Why am I writing?
Just looking back at my older posts, it’s clear that I
haven’t written in two years. Primarily,
this has been due to my current employment.
I always intended to go back to this blog after my employment ended. I was signed into a 6-month contract, which
was extended, then extended, then extended… and now I’ve been given a 2-year
commitment within my organization.
At this point, I may well never leave, which is practically
unheard of these days. So if I want to
write, my employment is no longer an excuse.
Today, I have the perfect excuse to write. It’s my 30th
birthday, so I want to reflect (rant) on what my life has been like as a
political professional.
Who is a political professional?
When I say life, I
really mean life after college, which
ended in 2010. I’ve been working in and
out of politics ever since then (more in than out at this point), which is
really not what I expected. That’s
typical among most of my colleagues.
None of us really planned a
career in politics, and even fewer of us majored in anything remotely like
political science.
Though we didn’t plan politics as a career, neither did we
fall into it by accident. The common
theme among my colleagues is an intense interest in people, and finding ways to
help them. We all want to save the
world.
We’re the people who followed the news closely and didn’t
like what we saw. We didn’t t take the
status quo as given. What makes us the
same is that we always knew, inherently, that saving the world is
possible.
We drove the vehicle of hope and change, and we
succeeded. What the world didn’t realize
is that change can look very much the same… it seems subtle, but only because
while the world changes and policy with it, the old institutions don’t go away,
and they fight change with every fiber of their existence.
The truth is, if we aren’t changing the world as people and
as professionals, the institutions will change the world. Their version of change often looks and feels
nostalgic, but it’s far worse than what we remember the old days to be[1].
How did I get here?
I had always figured myself for a career in government
service, like my father and brothers before me.
I tried the private sector and hated it.
Government service is loveable work, but the pace is so excruciatingly
slow. Only politics has the blend of
excitement and worthiness that keeps me interested.
Many of my colleagues will tell you the same story. Working as a field organizer is one of the
most stressful jobs. So many of us have
ended up in emergency rooms from panic attacks. Many more of us ended up with
shattered relationships. We’ve quit and
tried other things… but we’re not made for the rest of the world. Maybe we’re addicted to stress.
Whatever it is, we come back. I don’t know why. If you want to really know what it’s like to
be a field organizer, pick up a phone book, dial 150 people, and ask them all
to vote, then spend the rest of your day driving to everything resembling a
political meeting in your town that you can find. Once you’re home, look up every social group
in the area and call their officers to see if they’ll sit down and talk with
you. In your spare time, read as much
news as possible. That’s an easy
day.
Truthfully, I lied when I said I don’t know why we come
back. Despite the panic attacks, despite
being horrible, horrible friends, despite the despicable hours and inadequate
pay, we come back because nothing is more fulfilling than fighting and winning
for an important cause.
