Vote Dammit!!!

This past Saturday I spend about 2 hours going to the homes of registered Democrats who did not vote in 2000. I was volunteering for www.moveon.org. It was a great experience. I was scared that I would be too quiet or shy or just a big pushover but I really feel that I made a small difference.

The first people I found were some completely tattooed (a big plus in my book) people. I had a list w/ names, ages and addresses so I went up to them – Are you so and so? He said no “Are you sure” b/c I thought people would try to avoid me. Then he showed me his drivers’ license! The guy I was after did live there but I figure hey, why not work on these two first. There was a he and a she. He said he wasn’t planning on voting. Then she was like WTF? You're not voting? So I told her to keep working on him. I am confident she will make him vote for Kerry. Eventually the person I was after came out. So I have 3 people in a pick-up w/ 3 dirt bikes in the back about to go well, dirt biking. And I keep talking.
What is a very important issue for you?
Gun control – like we mean everyone should have a gun.
Ok – like just a gun, or are you including assault weapons here?
Assault weapons too. Everyone should have them.
Oh well, to each his own.
He seemed like a Bush person, but he was cute, and I know where he lives so he might get another visit!
About guns – I don’t like them. One of my best friends was almost killed by one after he went after muggers w/ his own gun. I figure if he didn’t have a gun, then he wouldn’t have gotten in a car and driven after a stolen purse w/ his gun making him feel all powerful. The muggers were shooting into a house when he caught them and the just shot him before he could do anything. He does think that the reason they only shot him once was b/c he had a weapon of his own. Whatever. If he didn’t have a weapon of his own, then he wouldn’t have had the courage to go after them. I might be wrong b/c he is a cocky motherfucker and a kung-fu instructor. Also, I do believe that “if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns”. They are too pervasive in America to start taking them away now. The good people would return them, and the bad ones wouldn’t so as a practicality they have to remain legal.
Baack to where I was.
I am talking to them – they are backing out – still talking- on the street now and I have my head in the truck still talking. Then they mentioned the tattoos.
Look at us. We aren’t the regular voting kind.
It doesn’t matter what the fuck you look like. I love your tats – used to live w/ a great tattoo artist and had another roommate that was a piercer. JUST GO FUCKING VOTE!! AND NOT FOR BUSH!!
I left an absentte ballot form at their door along w/ a paper that briefly outlined Bush’s and Kerry’s stances on things. And my address. I figure it’s only fair that you know where I live if I know where you live. We only lived a couple of blocks away from each other.

I found another person who wasn’t going to vote. He was a black male, 24 yrs old. As I stand at only 5’1” I am not intimidating in person so this gives me a little more leeway than say, a 6ft muscular man in chiding people. I expressed my disbelief that he didn’t care about politics.
Don’t you know that the future president can impact your life in tremendous ways? You live in a country that gives you the right to vote. You are black so you (well really, your ancestors) had to fight much harder for that right than many others in this country, and you are just going to squander away that right? How could you?
Oh yeah – I had just woken him up also….

I think it’s pretty ballsy to knock on someone’s front door, wake them up, and then lecture them on politics when they have made it pretty clear that they didn’t give a shit. But he was very nice and really seemed to be listening to me so I kept talking. I don’t care who you vote for, as long as it’s not Bush, just go vote. I left two registration forms for absentee ballots so that he and his sister could vote from the comfort of their own home. He sat there listening to me in his driveway for maybe 10 minutes, in his PJ’s to boot. Here I am thinking, hey – I’m pretty good at this, maybe I should go into law school. It looks like I can make a convincing argument - maybe even enough to change his mind?

And then he has to go and ask me out. I hate that. Was he listening to me b/c of my brain or my face, or my ass? Who knows? Maybe he liked my attitude, my slight aggressiveness w/o malice. Maybe he liked my ass, slightly (maybe more than that) too large for a white girl. I look 100% American but really am 100% Cuban. It’s like I walk around in disguise. No one ever thinks I can speak Spanish. I really dig it actually. I just sit there while they chatter away in Spanish, let them put their feet in their mouth a few times, and then interject at a good point in conversation. Oh yeah – I also look young. I was dressed much nicer than usual (wearing a belt is the trick) but he was still floored to learn that I was 30. I do love that look of surprise.

Anyway, I just really hope he votes for Kerry. And enough others do too so that we can kick Bush out!

The only other person that sticks out is a Miami born Cuban who has convinced his whole family to vote for Kerry. That is really hard to do. The closest I can get to get my parents to vote for Kerry is to steal their absentee ballots and fill them out myself. Don’t think I haven’t told them that I am seriously thinking about it. If only they didn’t live 20 miles away….

"Saving one animal won't change the world, but it will change the world for that one animal."