Doing my part

On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country… (from the Scout Oath)

In 2004, I gave too much money to the campaign of Sen. John Kerry. Never again.

In 2007-08, I gave too much time to the campaign of Gov. Bill Richardson. His local headquarters was across the street from our church (in a different part of the same building as this year’s Clinton headquarters), and it was too easy to go over there for an hour or two of volunteer work after my day’s work at the church. That quickly became two or three hours into the evenings, and half-days on Saturdays and sometimes Sunday afternoons. My involvement grew and grew, until it was dominating my life in the final weeks before the Iowa Caucus.

I am glad that I did what I could, and I have some good memories (and a few bad ones, and lasting resentment against the Obama people). But never again.

This time, I was determined to stay out of it. I would show up on caucus night and stand up for Sen. Bernie Sanders (as I wrote here), but that would be it. I am eight years older, and no longer have the energy to do much.

But “Bernie” is one of the few politicians I admire. Alone among the candidates on both sides, he will take on the billionaires and use anti-trust legislation to dismantle the “Too Big to Fail” banks – which are much larger and more powerful now than when they caused the 2008-09 financial crisis. He alone will work toward a sensible single-payer national health care plan – something Obama promised and did not deliver.

As summer moved into fall, and then winter, I was increasingly guilty about doing nothing. “I am too busy,” I told myself. There was Advent, then Christmas. I came to realize how badly I would feel if he loses the caucus (which is very possible, even likely) and I had done nothing – the one presidential candidate in all these years since Jimmy Carter for whom my support is absolute.

Last Friday afternoon, I walked down to the local Sanders headquarters. I signed up so that they would have my name in the list for their planning – I remember from the Richardson campaign how important that is for them, and how difficult it was to get people to actually commit. And I volunteered to give them three full days: the Monday and Tuesday before the caucus, and the Caucus Day itself, Monday, February 1.

Three days. I can at least do that much for my country.