Politics Ain't Baseball - Not Entirely

by: Thurman Hart

Thu Aug 23, 2007 at 02:48:55 PM EDT

The big news is that the Texas Rangers scored 30 runs in a single game against the Baltimore Orioles.  So I guess there's hope for the country because the Rangers have apparently done better since George W. Bush is no longer a partner in that enterprise.  But I digress -

Howard Dean's strategy of fighting for political wins in all fifty states took a big hit from the Washington Establishment because they would rather sink money into five or ten targeted seats each election cycle than to try and compete everywhere everytime the polls open.  I have to admit I go back and forth on it because doing so sometimes starves competitive races for badly needed resources.  That sort of thinking is needed for the final few months of an election cycle, but early on, everything needs to be on the table.  Every seat, every election, every single county, city, school board, and dog-catcher race.

It is even more important this year, but you'll have to make the jump.

The Democratic Party is not without its faults.  Anyone who has read more than half a dozen of my posts know that I am as committed to reforming the party as I am to being a member of the party.  But reform doesn't happen overnight - just like healing doesn't happen overnight.  And it doesn't happen in the sick parts.

The best way to cut the corruption out of the Democratic Party in New Jersey is to cut its dependence on the corrupt county parties that currently provide its base.  That means growing support in areas where it is currently weak.  It means going into the "red" areas and turning them "blue" - one seat at a time.  There are a lot of good candidates out there - Gina Genovese and Melonie Marado come immediately to mind, but there are tons of others.

You might not care about Somerset County's Board of Freeholders or Bumbleville's mayor or any of the multitude of school boards or city councils that will be decided in the next two years.  It's easy to say, "I have no dog in that fight.  I'll never live there."  That may be true - but if you stand for good government, responsive government that is open with its citizens and dedicated to fairness and equality - then your dog is always in the fight.  This state and country are starving for leadership and we can't all just sit back and wait until it comes to our town.  Doing so makes us silent accomplices to the Bush-whacking of America.

I'm not going to say that any of you have to support my list of candidates.  But I am going to say that you should make up your own list of candidates that you are willing to do something for - either donate time or volunteer some way.  Activism isn't something that you put down and take up when it is comfortable to do.  Elections come around every year in New Jersey and our fight to reform and build a Progressive movement in our state and country and every year we either move forward or we slide backwards.

I always say that elections are just a means of keeping track of who works the hardest between them.  Let's make sure it is our side who wins.  The Texas Rangers - who are in a race for the worst team in baseball - didn't score 30 runs because they failed to do their best every time they went onto the field.  They are so far out of post-season considerations that they are already buying tickets to watch the World Series.  We aren't.  We are in the lead and fighting a winning fight.  But we can't stop until we land the knock-out punch.  And we can't land that knock-out punch if our best fighters stay in the dugout.

And, yes, I'm aware that's mixing two sports analogies, but if you've born with me this long, I figured you wouldn't mind it too much.