On the eve of the election, I’m given to memories of my childhood, when my father was running campaigns for the Democratic party where I grew up in South Jersey. It was an interesting way to grow up, and I’m kind of sad my kids haven’t had a similar experience. I was often pressed into service to fold and stuff mailers and or whatever odd jobs needed doing (and required little skill) at campaign headquarters. This was local and county politics mostly, although my father also helped with the campaigns of one congressman.
I remember that my father was constantly on the phone with one politician or another. They were obsessed with small intrigues…who was talking to whom, who had a bumper sticker on their car or a sign in front of their house, whose speech went on too long at the spaghetti dinner. It showed me that politicians are just people. There are really great people in politics and jerks too, but the blanket statements that all politicians are corrupt is just not true.
On election nights we would go to the HQ early in the evening, but then we’d be sent home with a babysitter and my parents would be out for one of the few nights of the year when they stayed out past midnight. If they were home early, it was usually a bad sign. If they were coming in at 2 am or later, it was usually with news that the full slate had won.
My father was also active in the ACLU and a local group called Casa PRAC that supported the rights of Puerto Ricans. (One of my strongest memories is of the meetings of the Puerto Rican taxi cab drivers in our living room…they were being harassed by the local constabulary, and my parents were involved in helping them to get legal representation). He was, in short, a dyed in the wool Democrat. But things changed.
My father eventually moved on from doing PR for the Dems to running a small newspaper. Over time his political allegiance shifted to the Republicans, but not out of any ill will toward his former client. He simply got tired of the myriad ways that government makes life difficult for small business people. By the time Reagan was in office my father had swung entirely into the Republican camp. My mother was fond of saying that he went so far to the right, he was about to go around the corner and bump into himself.
The election going on right now in Massachusetts has stirred up so many feelings and memories for me. I’m thankful to have had my desire to be active in politics awakened. I’ll be up late Tuesday one way or another enjoying every moment of it.
Go Scott Brown!
