TheBanyanTree: Last Night

[Jena Norton]

This isn't really political, or maybe slightly. It's more telling you about
last night and what I saw happening around me.

This area of CA is schizophrenic. We vote non-partisan for city and county
officials, both Democrat and Republican (depending on who the farmers like)
for the state legislature, and Democrat for Congress. But we vote Republican
in most presidential elections. This is not an area either party can call
its own in any election, unlike the big urban areas around LA and the Bay
Area. It's a mix of descendants of many diverse groups and recent
immigrants. Dust bowl refugees, Christian farmers from Japan, dairymen from
the Azores, Italians wanting a different life, Scandinavians and Germans
looking for farmland, Southeast Asians fleeing war and retribution, Punjabis
wanting more than India could offer, and of course, new immigrants and
descendant of Hispanics and the indios in Mexico-you can find them all here
in almost every town.

Merced is a small city-around 80,000. The county has only a little over
200,000 people in it. Despite having a University of California campus and
community colleges, it's still very rural and dominated by agriculture.
Almost every job in the county is affected by the ups and downs of the
farmers. We have many commuters who moved here, especially on the West Side,
from the Bay Area for cheaper housing, but many of them have left because of
the high gas prices and home foreclosures. And those that have stayed are
not very involved in the local political scene. Being a commuter to Los
Banos, I can understand that, because I haven't gotten very involved in
Atwater's politics.

We have had a very small but dedicated Democratic Party group over the
years, but it usually only appears when our Congressional representative or
our state legislators are running, or there's a heated gubernatorial race.
We haven't had a big gala on our own in years. Our Congressman is a
conservative Democrat and has a big "bash" every year, but that's about it.

This year, the Presidential race energized the local Democrats, whether they
were for Obama or Hilary (or like me, Edwards). Their excitement spread to
family, fellow union members, co-workers, and neighbors. The feeling was
that we couldn't lose with whoever got the nomination. When Obama was
nominated, everyone united and the excitement heightened. I've been involved
in party politics on a small level since 1964, and even with Clinton, I  had
not seen this level of excitement and commitment to a candidate in years.
There was a bit of the feeling reminiscent of the 1960s, with memories of
civil rights, anti-war protests, and singing the old folk songs returning to
us older Democrats. The people who came to volunteer parties and began
working was phenomenal, cutting across any demographic group you could name.

Last night, we gathered at the "headquarters," an office donated to us by a
disaffected Republican. We had invited anyone and everyone, especially the
volunteers (which was in reality all of us, as we had no paid staff). It was
a very eclectic and enthusiastic group. I would step back now and then to
observe who was there.

Miguel is an older Hispanic with an intellectual disability who lives in a
near-by group home. He and a couple of his friends came every day to help
out however they could. They fetched, toted, cleaned, and generally looked
after the volunteers manning phones or doing other things. Jeff is our
volunteer coordinator, a local boy who took a leave of absence from a
prestigious Bay Area engineering firm to volunteer. 

Erma was born in Mississippi and is now a social worker for a foster agency.
Rob and Ann are an upper-middle class couple with a social conscience. Maria
and Helene are members of the Domestic Workers Union and work for one of the
in-home care agencies. Noah is the first Hmong elected to public office in
the area. There was woman in a motorized wheel chair who dropped by, went
home, and came back with table decorations for us, then stayed to celebrate.

There were teenagers who did not have that resigned, sullen look that said
they had been drug there by parents. Rather, they looked excited and
engaged. I noticed a couple of men who appeared to be older biker dudes in
leathers with ZZ Tops beards. There were some Japanese Americans, old enough
to have been sent to one of the internment camps in the 1940s, and their
grown children. A Pacific Islander did some cool moves as her own victory
dance. Young twenty-somethings with piercings and tattoos were there, too. 

It was a group very representative of our area. There was cheering and
chanting led by Miguel as the returns came in. We had champagne on ice ready
for the Big Moment. When the election was called for Obama, there was an
explosion of emotions. We cheered, we jumped up and down, we hugged, we
looked at each other with tears in our eyes. Then we hugged, cheered, and
danced around some more. We passed out the champagne and toasted the
President-elect and each other.

Last night, and throughout this campaign, I have seen a resurgence of hope
and a feeling that WE the people, not THEM the politicians, can make
changes. None of us who have been around awhile are starry-eyed enough to
think it's going to be like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." But when voters
are involved and excited about politics, I think it makes politicians a
little less complacent and more accountable. After all, when you know when
you owe your elections to a lot of ordinary people and not 34% of registered
voters, you think twice about business as usual. 

Obama's campaign slogan of "Yes We Can" seems to have struck a resonant
chord nationally. I think because with his successful campaign, beginning
with the caucuses on through to the national election, people saw a
grassroots movement could beat established politicians. They could change
things, make a difference. Yes, there is "politics" involved, but there's
also average people giving time and effort for a cause they believe in. 

It will be interesting to see if this grassroots feelings of empowerment and
commitment continue, if as president, Obama continues to elicit the desire
to do more for our country, just as JFK did. I hope so. It would be
wonderful to see a younger generation wanting to be part of our democratic
process, to bring about positive change, and to help America polish up our
tarnished image. I think these are what all Americans are hoping for,
regardless of their political beliefs.

Jena Norton