I promised a few stories from my personal campaign efforts in behalf of Jon Ossoff to some friends on this blog (Jay Bookman’s blog, posted on June 21, 2017):

(1) Two huge “Vote for Jon Ossoff” signs have been positioned in my car’s back side windows. One day last week, as I was stopped at a red light, I kept staring at a young man with tattoos all over his upper torso except for his face in order to get his attention. Finally he looked at me, and I pointed to the right rear sign on my car. He motioned for me to roll down my window. I did so. He told me a brief testimony before the light changed to green and we went our separate ways. He said he was 30 years old and had never voted before in his life, but that Jon Ossoff had so motivated him to cast his vote that he voted in some kind of sheltered area in the past week of early voting. I told him that that was an amazing story and thanked him for sharing it with me. This young man with all those tattoos smiled like a school boy back at me, totally lit up! I am so very glad I learned in my adolescent never to judge a book by its cover and never to see anyone in caricature.

More true stories to follow about this election, in time.
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Campaign Story #2: (Especially for Paul42)

I met some really wonderful people during this campaign. Over the weekend, I was at the Rally for Handel at the Peachtree Airport, carrying my Jon Ossoff sign. There I met a Catholic priest and a young married mother from N. J. originally who was probably in her late 30s, talking with the priest. They were both Ossoff supporters at that rally. Now, they are both my Facebook friends.

As the priest and I were walking back to our separate cars, I asked him how long he had been a priest. He was originally from Columbia, but he has been in the U. S. for decades. “40 years,” he told me. I quickly responded, “Well, you are going to get into Heaven after 40 years of being a priest if for no other reason than effort, alone.” We both enjoyed the laugh. Earlier our N. J. friend had said that she was going to “kill them (the Republicans) with kindness.” I said back to her, “I don’t want to kill them. I just want to change them. Your intent leaves something to be desired.” The priest and I laughed. I’m not sure the 30+ mother from N. J. knew what we were laughing about. 😉

I went with the priest to his flock in a Spanish area of DeKalb County. It was a space for Ossoff supporters. The priest asked me to say a few words to the group. I said in closing, “I have always believed that all people are equal – all people – in God’s eyes, and that is why we need to elect Jon Ossoff.” They immediately applauded those words.

People here know my story of standing apart from the group in high school because I supported integration of the races in the 1950s, among other things variant, like who women can be. I realized early that if I were true to my own thoughts, then I would have to accept being somewhat of a social pariah. I made the choice to be true to my own thinking then, and have never looked back. That is why even here, on this blog, at times I have been the pariah to both liberals and conservatives. I will always stand alone. That is the part of me that is most connected to God.

Now, for Paul42. Most people cannot stand alone, in isolation, especially not people earning a living for their families. That is why Jim Crow lasted for so long in the South. THAT is why the Republicans of the 6th District voted for Karen Handel over Jon Ossoff. It was nothing that Ossoff did that was wrong in his campaign, which was pretty near perfect. The monied Republicans will support their way of life, regardless, because they will not stand apart and alone and so their moral senses have become numb over the decades and years. They have made themselves blind to the humanness of the “other,” like me.

I think of the Spanish and black people with whom I interacted with the priest last Saturday who were so hopeful for inclusion through Jon Ossoff. I wonder how they are feeling today. I love them, all. That is why I will forever be alone, a true blue Democrat in Republican Georgia, who was born a WASP.

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Campaign Story #3 (Especially for InTheMiddle)

(to be written later)
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Reflections, in general, as a result of my efforts in this campaign:

A poster earlier, on Jay Bookman’s blog on June 22, 2017, had written that the ‘Silent Majority’ continues to speak and win elections.

Actually, that is an old phrase going back to Nixon’s presidency years, as I recall, but it remains as true today almost as much as then, although I see that Silent Majority from a different perspective than does that poster.

I remember those hateful and angry expressions of white Southerners, men and women, toward black people and toward whites who supported black inclusion into white society. I am sure most of you have seen those old photographs of that hate and anger even if you didn’t live through those Jim Crow transition days as I did.

I saw the same anger and hate on the expressions of the Silent Majority (which included then the area of the U. S. between the two coasts) toward protesters of the Vietnam War.

That same Silent Majority hated the election of the first black president and they have hated his signature legislation that proved him effective, Obamacare. That same Silent Majority kept the first female from becoming President of the United States, because she did not live out their submissive role assigned to women in her day.

Now, the Silent Majority has elected the crude and corrupted Donald Trump as their President. I saw their anger and hatred directed at me when I, as an older woman, broke a norm and stood on the streets with my Ossoff sign, directing passing cars as to where to vote. What an uppity female I must be. So much hate and anger from this Silent Majority for so many decades. Why?

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Addendum added on June 26, 2017, posted originally by me on Jay Bookman’s blog:

“Yesterday, Bernie Sanders spoke with eloquence about why the Democratic Party must move to the Left and become the Workers’ Party. One has to respect Bernie for organizing and speaking at newly formed rallies designed to fight the Trump Healthcare Plan.

However, Bernie did not have a clue when he talked about WHY Jon Ossoff lost to Karen Handel in the 6th District. His perceptions of the real reason for that loss were generalized, not educated, perceptions and stereotypical images of why that loss. Bernie has not learned nor internalized the history of the South. Jon Ossoff lost because the 6th District is made up still mainly of old hardline Conservative voters in Georgia (whether they call themselves Republicans or Dixiecrat Democrats).

The fact that Jon Ossoff raised the number of Democratic voters by almost 20% points in ONE election, in that district, was phenomenal.”

3 Responses to Stories from My Campaign for Jon Ossoff

I tend to have some conservative thinking mixed with my very egalitarian views. I supported Hillary Clinton for President over Bernie Sanders because I believed she is more realistically pragmatic than is Bernie Sanders. Another example, I am innately spiritual in my thinking, (but in a liberal way, not in a conservative or fundamentalist way), and some liberals do not believe God exists. I do.

There are other ways in which I stand apart from both liberals and conservatives, but these two examples hopefully answer your question of me.

There is probably more than one reason for the hate and anger. Irrational intolerant ideas and attitudes are part of it. This is the main reason for the desire to exclude blacks and plays a role in other things.
Many of the antiwar demonstrations turned physically aggressive, one important type of aggression here being to interfere with other people’s freedom of movement. Many people in the media glossed over this. Anger in response to this is natural and reasonable, although some of the anger was excessive.
One driver of the current anger is that some people are still having difficulty economically and don’t understand why. Another is that the mainstream media often do a poor job of reporting on the right; this has been going on for a long time.