, and there were definitely some alarming responses. Many told me, with brute honesty, that it was because they had just always done it or their parents had voted that way and therefore they never bothered to differ in opinion. It was as simple as that.

In my first blog post, The Problem with Elections and Voter Turnout, I addressed the fact that only a shocking 36.5% of registered voters had voted in this year’s midterm election. I am convinced that our politically pessimistic culture is partly to blame for creating an environment where people think so lowly of politics (or they just don’t think about politics at all) that they don’t do their civic duty and vote.

So that was a bit of a long, ranty, introduction. Here’s where I get to what the purpose as the solution to this problem for the future.

We need to educate kids about the importance of being knowledgeable about politics. I’m not talking about the political science and government classes that many high schools offer either, I’m talking about making students realize for themselves how we all play a role in our Democracy. A bit of inspiration is all we need to turn apathy into willing involvement. That’s something that is often overlooked in traditional courses not designed to do much more than force feeding us information about government that we later regurgitate onto tests.

It was about a year ago when an AP Comparative government teacher whom the students at my school are particularly fond of organized a campaign fair at my high school where several local candidates spoke about their policies and recruited volunteers. Deciding to sign up for our Democratic Congressman’s campaign for reelection with one of my friends for shits and giggles was such a trivial choice at the time, but looking back at it now, it was definitely the beginning of an entirely changed life for me that I wouldn’t trade for the world. Before this, I didn’t know the first thing about politics, let alone the intricacies of a representative’s policies. After interning for about five months, I now have realized how important it is for young people to learn more about the people representing our values and to get out the vote.

Those of us (kids) who learn early on will go on to contribute to society by being as informed as we can be, and also to spread what we know with other voters who may not have had the opportunity to learn about how we can help the Democratic process. Only then can we make sustainable change in the voter turnout rate for the better and increase the number of voters making well-informed political decisions.

Mudslinging in Politics: Why I Can’t Stand It

You’ve just got to love all of the attack ads that you see on television during election season. It’s really special that candidates and PACs spend millions on commercials that do nothing besides slander and degrade the opposition instead of using that money to, I don’t know, advertise what their actual policies are or expanding voter contact efforts.

Attack ads have been incredibly frustrating for me, especially since I had the privilege of being a field intern for such an honest Congressman in a toss-up race. Mudslinging was absolutely everywhere. It was present in both campaigns’ literature, in ads funded by PACs, in speeches made by the candidates — really everywhere you’d look. There are so many voters whom I’ve met that have become increasingly pessimistic about politics because all you seem to hear are politicians voicing their hatred and disrespect for each other.

People would tell me this too. I know I couldn’t be the only one so bothered by mudslinging, and it was almost reassuring to hear others voicing their concerns. When I would hand literature out to voters, they would see the side that slammed our opponent, and there were numerous complaints. Some even went so far as to completely refuse to vote purely because of this. I would always feel embarrassed because my candidate as a representative and human being was so incredible, yet the slandering somewhat discredits this. This is not to say that our opponent didn’t do the same; in fact our opponent was the first one to produce slanderous literature and had approximately two million dollars more outside spending than us going towards attack ads. It got to the point when there were people in school asking me whether our opponent’s attack ads were true or not (which they for the most part weren’t). I just wish that I could say that our campaign was able to rise above this instead of fighting fire with fire.

Negative political ads have been discouraging voters from hitting the polls and falsely portraying candidates, so why do campaigns and PACs spend millions on them? They do seem to be effective, but at a great cost: imposing overly biased opinions on the public in their own homes, many of whom not knowing any better than to believe them. One of the ads attacking my candidate was deemed so deceitful that it was taken off of the air. The scariest part about that is not knowing who that ad reached before being removed, as it is entirely possible that advertisements like that are what cost us this year’s election.

What can campaigns do about this?

First of all, I would love to see campaigns straight-up refraining from contributing to the overwhelming amount of letters, television commercials, YouTube ads, etc. condemning their opponents that we see so much of during election season. Too much.

Do you know what I haven’t seen enough of? The actual policies supported by said candidates and what they plan on doing if elected. The American voter shouldn’t have to search through excessively biased, slanderous bullshit when trying to make an informed decision. Instead, voting records for previous incumbents running for reelection (and, again, policies and plans for new runners) would go a long way, or at least in my opinion.

An increase in emphasis on voter-to-voter contact would also be nice, whether it be in the form of canvassing or non-robotic phone calls. there is absolutely nothing wrong with citizens doing their best to spread the word about their candidates through their own opinion and giving you as much information as they can hold in their brains.

How do you feel about mudslinging? What do you propose we do about it?

Republicans Willing to Fight Obama “Tooth and Nail”

America needs immigration reform, there’s no doubt about that — our country has been talking about it for years. The problem is that what should be a relatively bipartisan issue ended up yet another that hasn’t been resolved. Congress has failed to pass any bills for comprehensive immigration reform despite the calls for it from so many.

“I have no doubt that there will be some Republicans who are angered or frustrated by any executive action that I may take. Those are folks I just have to say who are also deeply opposed to immigration reform in any form and blocked the House from being able to pass a bipartisan bill.” – Obama

President Obama’s plan for getting reform (and fast) is rather bold. He means to act unilaterally taking an executive action that would grant up millions deferred action. Many Republicans have criticized this, calling it an abuse of power, but the lack of action in Congress has not left him much of a choice. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced that he was willing to fight Obama’s executive action “tooth and nail”, clearly showing his willingness to set aside party differences and cooperate with our President. Clearly.

Who would be included in this?

There are 11.7 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, but only some of them, of course, would qualify for deferred action. According to the Migration Policy Institute, up to 1.9 million could be included in the expansion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), 3.8 million are either the parents or the spouse of a United States citizen.

It is not known for sure who will be included, but there are some groups that are widely acknowledged as the highest priority.

Of these groups are qualifying children and young adults who are not yet a part of DACA, the parents of children who are citizens or have a green card, and those with a spouse who is a citizen or has a green card.

What is DACA?

DACA is a program that grants children and young adults meeting a certain set of requirements two years of deferred action to temporarily protect them from deportation. These young people are accepted on a case-by-case basis, the guidelines for which can be found here.

The creation of DACA came as a result of the failure of the Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act to pass Congress. Both would target similar groups of unauthorized immigrants, but the DREAM Act would have given immigrants a path to citizenship whereas DACA is purely temporary and does not do much more than granting two years of deferred action and the ability to apply for work authorization.

Reports have shown that it is likely that immigration relief will be in the form of an expansion to DACA, giving deferred action to hundreds of thousands of more immigrants.

What else will be included in Obama’s executive action?

While immigration relief is definitely the most controversial aspect, the action will also include strengthening border security, reforming the enforcement of immigration and expanding legal immigration. What the specifics are have not been delineated, but what we do know is that Obama is expected to take action very soon, likely by the end of the year.

The Wrap

In a nutshell, Obama wants to finally get to reforming immigration after Congress has repeatedly failed to get anything done. Many Republicans, however, are angry over the power that Obama is exercising along with the fact that they do not support the possibility of millions of immigrants being protected from deportation. I digress. By granting immigrants deferred action, we give them an opportunity to work without the constant fear of being sent back over the border in addition to refraining from separating families.

Loretta Lynch as our Attorney-General

Not only will Lynch, if confirmed, bring with her years of invaluable experience and knowledge, but she will be the first black woman to hold the position of Attorney-General.

There are still some that criticize Loretta Lynch. Breitbart News, for instance, made an attempt at negatively portraying her. They criticized her for representing the Clintons during Whitewater, but there was a small issue — they were attacking the wrong Loretta Lynch.

Lynch does seem to have bipartisan support for the most part, though. She has no personal ties to President Obama, and with the GOP takeover that we saw on Tuesday, this will be a huge help in her getting accepted by Congress. Another asset that she has is how non-partisan her actions are and how willing she is to work across party lines rather than with party lines. A press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) stated that Lynch “has long experience of cases of public corruption, organized crime, and violent crime. She is also an experienced trial advocacy trainer and has participated in trial advocacy training programs at ICTR on several occasions.”

Such a fair, experienced woman is precisely what our country needs to show that effective bipartisan leadership is possible, and also to help integrate women and minorities into the highest ranks of the government.

The Problem with Elections and Voter Turnout

We are the problem. The worst part is that it’s not what we’re doing, but what we aren’t doing. This may seem a little blunt, but hear me out.

Of America’s registered voters, only approximately 36% actually voted in Tuesday’s midterm election. This leaves nearly 76% of potential voters choosing to not be represented in government.

Our fellow citizens have plenty of excuses for this, too, and some are more legitimate than others. The most common that I have heard include that they cannot physically get to the polls within opening hours, they are not informed enough to make a sound decision, or they simply do not believe that their voice counts for anything.

I have spent the past few months interning on a grassroots-based campaign, and if there is anything that I have learned, it’s that there is a solution to all of the aforementioned excuses used by non-voters.

Firstly, there are so many who are not aware of their voting options. In many states, voting is made incredibly easy. 33 states allow early voting, 27 states allow no-excuse absentee ballots (voting by mail), and 3 states send ballots to the mailbox of every registered voter. There are only 14 states that do not offer early voting or no-excuse absentee ballots, but even then an absentee ballot is provided to those who request it and have a basis for it. Let’s get real for a moment — no one really is prevented from voting unless someone from one of the 14 states without additional options happens to fall horribly ill on election day.

The campaign that I was involved with was especially big on pushing vote-by-mail. All you really have to do in states allowing no-excuse absentee ballots is to apply for your ballot online or print out and mail in an application, and then you can vote without even leaving your property. This also allows students away at college to vote from their dorms.

Then we have the issue of people refusing to vote because they are not politically informed. I’ll start off by giving them mad props for not blindly voting along party lines or voting based on uber-biased ads on television and YouTube, but getting informed isn’t all that difficult. Spend even an hour looking up what’s on your ballot and then information about your candidates and your problem is solved. Obviously the more time spent the better, but we do what we can. It’s true that there are those without internet, but as long as they can find anyone with a computer in the general vicinity or a library with computers then all is well.

When going door-to-door and getting my canvass on, it was beyond disheartening to hear so many potential voters tell me that they were not planning on voting this year because they did not believe that their vote means anything or because they “did not like politics”. There was many a time when I was able to convince them otherwise (and had them fill out a vote-by-mail application), and then there were the people who simply could not and would not be convinced. Break my heart some more, why don’t you.

My point here is that it would not be all that difficult to increase voter turnout drastically if we all did our best to spread the word about the importance of being an active participant in American democracy. Voters must realize that each and every informed vote cast brings us one step closer to holding our politicians accountable for their actions and seeing through the bullshit spewed by so many; this is how we can bring the change and reform that we need so dearly.

Find out where to vote and what your state’s options are: http://www.canivote.org/