The campaign so far has been a mixture of ups and downs. Steve has to do a LOT of driving, we have a pretty spread out district. He also spends lots of time away from home. We are not rich; we can not afford for Steve to quit his job.. so on a normal day he wakes up early to go to work in Nashville and kisses me goodbye while I am still asleep. After a long day at work, it is time for him to campaign. He drives to any number of locations across Tennessee to meet voters and speak at events, by the time he gets home.. I'm sleeping. There are weeks where I don't see him at all or only in passing. Sometimes I have the opportunity to go to events with him and love it when I get to hear him speak. Instead being upset or left out, I have decided to use this as an opportunity to become a better communicator. One day I realized that I have become rather involved in my community and more aware of the issues that are all around me. The best part of it all is all of the amazing people that we have met and the friends we've made that maybe we would have never met otherwise.
I don't believe they said this to be mean, but statistically we have a small chance at winning. There is about a 93% re-election rate of sitting congressmen (even if they are disliked). The sitting congressman has name recognition and usually has more money.
We have met some people who talk about the changes that need to be made, they talk about how unhappy they are with how things are now or where they see our nation going if things stay the same. Yet they do not want to be the first to stand. The term 'slacktivism' comes to mind, which is defined as merely a feel-good effort or sacrifice on the part of an individual that has little practical impact in actually helping the cause. Steve will sit down in meetings with people who want to see change, people who ideologically agree with his beliefs and still will not help. Why? They don't want their name on an FEC report, they don't think you have a chance at winning and would rather support a 'sure thing', they want to wait and see what happens, they want to see someone else step up first, they want to be your friend behind your back but not to your face because of who they might upset otherwise.
When Steve tells me about these meetings, I get upset. The meetings seem a waste of time to me. My husband just spent time away from home, money for gas and food, and lost time he could have used on some other more productive campaigning. Besides the personal reasons I have to be upset, it seems backward to me. The founders of this nation set up a system where 'We The People' have the freedom to choose who we feel will best represent us. How can some complain about how things are then support and re-elect the same person and expect things to change? This is the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different results. Making ads and printing materials and gas and staff and ... and... and this campaign costs money and resources and time and we can't do it on our own. We weren't meant to do it on our own... that's kinda the point of community
One last thing I'd like to point out, that I think some have forgotten. The current congressman in our race was once a no-name candidate who won his first race with basically no experience either. Soooooooo....
What would happen if people put their money where their mouth is? I heard a pastor say once that you can tell where a person's heart is by where their checkbook is. What would happen if we all supported what we believed in? If all the people who believe in Steve and his message helped in any way (not just financially) we would win.. I have absolutely no doubt about that.
"Onward up many frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. Oh! the places you'll go" -Dr. Suess