Blog: Why I Am Not Only IN, but ALL In

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In 2008, for the first time in my life, I became a registered Democrat. Up until then I had been “no party affiliation."

I never voted in primaries, trusting that the process was decided by others and then voting my conscience in the general election. I have never missed an election. Not when I lived overseas, and I even postponed leaving for New Zealand in 1996 until after I cast my vote in the presidential election that year.

I grew up in a very political environment. My great uncle, Frank Longo, was mayor of the town where I grew up, from the time I was in grade school, right through high school. Another great uncle, Joe Longo, was fire chief, my grandfather, Lou Longo, was president of the school board. From a young age, I can remember being interested in the adult conversations about elections and politics, and my grandfather would often say I would end up either a lawyer or a politician.

Growing up in this environment instilled in me a deep sense of public service. That it was not only my right, but my duty as a citizen, to be knowledgeable and active in our political system. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve wondered why everyone else isn’t as interested in politics, or how many dinners I’ve sat through beyond board because you “can’t” talk about politics or religion. Why not? What else is there to talk about?

So you may be able to understand my joy and excitement at the start of the Occupy Movement. As someone who was arrested at the White House last September at the first Tar Sands Action, I believe in the power of civil disobedience. It is a powerful feeling, to stand for what you believe in, even when the cost is only a $100 fine and a mark of “failure to obey a lawful command” on your permanent record.

The marks from the police brutality and pepper spray during the evictions of the OWS camps nationwide were much more painful, and I have nothing but respect for the Occupy supporters across the nation who were treated so harshly by the police. I watched in horror and disgust as Occupy camps were torn apart, and the supporters were vilified, sometimes even by me. I misunderstood the role the anarchists played in the birth of OWS, and came to call those who had been misrepresented as anarchists the “disrupters."

The disrupters are still there, sitting in Occupy General Assemblies, holding up decisions with “points” of process, and insisting the process is more important than action. The original model of consensus was replaced by representational decision-making, at least at Occupy Philadelphia and several other groups, who created a funnel for proposals, the Coordinating Committee, or CoCo. This small group now decides what proposals the GA will hear. It is insanity. They have merely recreated that exact system they are railing against. CoCo (the Senate). And the GA (House of Representatives).

I went from volunteering several times a week to not at all, and instead organized the first regional meeting, which was a huge success. It was a day filled with creative thought process and conversations. I may or may not organize another. During this time, I was introduced to an offshoot of the Occupy Movement, the 99% Declaration group. This group has drafted a petition they wish to refine at a national meeting on July 4 in Philadelphia.

They want to elect one man and one woman from each Congressional district to draft a final petition and present to Congress. The petition has some good ideas, some questionable ideas, and some which are in my opinion, frankly bad ideas. But the model is also based upon the same representational democracy we have in place now. More reinventing of the wheel.

OWS and Occupy Philadelphia are rebuking the 99% group for not acting on the process of Direct Democracy. They question the right of this group to say they represent the 99%. Personally, I’ve questioned all three groups on this issue, none of them are truly reaching out to the 99 percent. The first two are still only including those who show up at General Assemblies, and the latter is still organizing committees, though they did run a series of ads on MSNBC.

The first two groups seem to be more interested in statements than political action, I have heard many comments about the Occupy Movement, via OWS, being apolitical, and how the parties and moveon.org were attempting to “co-opt” the movement. The latter group threatens to run third-party candidates if Congress does not act sufficiently on the grievances laid out in the petition.

Personally, I think both attitudes are part of the problem. The last time we had a  third-party Progressive candidate, we ended up with Bush/Rove/Cheney, two wars, trillions in off-book deficit spending, regressive education policy, and an energy policy that handed our BLM land to Halliburton in a fracking free-for-all.

And “staying out of it," well, let’s just imagine a McCain/Palin administration for a moment. Still think it doesn’t matter who is in the White House? The liberal “live and let live” is what got us here. Lucky for us, the GOP got so greedy they created the “tea” “party” in an attempt to cement into law that which they had done covertly for decades. That is how corporations came to be “persons” and money “free speech." And what eventually led to the birth of the Occupy Movement and the awakening of the 99%.

Had Al Gore appointed two Justices, one of them Chief Justice, what a different world we would be living in.

Every election matters, from local to national. Imagine for a moment that a sheriff who supports the values of OWS is elected, or a fractivist is on the PA Supreme Court hearing a complaint on the violation of the PA Constitution Article 27. At every level, who we elect matters.

We need to elect on a local level candidates who support our values. Candidates like Joshua Young, running for the PA State House, and Senator Bob Casey, who is the sponsor of the FRAC Act in the Senate, a piece of legislation which will close the “Halliburton Loophole."

And we need to reelect President Barack Obama, who insisted on health care and education reform. And who tried to end the $4 billion dollar annual gift to oil and gas companies. The president who finally acknowledged that our veterans deserve better care. And the president who asked us to acknowledge those who made the ultimate sacrifice. So I am not only “in," as the president’s reelection campaign asks, I am all in.

As of today, I will be working with the Obama for America team, offering my time, and money, to those candidates who I feel are closest to my values. The thing is, none of them support all my values. It is important to recognize, he is not just my president. He is also president of voters who are against same-sex marriage. He is president of those who want to repeal Roe v. Wade.

He is president of those who don’t know the dangers of fracking and still believe it is a “cleaner” alternative energy source. The president neither writes nor passes legislation, that is the job of Congress, and where I focus my dissatisfaction. Legislators do listen, we just have to show up. We don’t need to fight corporate money, they can throw all the money in the world at issues, it is our VOTE that counts. And when enough voters remember that it was a citizen lobby that started this nation of ours, they will remember how to take it back.

Candidates need our time, our donations, but most of all, our feedback, our letters and phone calls. Our demands and proposals. Candidates need each of us to not only be “in," but to be ALL in.

And full disclosure, I registered to vote for Hillary, why is another article all of its own.