“Thank you for helping save democracy.”
That is what the woman at the Cincinnati headquarters of the Kerry campaign said at the end of our call, after I had made plans to come to that city and help. I didn’t even know exactly what sort of help I could give, and when she said that line, “Thank you for helping save democracy,” I thought she might be getting a little melodramatic. Perhaps it was being so close to the heat of the campaign.
Now I think she was simply being matter-of-fact. My few hours spent canvassing voters and stuffing envelopes in Cincinnati brought home a reality of democracy: every vote counts. If you are involved in the Bush-Cheney campaign this year, the correlary is that every suppressed vote counts too.
If you support John Kerry for president and plan on voting for him, that is not enough. Voting and hoping is not enough. Democracy is an ocean, and your vote is a teaspoon in that body of water. You have be a spoon yourself and help get some more votes into that ocean. You have to take action. If you and every person who feels strongly about John Kerry being a better choice for president takes action, he will win. BUT YOU MUST ACT!
There are many ways to do this, but perhaps the easiest is to make phone calls. It is so necessary, and so satisfying. Go to the Kerry website – the link is below – and sign up to make calls.
http://volunteer.johnkerry.com