100 days until the 2020 election. Yesterday I called 100 people in Minnesota and today I hope to call 100 more. My cousin, and current hero, Brook is a field organizer in Minnesota. He's doing the really hard work of making a bazillion calls, organizing volunteers, and making sure all the little details are worked out. His whole life is dedicated to Joe Biden and getting him elected. Not only is he working for Joe Biden, but he's trying to flip the Senate in Minnesota and get other candidates from there elected. He's doing a job I admire so much and am so grateful for him doing. You two are also incredibly proud of him too. Yesterday it was announced that he also was the top recruiter for volunteers!
Brook with Joe Biden. Little Brother
you always ask if you can meet Joe
Biden too.
He's got Aunt Becky, Uncle Joe, and I super engaged in making calls for the election. The two of you have also been inadvertently been involved too. You can, and often do recite what I say with each call.
Me: Hello, my name is Carol and I'm a volunteer with the Minnesota DFL. Is _____ there?
Caller: Yes. This is them.
Me: I'm calling to see if you will be voting for Joe Biden, Tina Smith, and the rest of the Democrats on the ticket this year?
Caller: Yes.
Me: Do you have the information you need to vote by mail?
Caller: Yes I do. I've already requested it.
Me: Are you interested in calling voters like I am today?
Caller: Sure!
Me: Terrific. Someone will be contacting you in the near future.
Naturally, not all of the calls go THAT smoothly, but many many do. It's so funny to hear the two of you pretend to be making or being the person on the calls. I'm incredibly honored and proud to be a part of the campaign and grateful for Brook's willingness to keep me busy with the campaign and also the reminder that we're doing important work. You and dad are all my biggest cheerleaders and given me a reason to keep making calls even when the calls are not very simple.
When I woke up the morning after the 2016 election I felt an intense amount of shame, guilt, and sadness. Not only did the candidate I did not support win, but I did absolutely nothing to help the candidate I supported. Not one call. Not one dollar. That morning I vowed, never again. No matter how unenthusiastic I am about a candidate running I will be an active volunteer in the election. No matter how busy I am and no matter how terrifying it seems I will be making calls, sending texts, or even knocking on doors if there is not a global pandemic.
I've been working for various elections since 1996. Calling people can be intimidating work. You never really know what you're going to get on the other end of the line. Most people are nice, some yell, some are really rude, some are downright nasty, some are old, and some are people you really really wish you could meet or talk to again. Early on in this election I called a woman who was in her forties. When I asked her the question, Will you vote for Joe Biden, Tina Smith, and the rest of the Democrats on the ticket? She said to me, "Why don't you tell ME why YOU are voting for Joe Biden." She naturally caught me off guard because usually when you make calls people don't start off with a question. They answer your questions first.
The truth was...I had taken a good amount of time to research, attend meetings, and campaign for Joe Biden, but what would surprise many people is that he really was not my first choice as the nominee. I loved him as the VP to Obama, but I was really hoping for a more diverse candidate. Not another old white guy. However it went down the people had spoken. Whether it was the vast numbers of Republicans voting in open primaries, the DNC deciding that they wanted Biden, the Lincoln Project or other Republicans for Biden, or any other hosts of reasons Joe Biden is on the ticket for the Democratic Party.
After fumbling for a good five seconds words finally came out of my mouth, "Because he cares about people. I genuinely believe that he cares about America and Americans." My answer sounded unsure and feeble. Thankfully the lady said, "Of course I'm voting for Biden. I'm just not excited about it and I hoped that you would help me be excited." I then confessed to her that he also wasn't my first choice, but that I knew he was what we needed. "Joe will surround himself with good people who will get us out of this mess."
Since that phone call the United States has spiraled out of control. Baby Waider, you especially will remember lots of these events as they unfolded. The Minneapolis Police murdered a Black man by the name of George Floyd. They kneeled on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 second until he died. We also learned that many, many other Black people have unjustly died at the hands of police. Beonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Philano Castille. So many more names found at: https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2020/know-their-names/index.html Due to George Floyd there were protests, riots, and continued poor behavior by our president. The protests continue and the president has decided to send border agents to select "cities run by Democrats" to stop the protestors. The claim being that they're destroying federal property. The only footage that there seems to be is that of people protesting and these federal agents being abusive to them. Never in my life could I imagine this scenario playing out in the United States of America. Rapid City had a large protest that we were a part of in the car driving by and honking.
The Third of July will likely forever be tainted by the disgusting event of Trump's visit to Mount Rushmore. It seemed deeply personal that he was coming to our state, in our hills, and would be so close to my house. In fact, he flew over our house in a crazy military helicopter. I yelled at the helicopter and the neighbors yelled at me. Not my finest moment, but I was very upset. The events that led up to me yelling at a helicopter that the passengers inside would never hear me was watching hours of a protest by Native Americans because the land where Mount Rushmore sits is actually THEIR land. The whole protest was live streamed. We saw them block the road with vans and take off the tires. We watched as the president's supporters spit at them and tried to punch them. You were so puzzled as to why adults were being so mean to the protestors. You watched the National Guard (or whoever it was) push into the protestors and eventually gas them. We watched as the video ended and the protestors were taken to jail because they refused to disperse peacefully. It was awesome and devastating all at once. I wanted to know what the president could possibly say on the eve of Independence Day at the Shrine of Democracy as over 130,000 Americans had died from a pandemic he denied even happening. So I watched and listened as he said that, "Children go to school to learn to hate their country." It was the perfect crowning moment to a day of being utterly disgusted. Yep. He went after teachers....
The pandemic is totally out of control. We lose about 1,000 people per day and between 50-70,000 new infections per day. It's unfathomable. I can't think of anytime where we knew that we would indefinitely lose 1,000 American lives per day. No end in sight. It is devastatingly sad because many people really see no need to alter their lives to slow the spread of this disease to help people most at risk. It is widely known that masks help slow the spread, but people argue against that too. They think it is stifling their freedom. People still go to restaurants and bars. Oh, and school is ON for the fall. It's almost like we're to the stage of saying, "Pandemic? What pandemic?"
So many people in our country are out of work, due to the pandemic. Even though a huge chunk of people don't believe in the pandemic it is leading to joblessness that is similar to the Great Depression. You may have to google Great Depression. People don't have enough to eat. They're in jeopardy of losing their homes or rentals. They could be sick. So many awful things are happening concurrently that I know this doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of everything happening right now.
I wish that I could talk to that lady today. I know I would be able to answer her question so much more robustly. I'm voting for Joe Biden because he is the best hope to heal our badly hurting nation. He has a plan to increase funding for schools so that they can be better prepared to teach during a pandemic. He has a plan to expand broadband to families who need that in order to participate in virtual schooling. He wants to boost teacher pay and make sure that teachers and students would not go back to school until it were safe. He believes in raising the minimum wage, paid sick leave, and making sure all Americans have insurance. He has a plan for the pandemic that includes testing, tracing, and acquiring PPE for everyone who needs it. Just a quick trip to his website, https://joebiden.com/joes-vision/ provides the information needed to see that Joe has a plan for Black America, Jewish America, Catholic America, and Hispanic America. His all-inclusive approach is comforting and exactly what this country needs. A man with a plan.
We hear a lot of noise around elections. Voters and states that matter. Sadly, I am not one of the voters that matter. I am white, Catholic, and from an incredibly RED state where the Republican candidate could murder kittens in the street and people would still vote for them. I'm exhausted by the lack of influence my vote has. I'm exhausted by a world that is full of people who could benefit from the policies that a candidate like Joe Biden could bring to the table, but they refuse to see what he could offer because he's a...GASP...Democrat. I'm tired of living in a state that will blindly vote for someone who does everything in his power to hurt the very people who live here but they have too much pride to admit that maybe the person they supported isn't a very good person. So, I know that it doesn't really matter, but I proudly endorse Joe Biden for president of the United States of America. I know that he will do the hard work to heal this great country we live in. I know that he will surround himself with people who will also work hard and will not be sent to jail on a regular basis. Lastly, I am endorsing Joe Biden because he has a heart and I believe that he knows that as a mom of two young children I'm terrified of the country they are growing up in.
Love,
Mom
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