Democracy in Action
I had a great experience on Saturday at the El Paso County Democratic Convention and Assembly. I've never gotten involved in politics before other than voting in every election.
This year, however, the political climate scares me. The hatred that is being fostered by a certain candidate. The chaos in the Republican party. The racism being shared on Facebook every day. The hatred of Muslims and immigrants being expressed publicly. It's all very scary. I believe most of it is due to lack of education, but that doesn't make these behaviors acceptable.
For the first time ever I attended our county caucus on March 1st and at that time I volunteered to be a delegate at the County Convention and Assembly. I arrived bright and early on Saturday morning expecting to be done by 11:00 so that I could meet the family downtown for the St. Patrick's Day parade and lunch.
Boy, was I ever wrong. The minute I walked in the door I could tell it was going to be a day-long event.
At first I thought I was at a Bernie rally. If you look at the wall you will see a small Hillary poster to the left of the big Bernie poster. That was it! I guess Hillary realizes she has no chance of taking Colorado so she's not investing any money here.
I do love the enthusiasm of the Bernie supporters. It's refreshing (most of the time).
A democratic convention is a melting pot just like America. Young, old, black, white, male, female, LGBT, you name it...they're all there and that's what I love about the party--it's not just middle-aged white men.
I'm not saying the convention wasn't without conflict. Bernie has very passionate supporters. One guy was asked to leave when he kept interrupting the woman who was there to speak on Hillary's behalf. "F" this, "F" that was all he kept yelling and he kept giving her the bird the whole time he was exiting the convention hall.
During the convention delegates were able to line up at the microphone and were given one minute to speak. We heard a lot about legalizing pot, rights of the LGBT, how soldiers should be held accountable for their crimes against humanity, blah, blah, blah. It was during this time that I went and found something to eat since we obviously weren't going to be out of there by lunchtime.
Luckily I found some cheddar cheese popcorn, one of my favorite things!
After lunch we broke up into our house districts to find a nominee to run for the state house, then onto our senate districts and country districts.
Then for the main business of the day--the presidential poll and the appointment of delegates to the state convention. Bernie took about 64 percent of the vote which I wasn't surprised at. Hillary's share of the delegates was 109. I vowed to become one of the 109 and by some miracle I did it!
The overall tone at the convention was very uplifting and refreshing. I can't tell you how great it was to be surrounded by a roomful of dems. All the delegates agreed that we are Democrats first and supporters of our specific candidates second. It gave me hope for this presidential election. My goal now is to make sure everyone I know is registered and gets out to vote in November even if they vote for someone in the other party. This is not the year to be passive about politics. We have the chance to make history--hopefully it won't be by electing a major embarrassment into the most powerful office in the world. Hopefully this year will go down in history by electing the very first Madam President.
I had wanted to make a bid for the national convention, but since our congressional district only gets 4 delegates and because Bernie will probably get 3 of those, that leaves only 1 spot for a Hillary delegate. I may still try, but I don't really feel like campaigning for votes.
I'll be at the Budweiser Center in Loveland on April 15 and 16 for the big convention. If just our county sends 300 delegates, can you imagine how big this is going to be? I can't wait!
This year, however, the political climate scares me. The hatred that is being fostered by a certain candidate. The chaos in the Republican party. The racism being shared on Facebook every day. The hatred of Muslims and immigrants being expressed publicly. It's all very scary. I believe most of it is due to lack of education, but that doesn't make these behaviors acceptable.
For the first time ever I attended our county caucus on March 1st and at that time I volunteered to be a delegate at the County Convention and Assembly. I arrived bright and early on Saturday morning expecting to be done by 11:00 so that I could meet the family downtown for the St. Patrick's Day parade and lunch.
Boy, was I ever wrong. The minute I walked in the door I could tell it was going to be a day-long event.
At first I thought I was at a Bernie rally. If you look at the wall you will see a small Hillary poster to the left of the big Bernie poster. That was it! I guess Hillary realizes she has no chance of taking Colorado so she's not investing any money here.
I do love the enthusiasm of the Bernie supporters. It's refreshing (most of the time).
A democratic convention is a melting pot just like America. Young, old, black, white, male, female, LGBT, you name it...they're all there and that's what I love about the party--it's not just middle-aged white men.
I'm not saying the convention wasn't without conflict. Bernie has very passionate supporters. One guy was asked to leave when he kept interrupting the woman who was there to speak on Hillary's behalf. "F" this, "F" that was all he kept yelling and he kept giving her the bird the whole time he was exiting the convention hall.
During the convention delegates were able to line up at the microphone and were given one minute to speak. We heard a lot about legalizing pot, rights of the LGBT, how soldiers should be held accountable for their crimes against humanity, blah, blah, blah. It was during this time that I went and found something to eat since we obviously weren't going to be out of there by lunchtime.
Luckily I found some cheddar cheese popcorn, one of my favorite things!
After lunch we broke up into our house districts to find a nominee to run for the state house, then onto our senate districts and country districts.
Then for the main business of the day--the presidential poll and the appointment of delegates to the state convention. Bernie took about 64 percent of the vote which I wasn't surprised at. Hillary's share of the delegates was 109. I vowed to become one of the 109 and by some miracle I did it!
I had wanted to make a bid for the national convention, but since our congressional district only gets 4 delegates and because Bernie will probably get 3 of those, that leaves only 1 spot for a Hillary delegate. I may still try, but I don't really feel like campaigning for votes.
I'll be at the Budweiser Center in Loveland on April 15 and 16 for the big convention. If just our county sends 300 delegates, can you imagine how big this is going to be? I can't wait!
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