Keeping It- Why I Support John Edwards

asdjrocky

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Thu Jan-17-08 07:09 PM
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Keeping It- Why I Support John Edwards

Edited on Thu Jan-17-08 07:09 PM by asdjrocky

This is the proudest thing I’ve ever done politically, and this is from someone who has “paid the price for protest,” as they say.

This weekend, either tonight or early tomorrow morning, a group of us will be heading to Reno Nv, to do everything we can, to help John Edwards win the Nevada Caucus. We’ll all be going on our own dime, or dimes we’ve raised from supporters. We’ll be driving up in cars, some are taking grayhound buses, I haven’t heard of any hitch hiking yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised. (Seriousley, if your thinking about hitch hiking, get in touch with me, I’ll find you a ride.)

We’ll sleep in peoples houses. We’ll sleep two, in tiny, cheap hotel rooms. We eat the food, no matter what it is, that other volunteers will bring for us. We’ll work without stopping. And for all of us, it will be a grand time.

Many of our signs are homemade. Much of our organazation is total grassroots, with someone printing their own posistion cards to hand out, and with someone else getting donations to put up a John Edwards billboard on South 101 in Califorina. With Ninga, Pamela and others here on DU, and other sites, doing everything they can to help John hit the seven million dollar mark tomorrow. And right after the caucus in Nevada, without taking a breath of rest, we will be setting up our Sacramento phone banking office, run compeltly, from the top down, by volunteers. We will have tabeling, and even some canvasing, all run by volunteers.

Califorina Billboard

Some camapigns have paid chartered buses, and hotle rooms for volunters, all of it paid for.

But that’s not us, we’re the John Edwards campaign. We’re not the 100 million dollar campaigns. You can argue campaign finance laws, matching funds, and all the “why didn’t he use his own money?” stuff you want, but in the end, it was a principled decision. So it is, what it is. And you know what? That’s pretty much okay with us. I don’t think we’d feel it’s worth it without the blood, the sweat and tears.

My reasons for supporting John Edwards are simple, I believe in a progressive agenda for our country, and he’s consistently offered that agenda as a candidate for President. Furthermore, he has consistently offered the progressive message first, and by doing so, has guided, at the very least, the substantive debate in this primary season.

My reason for fighting so hard has little or nothing to do, however, with John Edwards, and it has everything to do with Benjamin Franklin, who while he was a deeply flawed man, he is one of my true heroes.

As Benjamin Franklin exited the Constitutional Convention, he was approached by a group of concerned citizens that wanted to know what kind of government the delegates had created.

“A republic, if you can keep it.” Was Franklin’s brief response.

I’m just doing what Ben told me to do. In fact, that’s what we all do. We do it with our phone calls and e-mails to the media. We do it when we speak with our money, and our hearts. We’re doing it when we lay down on the train tracks near Lawrence Livermore Laboratory to stop the nuclear triggers from arriving. We do it when we make them carry us to the wagon. They did it in Seattle at the WTO, and Code Pink is doing it everyday in DC. Ben, told us with a smirk, what to do. We’re keeping the republic.

Even the fat, rich, white guys knew when they set this up; it was set up for them. I don’t have delusions, and nether did a man like Franklin. Ben wasn’t lying. He knew the only way to “keep the republic” was “if” we had constant diligence, by an active and informed citizenry. These few words speak volumes, because he was in the best possible position to know how tough it was going to be for us to keep the republic.

And that’s why we do it. I have total respect for anyone that is in the fight, doing whatever way you can be there. No matter which candidate has earned your support. I have zero respect for anyone the just dose drive by type ’n’ snipes. You know who you are.

So in the end, I’m going to take a lesson I should have taken from Ben, say about ten or twelve paragraphs ago, and be brief.

For me, I’m supporting John Edwards because Ben Franklin told me to. It wouldn’t feel right if we were the rich campaign, Ben knew it wasn’t going to be easy, so I came, expecting a fight.

I’m doing my part to keep the republic, and you can join me, if you’re ready.