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Dear fellow MoveOn member,
Sometimes you just have to start a really good story at the end. So here goes.
I'll never forget the expression on my 13-year-old daughter's face as she watched me call progressive voters across the country from our Connecticut kitchen table and urge them to get out and vote on Election Day.
She looked proud, excited, and maybe—so like a teenager—just a little bit shocked to see me in action. Of course, I fight for her future every day. That's what moms do. But this was different somehow, because call by call, conversation by conversation, she could see me making a difference in real-time.
You know, it's one thing for me to talk with my kids about what I value—about democracy and about what happens when good people don't step up to make it work. That's important, for sure, and I wouldn't trade our dinnertime conversations for anything in the world.
But it's another thing entirely for my daughter to see me live our family's values—to walk the talk, so to speak.
I'm signing up to make more calls this weekend and I just have to ask:
Will you join me and the thousands of other MoveOn members who've signed up to call voters and help us save the Senate together?
I have to be honest with you. I was dreading my Voters Rising call shift all week, almost like a root canal. Maybe you have some of the same worries that I had. I don't have great technical skills and I worried about imposing on folks.
But I told myself: "Just click the darn sign-up button, show up at your computer with your phone, and see what happens."
I'm so glad I did.
You can do it to! Can you sign up today?
As it turns out, making get-out-the-vote calls is really easy.
It took me two calls to get comfortable. On the third call, the magic took over. I found the courage to say the things that I only say out loud when I'm home alone, listening National Public Radio and doing a stack of dishes.
I talked with the person I phoned about why I cared so very deeply about their vote. I want equal pay for women and to get money out of politics. I want a just federal minimum wage and for wealthy folks and corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. I want my daughter to have say over what happens to her body—plain and simple as that.
It all just came pouring out. And the person responded with her own concerns and hopes.
From that point, it was clear sailing. Sure, I got some answering machines and some wrong numbers, but I also spoke with many voters who weren't thinking about the mid-term election, or who weren't planning to vote prior to getting my call because they were disillusioned or angry about the mess in Congress. I spoke with folks who were undecided and others who wanted to come out swinging in opposition to Mitch McConnell but just needed a little encouragement.
People wanted to hear what I had to say, as long as I spoke from the heart. That's the power of MoveOn's citizen-powered plan. That's the power you'll have when you sign up.
Can you? Right now?
Please don't miss the opportunity to join Voters Rising.
You'll have your own reasons for making these calls. For me, it's the love I have for my kids and this big, unwieldy democracy of ours—a democracy that's being eroded and corrupted before my eyes.
Well, not on my watch. Not any more.
And just one more thing. Like you, I have way too many things to get done in a day. I thought that signing up for a call shift would just add to the tired, back-to-school feeling that creeps in right about now. I was wrong. There's an irreplaceable feeling that comes from contributing like this, from exchanging ideas with folks across the country.
I'm uplifted. Hopeful. Raring to go. Because this is what democracy looks like.
And now that I've had a taste of it, there's no going back! Thank goodness.
And my daughter? She's hooked. And has promised to make dinner the next time I have a call shift. Now that's a deal.
Thanks for all you do.
–Suzanne, a MoveOn volunteer
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PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to eddie alfaro on October 19, 2014. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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