I really hate my neighbors tonight.
Not because they turned out in record numbers for the Caucus and didn't give more support my candidate.
Rather, it's that everyone who stuck around for the resolutions (only about 20 percent of the crowd) was against what I brought to the floor.
I should have been better prepared for narrowminded self-interest, but I wasn't... Instead I was clobbered for reading this:
A RESOLUTION affirming dignity, and the civil and human rights of immigrants, with one voice and many faces.
WHEREAS, we affirm the inherent dignity of all people, regardless of color, religion, or immigration status, and we expect equality and justice for all; and
WHEREAS, hard working, tax paying Iowa immigrants embody the Iowa values of hard work, faith, and family and come to put down roots in Iowa communities in search of the American Dream.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED
1. We call for a unified Iowa voice against out of state anti-immigrant groups that seek to divide our communities.
2. We call for the reduction of illegal immigration through the institution of legal channels of entry and earned legalization for law-abiding immigrants who share our values and will come to achieve, belong, and contribute to the United States of America.
3. We will continue to work together in coalition with immigrant, labor, community, business, and religious groups to promote a welcoming Iowa and protect the civil and human rights of Iowa’s immigrant families.
Please tell me what you think of this language, because I didn't predict the storm that resulted from offering it to my precinct.
Still trying to sort out if it was the messenger or the message...
Nobody except my mother's mother writes handwritten letters to me.
So, when a Dean supporter sent a *long* handwritten description of her passion for the good doctor to me yesterday I was stunned.
I mean, I knew the campaign was doing this, but I hadn't yet received one of these letters. And didn't really expect to, given my Independent registration. Still, a day later I continue to think about it...
Not that the letter, or the accompanying position papers, persuaded me strongly.
Instead, I think the letter -- on top of the myriad phone calls (not the automated survey crap, but the live people who fly in to Des Moines to dial us all day) -- has me pondering the energy within our democracy.
I can't reconcile the amount of activity surrounding the Iowa caucuses with the disintegration of our government and so many other aspects of American life that seem so damaged.
Why can't campaign volunteers redirect their civic pride, their sense of duty -- whatever drives them to participate as they do -- to other causes throughout the year?
Maybe they do; maybe we just don't see it on TV, in the newspaper or in our mailboxes.
You would think that I would have at least made a decision to support a candidate today -- only about three days to go before Iowa provides some indication of the direction of the Democratic race based on the issues that are important to this state.
But I haven't.
And I probably won't until I walk in and see the faces of my fellow suburbanites who have hope that we all still make a difference in the policies and practices of our federal government.