You can’t win if you don’t show up to play
I’m giving space this morning to the youngest Democratic state chair in the country. One year ago, Anderson Clayton, a 2020 Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy McGrath field organizer took on “the powers that be” in the N.C. Democratic Party. She ran for state chair at 25. And won. Last night, she looked back on that decision (on the hellsite).
(Full disclosure: I’m a friend and a fan. Clayton consulted with me for 3-1/2 hrs weeks before announcing her run. She did everything I recommended and more, including getting an early start. I funded a chunk of her campaign and watched it unfold as the only supporter over 35 on her campaign Slack.)
(Since winning the chair, Clayton has appeared on television, in national newspaper profiles, and raised funds across the country.)
If anyone is going to redeem the global climate and our reeling democracy, it’s not going to be the generations that oversaw bringing the world to this crisis. Fixing what needs fixing is not going to come from a dial-tested three-word slogan or a dead-on-arrival five-point progressive policy. Most political work is not an intellectual exercise or showing out in yet another street protest featuring decades-old chants. It’s grunt work. Endless grunt work. If you’re not prepared for that kind of organizing, stand aside and let those with the passion for it do it. They’re likely 40 years younger.
I have nothing but respect for Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and her career of accomplishments. I still want her to go home and make room for fresh talent to move up. She can take Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn with her. Their party will be stronger for it.
“It’s not [your, his, her, their] turn” is a party culture (another local tale about beating that here) that has little to do with talent. It wasn’t Barack Obama’s turn in 2008 either, or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s a decade later. The veteran organizers defied that culture and made history. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven,” says Ecclesiastes. Too many of our leaders don’t know when their season is up. It’s why we have a septuagenarian and an octogenarian running for president in 2024. But here we are. I’m talking about where we go from here.
Want to be a “playah”? Show up willing to do the grunt work. Then keep showing up.
Where’s change coming from in your state? My friends in their 20s have different sensibilities and cultural touchstones. And a fresher set of skills. So did we at that age. It is the way of things. Get behind the new.
You gotta get yourself together babe
Try to keep it cool
You wanna make it last forever maybe
Get behind the newGet Yourself Together by The Black Keys