Sunday, August 31, 2008

FIRED UP!

Camden County Democrats;
Judy and I got back a little past midnight on Wednesday night after two weeks in the beautiful state of Oregon, and was it wonderful to be home!! We wanted to take a couple of weeks to get a respite from the August heat of south Georgia, yet, when we got off the plane in Portland, it was 101 degrees, and stayed that way for four days! So much for good planning.

But it IS good to be back, especially to be part of the best, most exciting, and most uplifting political convention in U.S. history! I don’t see how anyone can dispute that. One of my friends asked, “How can anyone vote against this ticket?”, and I agree with her. But, unfortunately, there will be people voting against the ticket, and it could even be close. And that is why we have to take the energy from the convention and turn it into the most powerful campaign in U.S. history. In track terms, we must run through the tape. We have many opportunities for you and every other Democrat in Camden County to work off the energy of the convention, and they start this weekend. Our primary focus is still on getting every Democrat in Camden County over the age of eighteen registered to vote. If we do that, we will actually WIN Camden County!!! That will be historic, and you can be part of that!! If you have still not participated in one of the registration events, all you have to do is show up at the party headquarters at 500 w. King Street in Kingsland on Saturday morning after 9:00am, and you will be shown what to do and where to go. It’s that simple! You don’t have to be an orator as gifted as Barack Obama to do this. You don’t have to be as politically savvy as Joe Biden to do it. All you need is commitment, and you can do it!

Then, on Monday morning (Labor Day), show up at the headquarters any time after 10:00am to meet and greet visitors, and then celebrate with everyone else at the official ribbon-cutting at 2:00pm. Take this opportunity to let us know what you want to do during the rest of the campaign. Do just one thing, and I guarantee you’ll catch the bug, and you won’t be able to get enough. This is exciting stuff!! It’s always exciting to be part of history!!

Now, if the convention still wasn’t enough to get you motivated to do something, I have some required reading for you. Some of you may already be familiar with a writer named Thomas Frank. I discovered him while in Oregon, and couldn’t put him down. His first book I read was published in 2003-4 and is titled “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”. It is a chronicle of how the conservatives took over the Republican Party in the State of Kansas. The book connected so many dots for me that I got his book titled “The Wrecking Crew”, which describes how conservatives use their power once in office. It is a very scary book, and one which should spur you to do something to ensure they will never again have the opportunity they have had for the past seven and a half years. The disaster that is the Bush Years is just an inkling of what they are capable of doing, and the really scary part is, they know exactly what they’re doing; it’s part of their strategy. But they can be stopped, and you, yes you, have the power to do it. But you have to show up!

YES WE CAN! This is not just a campaign slogan; it is REAL!

Dave Southern
Chairman, Democrats of Camden County