Fear
It’s now fifty days until Election Day and I’m sitting in an Airbnb in the Hudson Valley contemplating fear.
I’m afraid about what the future holds if the election outcomes aren’t what we want. And from my conversations with many of you, I know you’re afraid too.
Since I’m near Hyde Park, my husband and I have immersed ourselves in everything Roosevelt. I’m reminded that in FDR’s first inaugural address, he described fear as a “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts . . .” The President was speaking to Americans who had lost their life savings from failed banks. They were standing in soup kitchen lines trying to feed their families and begging for jobs that no longer existed. Yet, FDR stood there and told them to not let their fear paralyze them.
Like my Airbnb, I don’t plan to stay in my place of fear very long. But sometimes you must sit with fear in order to name it and to put a face to it -- to know that it’s something that needs to be confronted and taken down. And as Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
Translating Fear to Action
Like controlling a fear of snakes, it’s helpful to recognize that Republicans are much more afraid than we are right now. Republicans in swing districts understand that every time Trump opens his mouth it hurts their chances of re-election. In June during the Special Session, one of my Republican colleagues confidently declared that gas prices would soon be under $3/gallon. I looked at him and said, “You’d better hope so.” And he exasperatedly replied, “Yeah, I know.” Gas prices are now hitting $4/gallon.
Many of us have been hard at work rebuilding the grassroots infrastructure of the Democratic Party for ten years now. And our efforts have something to show for it! Compared to my campaign to flip Senate 40 in 2018, candidates now working to flip districts have resources locally that did not exist ten years ago.
The most difficult task of downballot campaigns is fundraising. My children will most likely never run for political office because of listening to me beg for money on the phone in 2017 and 2018. In contrast, this year my campaign manager husband, Jay, coined the term “reverse call time” to describe my recent efforts to reach out to swing district candidates, offering to make donations to their campaigns. I must say, the latter exercise is more fun!
Speaking of fundraising, I do have a Republican opponent this year, and she’s a Trumper! Please consider donating to my re-election efforts either through ActBlue, or by sending a check made out to “Committee to Elect Sally Harrell” P.O. Box 941365, Atlanta, GA 31141.
Probably the most important thing you can do between now and Election Day is talk with your more “independent” friends who might be getting swayed into supporting Rick Jackson. Explain to them that having a Democrat, any Democrat, in the Governor’s office will moderate bills that pass out of the Republican dominated legislature. This is because of the Governor’s veto power. Right now, passing far-right legislation (for example: abortion ban, voter suppression, permitless carry, religious liberty, gerrymandered maps) is super easy because both chambers of the legislature and the Governor’s office are Republican and they all vote in a block. Having a Democratic governor who can veto these bills means Republicans must then come to the bargaining table, and that’s where real conversations begin. Without that, there are NO conversations, and over half of Georgia, including independents, are not represented.
Trusting Fear
I recently met with a candidate who asked me, “If I win this Senate seat, are the Republicans going to change the maps, and will I be a one-time Senator?” I answered honestly -- “they could and yes you might.”
Referencing Kalil Gibran’s poem, “Fear,” I reminded him that he is part of an ocean, made up of people all across this nation who are working to get us out of the mess we are in. It is our collective effort that will prevail.
“The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean.
Because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
It’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.”
Go out and be the wave -- so our very qualified candidates have some surf to ride their way into 2027 and 2028!
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." -- FDR
