What do we see when we get to the core?

I had planned on writing a different entry than the one you are reading, but after my experience last night, I have bumped that subject matter to the next time.

Last night I went with Sheldon Schafer to the Chief's game and worked at passing out his campaign flyers. He took the big entrance, I took the small entrance. Overall we passed out by my reckoning anywhere from 300-400 flyers. Assuming Sheldon's experience was like my own, we ran across a great many interested individuals. They'd smile, ask what we were "selling", take the flyer, sound interested, and start reading it as they walk away. Thankfully this was quite a large percentage of the people I ran into ...up to 30% seemed like they'd give it at least one more look before it went thru the washer because they forgot they left it in their back pocket.

I am thankful for those people because doing the sidewalk-cold-call like that is tough, and their interest and potential engagement makes it worth it. But now it's time for this writing to take the first of two dark turns.

The reality of any cold-call-like activity is that, if you have a worthy "product", you can expect a conversion rate of 1%-3% (depending on many things). So Sheldon and I were out there for a couple hours, even rained on, albeit minimally, to get 3 or 4 votes or maybe up to 12.

The silver lining on the cloud over this first dark turn is that this is EXACTLY the type of man we need to be supporting. Someone working hard, meeting the people WHEREEVER they are ...a man brave enough to square off against the establishment with funding currently at less than half of one percent of his biggest competition (Schock).

But let's remember as we leave this turn on our journey that 12 votes earned a night, even if it were every single night between now and November 4th would add up to 804 votes. The last election in this district was won "by a margin of 147,108 (67%) to 71,106 (33%)"source. Even if the vote split close to evenly three ways, that's still a good 75,000 votes Sheldon would need to win ...804 votes is just a hair over 1% of that.

And now on to the second, darker turn. Though I met a lot of nice/engaged people last night, I met almost as many people that were, well, we'll say discouraging to me. I got quite a few "No Thanks" and just outright ignorings. These were ok, though. The ones that saddened my heart were those who said things like "I'm a democrat" or "I'm a republican" or "Green Party?! ...here take this back, I don't want this !#@$@". ...and a few responses I'll just categorize as subversively "angry".

What has happened to this country? We were founded by thinkers, debaters, and conscientious individuals who knew we needed to live on in a similar manner ...it is IMPERATIVE that we stop rigorously defining ourselves by these broad groups. Especially when, in this blogger's humble opinion, the two biggest groups of consequence in this case (democrats and republicans) have abandoned us quite some time ago. PEOPLE! LISTEN! We need to STOP BEING, and START UNDERSTANDING ...we need to vote for INDIVIDUALS not parties ...the parties had their chance and they are failing ...we need an INDIVIDUAL who knows he is one and is committed to representing the other INDIVUDUALs in his district. I only see one candidate in the 18th that I believe is ready for that responsibility.

There is no silver lining on the cloud around this second turn. It only gets worse because we have to recognize that those "negative", "I'm not gonna understand, I'm gonna be", and otherwise disenfranchised people I ran into are not to blame entirely. If we extrapolate from my experience from last night, this group is a very large one ...in fact there's more of "them" (be-ers) than there are of "us" (understand-ers). And worse, we can't write them off but instead, for each one of them out there, their responsibility and burden must be seen as being shifted onto the shoulders of those who would count themselves among the understand-ers.

There's an overused plot device here that comes to mind. In the movie, our protagonist has worked to uncover the hidden truth involving the evil or problem or whatever, and as the movie climaxes and he gets to the "core" of the problem, he discovers a mirror. Now, if the be-ers were each to set out on that mission they'd discover a mirror ...but the truth is they aren't gonna go on that mission ...by definition of how they identify themselves. So what we (the understand-ers) need to do is look in our own mirrors, and not just see ourselves, but see the vast army of be-ers sitting atop our shoulders. We need to remember that imagery and redouble our efforts to get people in this country back to being engaged thinkers rather than sheep. We are walking around with their burdens on our shoulders ...and we need to remember that we're responsible for them for now, whether we like it or not.

So think about the state of the world around you, and decide if you want a change. And if you do ...look in the mirror and see the thousands of others who are relying on you to do something about it.

Schafer came to MY party

I attended the Schafer for Congress fundraiser Thursday night. I met more of his supporters and, as I have come to expect, they were all genuinely nice and concerned individuals. This man (Schafer) seems to attract these people. I find this to be yet another sign that my confidence is well placed in him, as you can tell quite a bit about a person by the company he keeps (and the company that chooses to keep him).

Anyway, I was talking with him and suggested he come to a party I was hosting at my house Saturday. He pulled out his PDA and saw that he had the day time booked, but was free that evening, so put me in.

...I mention that his day was booked and yet he still put me in because it showed me just how committed he was to getting out and meeting as many of the people in his would-be district as possible.

So after his long day, he still managed to came out to my party. He brought his wife and a gift and proceeded to "hang out" with us. He played some lawn games, met all of my friends, and joined conversations.

He won over voters there. I had two friends who put Schafer for Congress bumper stickers on their person they were so impressed by his grass-roots style effort to meet the people in his district and get to know them.

To try and sum up: Schafer is working hard for us. He goes to the people. He doesn't have days off anymore ...he spent all day Saturday working so that he can get to know and eventually represent YOU and ME. He's interested in representing ALL of the PEOPLE, as is evidenced by his attendance at my party.

I urge you to get out to his public events as they come up (I'll start posting them in advance here). Get to know this guy. I haven't met a single person yet who spent as much as a minute talking to the guy who didn't in turn end up liking him and pledging their vote. Do yourself a favor and get to know a PERSON who still believes in a government of the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE, and for the PEOPLE.

A republican voting green in Illinois 18th

Welcome to the first entry.

I, like many in my generation (right between X and Y), have grown disillusioned with the state of the political system in our great country. I love the US, but the political system we have is broken.

You'll notice that the title I have chosen for this blog is "Republican Voting Green". I chose this title because I generally align with and vote for republicans. But the republican and democratic parties both have become corrupt (as powerful institutions often do). We need a change in our system. We need the ability to vote for candidates who are going to represent US. It has gotten to the point where you can't vote for someone to represent YOU anymore. All you can do is vote for someone who represents the republican or democratic party, and thus are often positioned into voting for the lesser of two perceived evils.

Well, I think that doesn't have to be the case. Sure you can argue that voting "third party" or "independent" is a throw away vote, and perhaps in the presidential election, you might be right. But I have *figured out* how we can start the change. We can start by showing up at the polls and knowing something about our CONGRESSIONAL candidates.

Despite many efforts, there have been no non-republican or non-democratic presidents, but there have been plenty of congressmen. Right now there are two senators that identify themselves as independent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_party_(United_States)#Current_and_recent_notable_third_party_officeholders

The point here is that voting for a congressman (or woman) who isn't a democrat or republican does work. It is proven effective, even if difficult.

My point here is not to berate all the republican or democratic candidates ...there are many that deserve your vote across the United States ...BUT because we CAN put someone who isn't either into congressional office, then you owe it to yourself, your generation, posterity, and your country to get to know your independent and third party congressional candidates.

There are quite a few running across the United States in EVERY election. Again, to love this country, in my humble opinion, should be to know what your options are when you show up at the polls ...ALL of your options.

All that being said, I personally have sized up my options in the Illinois 18th (mostly Peoria, but quite large ...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois's_18th_congressional_district).

My vote is going to Sheldon Schafer (http://www.schaferforcongress.info/). He is running under the Green party banner (hence the blog title). In subsequent posts, I'll get more into why.

While I'm at it, let me post my disclaimers. I technically am republican (because that's the way I cast my vote the first time), but do not consider myself to be a republican party member, nor do I consider myself a green party member. I consider myself to be a person who votes to put the right man (or woman) in office. I am NOT a member of Schafer's campaign team. However, I DO attend many of his campaign meetings ...and I think you should, too, of course. I regularly say to him "So what do you think about X" (X being anything from the war in Iraq to Global Warming) ...and he'll answer ...honestly...

Go to his site! Get to know where he stands on the issues ...then do the same for your other options in the 18th. (by the way, take note of how much easier it is to see where Schafer stands ...without knowing their party affiliations, you wouldn't know hardly anything about his competition).

...and finally, while reading about his platform, you may find points of disagreement ...I don't see eye to eye with him at the 100% level. ...but for me, statements like:

• "Dedicated to People First - I am an independent voice speaking for each citizen, not for money, and not for special interests. I will return the voice of the individual to Washington."
• "Election Reform - Real democracy that involves everyone, re-engaging the disenfranchised. Implement instant runoff voting so multiple parties can be heard."

...show me that I can safely vote for this man even with the presence of differing opinions in other areas. We need to set our sites not just on the immediate, but on the long term ...if he were to do nothing else in office beyond furthering those two above ideals, this country would be a better place by far to be handing over to our children.