Tag: activism

As you may or may not know from my previous posts, I have some strongly held political opinions. While that has been true since I was a teenager *mumblemumble* years ago, I’ve always confined those strong opinions to voting and having discussions with friends and, occasionally, starting arguments with strangers on the internet in places like a Breitbart comments section.

Yeah, I know it’s stupid and pointless, but sometimes I get in a mood to have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent. It may not be fair, but it’s fun!

With the current state of politics in the United States, I decided that I was going to try something different. I decided that I was going to do what I could to help the campaign of my favorite Democratic Presidential primary candidate. I was hoping to work in a local campaign office, but I was even willing to get my out-of-shape ass out on the street to knock on doors, hold signs, or whatever they needed really.

There are few decisions I’ve made in my life that I regretted so quickly.

I signed up to go to an organizing meeting. I also applied for an actual, paying job with the campaign but, as I said, I was willing to help however I could. I signed up and applied on the same day, about a week and a half before the organizing meeting. Apparently, this put me on the “This Guy Must Love Getting Spam Email” list. I got at least two emails per day for four days (counting the very day I signed up!). And it wasn’t because I’d made contact twice; I have separate emails for personal and professional stuff. This cascade was a result of signing up for the organizing meeting, sent to my personal email. Then, for the next two days, I received four emails each day. FOUR!!!

Now, that may not seem like a lot. It isn’t really that many, I suppose. It’s possible that any given organization, especially one that is ramping up for serious business, might have many different things to communicate to allies. However, all of the emails were about the same topic: sending the candidate money. There was not one single email about anything else, aside from the initial acknowledgment that I’d signed up in the first place. They weren’t just copies of each other, either. They were separate and distinct fund-raising emails! The bottom line was the same, but they weren’t just copies. This was a DELIBERATE STRATEGY! Somewhere, some consultant was looking at his watch and thinking “Okay, three hours have passed. Time for the next email blast!”

Sure, I get it. Running for the highest office in the country is expensive. Getting funding isn’t easy, especially when you aren’t sucking up to the very people running our nation into the ground (looking at you, Biden!) in order to get their filthy, blood-and-oil stained cash. I get it.

But for the love of all that’s good and right in the world, couldn’t they come up with a way to solicit donations that DOESN’T directly punish their supporters for being, y’know, supportive? Maybe some kind of email bot that tracks whether or not the recipient is responding? One of the reasons I was signing up to help in person in the first place is because I’m by no means wealthy. Donating money isn’t really in my comfort zone these days.

After the second day in a row of four distinct fundraising emails, not only did I not send money, but I also blocked the email address of the campaign HQ and didn’t go to the organizational meeting. That would only put me on more lists for more email! I shudder to think of the deluge had I actually sent any money. That would have elevated me to the “Known Sucker” list!

Thus ended my brief flirtation with actually being involved in a political campaign. At least for now. I still plan to vote (of course) and continue to have political discussions with friends but that’s it. (I’ve stopped borrowing trouble by trolling right-wingers. Mostly.) Frankly, the sense of desperation that the emails conveyed was a real turn-off. However, I may still put in some volunteer work as things come down to the wire in the primaries. Then we’ll see about the general election. But, until then, leave me the heck alone!