Burner vs. Reichert: it's personal, part II
It's no secret that I'm not a fan of Dave Reichert. Not only has he wasted his ime in office by voting exactly how he's told rather than exercising one iota of thought on behalf of his constituents, but as I wrote the other day his voting record also makes it personal for me.
I've posted many reasons on this blog why I believe people ought not to vote for Dave Reichert. Now it is time to present the flip side of that argument: reasons to vote for Darcy Burner. That's an important distinction, voting affirmatively for someone rather than negatively against the other person. I'll write more about that in an upcoming post, but for now let's stay on topic.
It didn't take long to brainstorm an admirable list of qualities Darcy has that make me actively support her. After I had the list, it was clear that they fell into two categories. One is a "nuts and bolts" category of practical, hands-on qualities that make her good at what she does. The other is an emotional category of personal traits that make her a good human being.
I'll start with the practical, hands-on qualities, because in the end we are ultimately voting on whether we think she can get the job done:
Brains. There's no doubt about it, Darcy Burner is smart. She is incredibly quick-minded, a fast learner, and has the great gift of being able to immediately understand the ways in which complex circumstances and situations relate to one another. After a lifetime of living with politicians who don't seem able to think beyond the next set of poll numbers--let alone show any interest in doing so--I long for leadership smart enough to turn our ship of state to a heading that points away from disaster. At heart, I'm a "root causes" guy; I would much rather figure out the underlying root cause of any particular societal problem and address that, rather than look for band-aid solutions that merely address the symptoms of the problem. I know Darcy Burner is smart enough to figure out those root causes too, and is smart enough to understand that the most economic way to fix the problems is to go after the root causes.
Values. Darcy shares my values. She certainly doesn't share everyone's values, but she shares mine. Or I share hers, however you want to spin it. We agree that the Right's efforts to privatize more and more elements of government (such as Social Security) represents a threat to the viability of the middle class. We agree that government has a valid and critical role in balancing the demands of business and industry (which provide people with jobs and necessary income) with the needs of people to have a healthy and vibrant planet to live on. I could list a whole bunch more, but you get the idea.
Courage. Darcy Burner has got to be one of the bravest people I have ever met. The easiest thing in the world to do is not to act. To sit on your hands and say "wow, that's a pretty big problem," and then do nothing. But Darcy acts. When she sees a problem she can do something about, she has the courage to take the initiative and do something. How many of us, when faced with the question of how to provide our child with the best possible chances in life, would stop to consider that, first, our kid won't have many chances if the middle class gets wiped out by Right-wing efforts to turn every necessity of life into a revenue opportunity for their corporate buddies? (There's that shared values thing again.) How many of us would realize that the root cause of that threat to our kid's future is failure of the government to adequately protect and represent its citizens? (There's that incisive intellect again.) And even if we did, how many of us would then have the flat-out courage to say well, I guess it's up to me to fix it, quit our jobs, and run for Congress? Not many, I would say, but that's exactly what happened to propel Darcy Burner into this race. That is also exactly the kind of courage and intellect in support of my values that I long for and crave in my elected officials.
Leadership. Leadership is the almost inevitable result of brains in combination with values and the courage to act. True to form, even before being elected to the House, Darcy Burner has shown a truly stunning degree of national leadership. When it became clear that the current House wasn't going to present any kind of serious alternative to the Bush administration's Iraq strategy (if you can call that morass of thoughtless and short-sighted blunders a strategy), again she said well, I guess it's up to me to fix it, and went off to create the Responsible Plan to end the war. In doing so, she has led the country to a different perspective on the war--that we actually do have a way to end the war responsibly, and that to do otherwise would be the height of irresponsibility--rather than the utterly bankrupt straw-man choice presented by the Bush administration between staying in Iraq forever or letting Al Qaeda overrun the Earth. (A false choice, I'll add, that has been taken up wholeheartedly by Senator McCain.) We should all be so fortunate to have Darcy's brand of effective leadership advocating for us in the House. I'm not going to pass up this unique chance to get it.
Influence. Leadership is one thing. Effective leadership, however, is something else entirely. It's called "influence". An effective leader influences people to think about things in different and more useful ways. An effective leader influences people to act in support of the changes needed to better their own and the world's situation. Darcy has already shown that she can influence a nation to think differently about Iraq (and in that case, to view the choice in much more realistic and useful terms). If you've ever been to her campaign office you will have seen how effective she is at influencing people from all over Washington to act, to volunteer for her campaign, because they know that electing Darcy Burner is the most effective thing they can do to address the root cause of the problems in their lives: ineffective government. Darcy uses all her talents--her brains, values, courage, and leadership, to create influence because influencing the masses to act for the common good is the only way things ever change. Just ask Gandhi, or Martin Luther King. They couldn't have changed anything without their ability to influence the people. As anthropologist Margaret Mead famously said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
So yes. I have an incredible amount of confidence in Darcy's ability to get the job done. Why? Because she's already getting the job done, and she's not even in office yet. Imagine what she can accomplish when she has official standing in Congress.
Those are the hands-on qualities that make me enthusiastic in my support of Darcy Burner. But there are emotional and personal qualities as well that I can't overlook.
Honesty. When you listen to Darcy Burner speak about any issue, it's impossible not to come away with the impression that she really believes what she's telling you. That's it's coming first and foremost from her, and not from a poll statistic. And if you ever press her on an issue, she's got the brains and depth of knowledge to explain exactly why she feels or believes how she does on that issue. There's no Palin-esque dodging the question and steering her answer back to canned talking points. Darcy has the guts to take a stand, stick with it, and defend her stand to anyone. It is refreshingly honest, and throws into stark and unflattering contrast the gutless, dismissive, vacuous, sound bite answers that have come to characterize political discourse in this country.
Trust. The other thing that comes through crystal clear when you hear Darcy speak--and indeed, I doubt she could hide it if she tried--is her strong passion for all the issues that face America today. Couple that with the honesty of her answers, the values we share, and her enormous intellect to figure out solutions, and you get trust. She's smart and she shares my values, so I trust her to deal with all America's problems in ways that are in my family's best interest. She's passionate about fixing them, so I trust her not to give up when the going gets tough, which it certainly will.
Friendship. Lastly, and most personally, Darcy is my friend. I met her in 2005, when her first campaign was just getting started. It was pretty much a fluke event. I certainly had no idea who she was before that. Back then, few people across the 8th district did but the impression she left me with was so strong that I knew immediately she was someone I had to support. We've interacted many times in the three years since then and I am glad now to number her among my friends. I have closer friends, certainly. What with her super-busy schedule, I have friends I see considerably more often. But she's my friend just the same. She's a good person. Her husband Mike is a good person. Her son Henry is a cool kid who I selfishly hope becomes a role model for my own slightly younger son. I know it's not possible, but I wish everyone had the chance to meet her and get even that same first impression as I got three years ago.
My enthusiasm for Darcy ultimately comes down to two things: I know she can do the job, and I trust her to do that job very well on behalf of my family and every other regular, work-a-day family across this country. Those are the reasons I support Darcy Burner. That's why I'm so eager to vote for her, and not merely against Dave Reichert. I hope others across the district feel the same.
Donate. Volunteer. Change America.
I've posted many reasons on this blog why I believe people ought not to vote for Dave Reichert. Now it is time to present the flip side of that argument: reasons to vote for Darcy Burner. That's an important distinction, voting affirmatively for someone rather than negatively against the other person. I'll write more about that in an upcoming post, but for now let's stay on topic.
It didn't take long to brainstorm an admirable list of qualities Darcy has that make me actively support her. After I had the list, it was clear that they fell into two categories. One is a "nuts and bolts" category of practical, hands-on qualities that make her good at what she does. The other is an emotional category of personal traits that make her a good human being.
I'll start with the practical, hands-on qualities, because in the end we are ultimately voting on whether we think she can get the job done:
Brains. There's no doubt about it, Darcy Burner is smart. She is incredibly quick-minded, a fast learner, and has the great gift of being able to immediately understand the ways in which complex circumstances and situations relate to one another. After a lifetime of living with politicians who don't seem able to think beyond the next set of poll numbers--let alone show any interest in doing so--I long for leadership smart enough to turn our ship of state to a heading that points away from disaster. At heart, I'm a "root causes" guy; I would much rather figure out the underlying root cause of any particular societal problem and address that, rather than look for band-aid solutions that merely address the symptoms of the problem. I know Darcy Burner is smart enough to figure out those root causes too, and is smart enough to understand that the most economic way to fix the problems is to go after the root causes.
Values. Darcy shares my values. She certainly doesn't share everyone's values, but she shares mine. Or I share hers, however you want to spin it. We agree that the Right's efforts to privatize more and more elements of government (such as Social Security) represents a threat to the viability of the middle class. We agree that government has a valid and critical role in balancing the demands of business and industry (which provide people with jobs and necessary income) with the needs of people to have a healthy and vibrant planet to live on. I could list a whole bunch more, but you get the idea.
Courage. Darcy Burner has got to be one of the bravest people I have ever met. The easiest thing in the world to do is not to act. To sit on your hands and say "wow, that's a pretty big problem," and then do nothing. But Darcy acts. When she sees a problem she can do something about, she has the courage to take the initiative and do something. How many of us, when faced with the question of how to provide our child with the best possible chances in life, would stop to consider that, first, our kid won't have many chances if the middle class gets wiped out by Right-wing efforts to turn every necessity of life into a revenue opportunity for their corporate buddies? (There's that shared values thing again.) How many of us would realize that the root cause of that threat to our kid's future is failure of the government to adequately protect and represent its citizens? (There's that incisive intellect again.) And even if we did, how many of us would then have the flat-out courage to say well, I guess it's up to me to fix it, quit our jobs, and run for Congress? Not many, I would say, but that's exactly what happened to propel Darcy Burner into this race. That is also exactly the kind of courage and intellect in support of my values that I long for and crave in my elected officials.
Leadership. Leadership is the almost inevitable result of brains in combination with values and the courage to act. True to form, even before being elected to the House, Darcy Burner has shown a truly stunning degree of national leadership. When it became clear that the current House wasn't going to present any kind of serious alternative to the Bush administration's Iraq strategy (if you can call that morass of thoughtless and short-sighted blunders a strategy), again she said well, I guess it's up to me to fix it, and went off to create the Responsible Plan to end the war. In doing so, she has led the country to a different perspective on the war--that we actually do have a way to end the war responsibly, and that to do otherwise would be the height of irresponsibility--rather than the utterly bankrupt straw-man choice presented by the Bush administration between staying in Iraq forever or letting Al Qaeda overrun the Earth. (A false choice, I'll add, that has been taken up wholeheartedly by Senator McCain.) We should all be so fortunate to have Darcy's brand of effective leadership advocating for us in the House. I'm not going to pass up this unique chance to get it.
Influence. Leadership is one thing. Effective leadership, however, is something else entirely. It's called "influence". An effective leader influences people to think about things in different and more useful ways. An effective leader influences people to act in support of the changes needed to better their own and the world's situation. Darcy has already shown that she can influence a nation to think differently about Iraq (and in that case, to view the choice in much more realistic and useful terms). If you've ever been to her campaign office you will have seen how effective she is at influencing people from all over Washington to act, to volunteer for her campaign, because they know that electing Darcy Burner is the most effective thing they can do to address the root cause of the problems in their lives: ineffective government. Darcy uses all her talents--her brains, values, courage, and leadership, to create influence because influencing the masses to act for the common good is the only way things ever change. Just ask Gandhi, or Martin Luther King. They couldn't have changed anything without their ability to influence the people. As anthropologist Margaret Mead famously said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
So yes. I have an incredible amount of confidence in Darcy's ability to get the job done. Why? Because she's already getting the job done, and she's not even in office yet. Imagine what she can accomplish when she has official standing in Congress.
Those are the hands-on qualities that make me enthusiastic in my support of Darcy Burner. But there are emotional and personal qualities as well that I can't overlook.
Honesty. When you listen to Darcy Burner speak about any issue, it's impossible not to come away with the impression that she really believes what she's telling you. That's it's coming first and foremost from her, and not from a poll statistic. And if you ever press her on an issue, she's got the brains and depth of knowledge to explain exactly why she feels or believes how she does on that issue. There's no Palin-esque dodging the question and steering her answer back to canned talking points. Darcy has the guts to take a stand, stick with it, and defend her stand to anyone. It is refreshingly honest, and throws into stark and unflattering contrast the gutless, dismissive, vacuous, sound bite answers that have come to characterize political discourse in this country.
Trust. The other thing that comes through crystal clear when you hear Darcy speak--and indeed, I doubt she could hide it if she tried--is her strong passion for all the issues that face America today. Couple that with the honesty of her answers, the values we share, and her enormous intellect to figure out solutions, and you get trust. She's smart and she shares my values, so I trust her to deal with all America's problems in ways that are in my family's best interest. She's passionate about fixing them, so I trust her not to give up when the going gets tough, which it certainly will.
Friendship. Lastly, and most personally, Darcy is my friend. I met her in 2005, when her first campaign was just getting started. It was pretty much a fluke event. I certainly had no idea who she was before that. Back then, few people across the 8th district did but the impression she left me with was so strong that I knew immediately she was someone I had to support. We've interacted many times in the three years since then and I am glad now to number her among my friends. I have closer friends, certainly. What with her super-busy schedule, I have friends I see considerably more often. But she's my friend just the same. She's a good person. Her husband Mike is a good person. Her son Henry is a cool kid who I selfishly hope becomes a role model for my own slightly younger son. I know it's not possible, but I wish everyone had the chance to meet her and get even that same first impression as I got three years ago.
My enthusiasm for Darcy ultimately comes down to two things: I know she can do the job, and I trust her to do that job very well on behalf of my family and every other regular, work-a-day family across this country. Those are the reasons I support Darcy Burner. That's why I'm so eager to vote for her, and not merely against Dave Reichert. I hope others across the district feel the same.
Donate. Volunteer. Change America.
# Posted by Jason Black : 11:54 AM
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