Curmudgeon’s Corner by Joe Clark, SDC Member, February 5, 2019
Okay Solivita Democrats, it’s time to start kickin’ some. We’ve got new leaders and a huge job in front of us.
You know the job, get that spoiled brat out of the White House and get our beloved country back on track.
And you know the new leaders, Queen Bea Motley and “Get It Done” Gail Miller. I’ve worked with both these women for some time and I gotta tell you, there’s nobody better qualified to take our club where it needs to be.
Where it needs to be is larger, more active and more involved in our community. We know there are more of us than there are of them—but more of them get out and vote and that’s what we have to change.
First, we need to get more members in the Solivita Democratic Club. We all know people who agree with us politically but don’t belong to our club. Why? One reason is that there are a lot of people like me who hate meetings. I attended enough meetings in my working life that I wouldn’t mind if I never attended another. So, we have to make sure that going to an SDC meeting produces a benefit for each of us. That benefit could be a new insight, a new candidate or a new or renewed opportunity to get involved. I’m confident that Bea and Gail will give us those kinds of meetings.
So, what can you do? Invite a friend. We all know other people asking themselves “How did that #@!!&# moron get in the White House?” Talk to them. Invite them to our next meeting. You could even offer to bring them. But get them here ‘cause we need numbers to be effective.
Then we have to get out the vote. First through voter registration. There are people working tirelessly on voter registration campaigns but there aren’t enough people trained and willing to walk the neighborhoods and visit churches to register voters. I’m guilty. I took the training but there was always something else going on that I wanted to do. I hereby resolve to change that. (Are you listening, Janice Stapleton?)
Then we have to get our voters to the polls. There are lots of folks who are registered but don’t have a way to get to the polls. With all the early voting and vote by mail programs that are available today there is no reason anybody should miss the opportunity to vote. What we have to do is reach out to those people, get them registered and then teach them how to vote early or by mail if that’s what they need.
By the way, the Repubs hate those early voting and vote by mail programs because they understand our problem as well as we do. There are more of us but more of them get out to vote. We must change that and the only way to do that is shoes on the ground and ears and mouths on the telephone. I’m positive Bea and Gail will make us aware of these opportunities and it’s up to us to take advantage of them.
Of course, after we Dump Trump there is still a lot of work to do in our local area. As an example, the man who represents us on the Polk County Board of Commissioners is a Republican realtor from Lakeland. We ran some good campaigns in the last election but by and large they were unsuccessful. I was especially unhappy that Bob Doyel lost after running a great campaign. But he WILL be back and I will work for him again.
So there you have it. We have a great club that needs to be a lot bigger and better. We have two new dynamic leaders who will show us the way. I feel a Blue Wave comin’. Let’s help build it into a tsunami.
