One of the things I remember from my brief time in Europe was the cynicism that young people my age had towards elections and their chances of having a life better than their parents. It was probably one of the reasons that, when I had the chance to stay, I decided to return home. All these years later, I have to admit, their attitude was a lot healthier than mine! It’s only taken five plus decades for me to come to that realization, folks.
I participated in so many postcard writing events with like-minded people in my community that I lost count of exactly how many events I attended and how many postcards I wrote. They were somber events. Most of the post-card writers were experienced and well-educated enough to doubt that receiving a postcard in the mail would sway the vote of the determined non-voter, the cynical bystander, or the eighteen year old who blames the boomer generation for their poor chances in life. But there’s always hope in numbers. Messages in bottles. Last gasps.
Most of the people we wrote cards for were well-known in American politics: Jackson in Maine, Osoff in Georgia, Talarico in Texas, Cooper in North Carolina, etc., etc. But the first two people I wrote cards for were unknown outside the State of California. They are, however, vying for seats traditionally held by Republicans. Randy Villegas was running in a deep-red district of California (Kern County – home of former speaker of the house and SOB Kevin McCarthy) :
And Marni von Wilpert. She ran in San Diego county – for that weasel Darryl Issa’s seat.
Both started as long shots but . . . it looks like they might have a chance! So today I’m rooting for them! Go Marni!! Go Randy!!
Who knows if all those postcards we wrote made a difference. Who knows. Would I do it again? You betcha!
Thanks for doing this, Jan! I don’t know how Marni and Randy will do, but Ossoff, Talarico, Jackson, and Cooper sure did well!
It looks like they’re both going to win! Fingers crossed.
Jan, so grateful for all of these small things we all did to add up to a lot of hope and change! YEAH, a Blue Tsunami!
We were told that the postcards have something like a one in 5,000 chance of getting someone to vote. Talk about hopeless causes! But it was a lovely group of people and we needed each other and to do something.
So far it looks like your work paid off, thank you!!!
I wrote a few postcards to Ohio voters, but that was all. SUCH good results, today is a HAPPY DAY.
Well, it looks like Ohio may swing blue – or maybe it already has! So good work!
I guess that yesterday’s election shows there are plenty of sensible people in the USA. But many of them aren’t always sensible — that is, they voted for Trump in November 2024, even though he had incited a mob to attack Congress in 2021 and had done multitudes of other terrible things.
We were working with lists of registered voters who did not vote in the last elections -our focus was to reach only those who lived in districts with tight races. Please vote was our main message. To me, the GOP who protected and caved into Trump knowing he was dangerous are worse than the brain-addled idiots in his cult.
On behalf of democracy, thank you.
💙
My pleasure!
Last night was a good one!
I was so happy (and shocked) last night; I know there are hard times ahead but this feels like progress forward. Good for you for the postcards! John donated to a number of candidates, not in Washington. When Texas went blue, he called his older daughter who lives in El Paso and they celebrated together. Unfortunately, his younger daughter and son-in-law are Trumpers. 🙁