Coffee Table Declarations
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
I'm not going to tell you to vote early and often, or to vote for the candidate I'm supporting. Instead, I'd like to share a little something about politics.
Two summers ago I worked for a state-wide political campaign. We put in long hours, seven days a week, whether it was answering phones at the headquarters, or holding signs on street corners, or soliciting strangers for signatures. I believed in what I was doing. I believed in my candidate. It was a fascinating first hand experience about the effort that goes into a campaign and how every vote truly does count. I went to events and spoke to people and swayed their opinions with my well thought out arguments. I spoke to members of the media and was even on tv a couple times - in the background at the office. Working on a campaign quickly takes over. We ate, slept, and breathed it on a daily basis. We had an early victory at the state-wide convention and it felt good. We were convinced we would win.
We did not win. I can tell you firsthand that when you put that much time and energy into something, losing is heartbreaking. I never saw so many men cry in my life as I did on that election night. Our life had become that campaign and then suddenly it was over. It's a strange feeling. Later I became even more disillusioned when our candidate turned out to be a jerk. He promised us all two extra weeks of pay and we didn't see a dime. So there we were, depressed, unemployed, and with no source of income whatsoever. But that is not the point of this story.
The point of this story is that's what campaigns and politics are about. Someone wins, yes. But someone always loses and regardless of my feelings toward the candidate, I can respect the hard working campaigners and I can feel sorry for their loss. Tonight may the best candidate win.
Two summers ago I worked for a state-wide political campaign. We put in long hours, seven days a week, whether it was answering phones at the headquarters, or holding signs on street corners, or soliciting strangers for signatures. I believed in what I was doing. I believed in my candidate. It was a fascinating first hand experience about the effort that goes into a campaign and how every vote truly does count. I went to events and spoke to people and swayed their opinions with my well thought out arguments. I spoke to members of the media and was even on tv a couple times - in the background at the office. Working on a campaign quickly takes over. We ate, slept, and breathed it on a daily basis. We had an early victory at the state-wide convention and it felt good. We were convinced we would win.
We did not win. I can tell you firsthand that when you put that much time and energy into something, losing is heartbreaking. I never saw so many men cry in my life as I did on that election night. Our life had become that campaign and then suddenly it was over. It's a strange feeling. Later I became even more disillusioned when our candidate turned out to be a jerk. He promised us all two extra weeks of pay and we didn't see a dime. So there we were, depressed, unemployed, and with no source of income whatsoever. But that is not the point of this story.
The point of this story is that's what campaigns and politics are about. Someone wins, yes. But someone always loses and regardless of my feelings toward the candidate, I can respect the hard working campaigners and I can feel sorry for their loss. Tonight may the best candidate win.
