Here comes the sun, and I say. It’s alright.
~The Beatles.
A sunrise begins with one ray of light.
That one ray is soon joined by others. Then still others.
Then even more.
And then, it’s morning.
The results we had last Tuesday were … perfect.
I’m not being overly optimistic here. In fact, the results were perfect because of the imperfections. We lost some pretty important races. There were some heartbreaks.
But last Tuesday we got two important things: an injection of hope, and a dose of reality.
We saw just how powerful we are as a movement, how our messages resonate, what tactics worked – and which didn’t.
We had wins in red states and red districts with unapologetically progressive nominees running grassroots campaigns with authenticity and integrity. Those successes gave us the emotional juice that we needed. They gave us something more than anger and fear to fuel us for the road ahead.
But at the same time we saw – in places like Missouri, where I live – how much work there is to do.
Had we run the table, we might have patted one another on the back, sighed and said “Whew! That was close! Democracy is saved! Now I can get back to normal again…”
We might have thought that unseating Donald Trump in two years was a foregone conclusion.
Now we know for sure that’s not true. We saw what happened in Missouri, and Texas, and Georgia. We know we can’t go back to sleep, because there’s work to be done and we’re not out of the woods. Not by a long shot.
But seeing those first rays of light after such a long time in the dark was, and is, magical. We’ve seen the crack in the door. And now we know that we can push through it, when we all work together.
And we saw that we have to work together.
So let’s do that.
Let’s get to work.
Actions:
Talk to me.
The political playbook was thrown out the window in 2016. This election was the first to be held under this new reality. And I’ve been both giggling and muttering under my breath about the political pundits who are giving their own takes on “lessons from the midterms” and what they think worked and what didn’t.
Know who understands what worked and what didn’t better than anyone else?
The people who volunteered for the campaigns, and the people that voted in them.
*Ahem* That’s you.
So let’s use this election as a case study and crowdsource our own knowledge. (And why the hell aren’t more people asking people like you and I about this? So odd. But anyway…)
I really, really want to know: What do you think worked? What didn’t? What ideas do you have for next time? What messages really hooked you? What fell flat?
If you volunteered for a campaign, what do you think they did well? What do you wish they would have done?
Let’s start the conversation about how we can do even better in 2020 now, while the memories are fresh in our minds.
So please comment below, or send an e-mail to hello@smalldeedsdone.com with your ideas. (If you are comfortable doing so, please include your district or state – messages and tactics can and should differ depending upon where a candidate/campaign is running.)
And that’s it for this week, folks. Next week, hopefully I’ll have thoughts from many of you to share so that we can continue to grow and evolve, cycle after cycle, with ourselves as both teachers and students.
Let’s go!
P.S.: Yes, I am indeed a copywriter! I take a limited number of clients, and with the political cycle ending, I’ll have some openings soon. Visit www.mhornish.com to learn more.
P.P.S.: If you want to help support this work (and help me “keep the lights on,” so to speak), you can do so via Patreon at
https://www.patreon.com/smalldeedsdone
or via paypal at
https://www.paypal.me/smalldeeds
My deepest gratitude in advance.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for writing. I read and respond to every e-mail. (Really! I really do!) We’re in this together.
If you want one more quick action, make someone’s day and send this pep talk to a friend or two.
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Small Deeds Done 