I’m down to the final big lesson I learned about American politics by running for office.
Politics on the national level is dirty, nasty, and ugly. Politics on TV is dirtier, nastier, and uglier. Politics online is the dirtiest, nastiest, and ugliest. But politics on the “retail” level—politics in person, locally, one-on-one is completely different.
I found local political meetings to be filled with retired schoolteachers and accountants and some of the nicest people you will ever meet. It was far more Norman Rockwell-esque than I was expecting, and it’s what gives me hope.
The Council of Elrond
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This is our real-life Council of Elrond, and I’d like you to be part of it.
Among the Greyhairs
I used the word “retired” above, and one thing that was immediately clear is that running for office means spending a lot of time among the greyhairs. Not that I don’t have a few grey hairs of my own, but at 57, I still often found myself the youngest person in the room.
Young people today tend to complain that politicians don’t listen to them or take them seriously, and I think: Yes, that’s because you don’t show up to the meetings. I did once have a bracing conversation with some very enthusiastic young men (perhaps a little too enthusiastic) from the John Brown Gun Club. I also had a couple of UVA students who worked on my campaign for a while part-time, and when I brought one of them with me to a local Democratic Party event, the ladies there doted over her like she was their granddaughter. It’s an experience I really recommend for young people who want to get involved.
There’s a reason the greyhairs dominate politics. Retired people simply have the time. They’ve put in their work over the years, they’re done raising their kids, and now they can volunteer in the unpaid, unglamorous, and frankly pretty thankless work of local organizing. Some of the people I met were from very impressive backgrounds, with long careers in the State Department and the FBI, and not just in Charlottesville, an urban university center where you would expect more of that. There are many people who grew up in obscure rural counties who went off to the big city and had illustrious careers, then returned back to where they came from, bringing all their skills and talents with them.
At every meeting of local Democrats, it seems there was always at least one retired schoolteacher. At one meeting in a small town in Pittsylvania County a couple of “young” people showed up—two women in their mid-30s, which counts as young at these events—and the retired schoolteacher immediately knew who they were, and they talked about which of her classes they were in, probably 20 years ago. In a small town, she knew everyone, because they all came through her school. And it was just so wholesome.
Back in my Tea Party days, I never thought I would spend a lot of time hanging around with Democrats,
