As of this past Saturday, January 20, it’s exactly two years until the next President of the United States will be inaugurated. Right now, it’s less than two years and counting. For the average American (and this might include you), this is rather meaningless; after all, we just *had* an election, one that changed the composition of the political landscape. Most people aren’t going to care a whole lot until sometime in 2008.
But for political junkies (and that includes me), the 2008 season is already here– and actually, even for me, it’s here way too soon. It’s only barely a few weeks into 2007, and we’ve already got potential slates of contenders on both sides. For the donkeys, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, and Tom Vilsack have either thrown their hat into the ring or announced their intent to consider doing so. Add in Wesley Clark, John Kerry, Bill Richardson, and Al Sharpton, and you’ve got quite an ensemble.
Considering it’s the first time in ages we haven’t had an incumbent or an heir apparent in the guise of a vice-president running, the elephants are stampeding toward the ring as well. On that side of the aisle, we’ve got Sam Brownback, James Gilmore, Rudy Giuliani, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, and Tommy Thompson all saying they can picture themselves in the winner’s circle come November 2008. Newt Gingrich, Chuck Hagel, Mike Huckabee, and George Pataki are also flirting with the prospect of pre-dawn stakeouts at factories in New Hampshire and evening coffee klatches in rural Iowa.
I’ve long been a political animal, and here in the blogosphere, there’s plenty of company for anyone who is so inclined. But one thing that I’ve wondered about is the lack of political interest and activism at Gallaudet. Looking back at my college days, there weren’t that many of us who actively followed politics. Oh, sure, there were people here and there, but compared with the average college campus, Gallaudet was as apolitical a place as you could find. I’m wondering why that is– why are we generally politically apathetic? This isn’t to say Gallaudet is wholly unique– college-age folks these days are quiet compared with their parents and elders from the 1960s and 1970s.
But I’ve noticed it’s also the case among people long out of college as well– my circle of politically involved friends has expanded a lot since my college days, but the average deaf person I encounter views politics and political activism with the same interest one would accord an anthill– a certain amount of respect mixed with a healthy avoidance.
Even among the political diehards, I have noticed a tendency to sit on the sidelines– we’ll rant and rave, critique the news, make predictions about what might happen or what will happen, but for the most part, we don’t do anything more. I wonder if it’s a general tendency that the average person has, or if it’s something more specific to the deaf community?
As far as the 2008 race goes, I’m not sure who I’m supporting at this point, and I certainly am not sure who I want the final nominees for the two major parties to be. But I do know of at least two rabid supporters of Hillary in Deafdom– and I wonder if they’d be willing to follow up their words with action?
This is the time, really, for anyone interested in Presidential politics to get in on the ground floor. What I wonder is, has there been a visible presence of deaf campaign workers in any campaign before? Should there be? We’ve recently come through a protest, which is a political event if ever there is one. Could we take the knowledge and expertise beyond the (sometimes) provincial concerns and issues in our community, and expand our power and influence into the general political sphere? Can a deaf campaign worker raise the consciousness of political bigwigs and thus shape policy on deaf issues and disability politics in general? Do you see the deaf community as an untapped political constituency?
Put simply, should we remain on the sidelines, or is there a place for us at the table? What do you think?
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I have so many different theories explaining this apparent apathy .. which is clearly present not only among deaf adults, but also affects those in the hearing community.
The first thing that comes to mind is.. you described yourself as a political animal. For the average moderate who’s unskilled in arguing, it’s no fun getting entrapped in a two-hour argument over the number of troops in Iraq. That’s actually how so many political debates seem to stall- with the animals having their preferred spots for squatting and refusing to budge. Just one sentence I say can often be easily misconstrued - and usually is. I say this with deep familiarity, as I’m a lone Republican in the midst of my liberal peers (erhm, I meant to say Democrats..).
All that aside, I’m happy to tell you that I recall a number of deaf women volunteering on some campaign to go knocking around on people’s door and urging them to vote for Kerry. So, don’t lose hope. You just have to know where to look.
I agree, Julie– no fun getting trapped in an argument with someone who’s not respectful or willing to engage in a debate as merely an open exchange of ideas. I’ve had a few elsewhere, and some have actually been instructive and enjoyable, even though it was clear neither side was going to change their minds. I’ve also had “debates” with individuals who insisted on making insulting little digs or disrespectful remarks. It’s these type of “animals” (if you’ll forgive the subtle pun there) that discourage people, I think.
Don’t worry– the rest of us are willing to view you as our conservative peer. ;-)
That’s great– involvement, even at the most fundamental level, is a start. Visibility is key if we as a community want to ascend to some level of influence and power down the road.
From what I notice from interacting with the Deaf Community even with my Deaf family, most of them are generally Democrats. Yes, they complain about the government not doing enough for the Deaf but yet the Deaf didn’t advocate themselves enough to get noticed on the political landscape. There are not enough Deaf participants in the election process. I am more of an independent choosing a person who mostly closely are similiar to my values and my view of government.
Democrats or Republicans– doesn’t matter. My overall questions concern political involvement, regardless of ideology. I do agree that complaining gets you nowhere, which is why I’m wondering if we have a place at the table, or if we’ll just remain on the sidelines for the most part?
BINGO! Not enough participation. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pushed, prodded and begged my 24 year old deafblind roommate, himself a product of deaf institutes and a graduate of Gallaudet, to register to vote. He has yet to vote in even one single election. I’ve voted in damn near every election since I got the right to vote at age 18. The lack of understanding of politics and the importance of civic involvement is pathetic in the deaf community. Thus, deaf issues will not even break the surface until we start emphasizing involvement as much as we do reading and writing skills. The community also has its head up its collective arse, much to its detriment. It is too focused on internal squabbles such as what/who qualifies as bona fide Deaf, who is popular enough (i.e. hasn’t stepped on anyone’s toes) to lead Gallaudet, and who can throw the biggest, meanest, loudest pity party over the hearing oppressors keep deaf people in their dire straights. The fight for captions is great, but all to often it is turned into something designed solely to benefit deaf, rather than society at large, or even the disabled community at large. Such narrow goals and willful disregard of the realities of politics (give and take) keeps deaf issues from being taken seriously by thoe non-deaf community.
I’m trying as best I can to make a difference where it counts…out among the hearing people: I’m an appointed member of the disability commission with my local government, bringing the sole deaf voice to city accessibility, education, employment, housing, and transportation concerns. I’m there because I applied…and because I realize if I don’t do it, no one else will (and YES this community, Alexandria Virginia, is full of deaf professionals, very few of which are politically active outside of Kendall Green!) I’m chair of the ad-hoc elections commission, which is looking at ways to ensure disabled, and specifically deaf, people get to the polls in the first place to vote. I’m involved in the deaf leadership member committeee at the non-profit where I am employed. I am also pursuing a masters in public admin because the only way to change things is to join the team and work from the inside out! Complaining, protesting, organizing…all nice things, but they get you nothing if you don’t have two things: a vision, and a friend or two on the inside.
That’s great! How has your experience on the commission been so far? Running the ad-hoc commission?
I agree with you about voting; I often say if you didn’t vote, you don’t have the right to criticize. It is one of the more valuable rights we have in this country, and to not take advantage of it is to not realize the full benefits of being a citizen.
Well, the experience has been humbling. You realize that deaf are not the only ones who face issues borne of ignorance. Deafness is the disability closest to my heart, but I’m also learning how people in wheelchairs, blind people, and people with other hidden disabilities see the world. It’s helped me become more sensitive and more proactive in seeing that we are all in the same boat, so advocating for access on behalf of one group is really laying groundwork for your own group’s benefit as well.
As far as the ad hoc committee on election accessibility, this was set up after an issue I raised about being treated as less than human during my voting experiences, waved on like a dog because I couldn’t lip read what the poll officer was saying. I had wanted to bring more sensitivity to the election workers’ training, and propose simple cost effective solutions like having a pad of paper on hand to aid communication. It became something bigger, with accessibility to be examined from all perspectives. We have some concrete steps to take to improve the deaf and speech impaired experience in Alexandria’s voting precincts. Originally, I was just a member of the committee, but was encouraged to step up and take the lead as chair. I saw it as a challenge, and people who know me know I don’t turn down challenges. I gave a report to the full commission, and it was very empowering.
I wish more deaf would get over their suspiciousness of hearing world motives and join me at the table. We cannot expect improvements or attitudinal changes if we are adamant about not joining the game on the majority’s terms.
David,
This is a very important subject and I’m glad you brought it up. When I was at the NAD one of the most important things that they instilled in me was that one of the best ways we can change things in our favor is to be “at the table”. I wrote an email about this in Gally-L last year.
I think that part of the reason (but not the entire reason) why the deaf community may be less involved is because of communication barriers. It is easy to mingle among deaf leaders, but takes more time and effort to get to know hearing political leaders. Some notable individuals have courageously barged into the political scene on their own without the advantage of being a leader of a deaf organization/school (which would give them an opportunity that others do not have). We need more people like this.
In politics, money talks. There was an article in the Washington Post magazine last year comparing the political clout of the Jewish community and the Muslim community. The political donations/contributions were disproportionate by a tremendous amount. How much do deaf or deaf-related individuals/organizations give to political candidates? Probably not enough to gain access to the politician’s agenda and influence it.
As for social action, I have heard that the disability community sees the deaf community as a “sleeping giant” that continues to rest. Some may agree or disagree with this idea, but it is true in some ways. We have seen the worlwide deaf community band together (via tent cities, blogs, etc.) during the Gallaudet protest. But this is, as the Deafhood workshops at the NAD Conference taught us, a deaf vs. deaf issue. Many times people believe that we are fighting against audism and hearing oppression yet most of this is action is against other deaf people. I believe the last time the nationwide deaf community was up in arms against hearing oppression may have been during the CBS protests led by the NAD in the 80s. We saw isolated cases of this type of action in 2006 in the San Diego and Mississippi communities.
I do feel that we have an excellent opportunity ahead of us, as with the blogs. Our voice is stronger and comes through clearer than ever. Also I’d like to add, as I read on Grant Laird Jr.’s blog, there are issues that we do have in common with a large segment of Americans. Baby boomers, who are approaching their old age, are losing their hearing at alarming rates unparalled to the past (due to noise pollution today). They, too, suffer when there is not equal access for captioned videos on the internet. If we worked together, we could accomplish a lot!
wildstarryskies, this is a question I recently posed at my “private” blog. What is the (potential) future of the deaf blogosphere/DeafBlogLand? Should our voices be harnessed or channeled, or should we merely view it as a public square, with each of us carrying and stepping on our own personal soapboxes? What do you think?
Blogs are only as good as the number of people you can convince to read them.
True, true. Very true, CyanSquirrel. :)
Shane, interesting about our community being perceived as a “sleeping giant.” I wonder what the larger disability community perceives might happen should the “giant” awaken.
Do you think that we have to first work on the “deaf v. deaf” issue before we can channel our energies elsewhere? I attended the Deafhood workshops at NAD, but I was intrigued (and still remain so) by JAC’s presentation on Deaf Think Tanks. Do you think such “think tanks” could be part of the answer to increased political involvement, or do you think these groups will focus largely on internal community issues?
Also, I’ve noticed there’s tons of activism on captioning issues, but aside from that, most activity has focused on more internal community concerns (witness the current explosion over the mess in Oregon). I’m just wondering when our battles for civil rights will ever advance to a different level, and how.
I do feel that the current political climate is being polarized by those who have financial interests in dividing us. It does the Jerry Falwells, and Rush Limbaugh good to have us fighting with each other. The media conglomerates beneft, as well as they can simply pick up sound bites, run them against candidates and stir up the political atmosphere simply to sell newspapers. Lazy f*ckers. They use hot button issues such as gay marriage, abortion, as carrot sticks to distract extremists from the real problems we have today with the war, minimum wage, health insurance, housing, and most importantly, the environment.
It seems that the average person has noticed this, and this is why they have become apathetic. I mean, politicans fighting on TV over stupid stuff.. midnight meetings for Terri Schiavo?! Congressman complaining when the Democrats proposed having a five day work week instead of 3 days! In addition, the current administration is notorious for talking the talk and doing nothing else than what is on their own agenda, without a second thought to the consequences. The Repbulican party has been hijacked by hard righters, wingnuts who want to take us back to the 1950’s. The Democrats are just as bad in their own way - always centralizing, trying to please everybody. For instance, when Hillary was all, “It takes a Village” and “health care”, I really respected the lady. NOw it’s all about “flag burning” and “I support civil unions. maybe. sort of.” Pfft.
If I wasn’t a political junkie, I would’ve tuned out a long time ago, due to my disgust with the current political climate. But I care and I know enough about politics and current events to realize that we have real problems and I’d like to see a focus on that.
Forget the sound bites. Stop listening to the hard leftists and righters and actually do some work. I am proud of the current Democratic congress. They have already passed bills in relation to the mininum wage, began to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 commission (after SIX YEARS of our Dear Leader’s empty promises), promoted stem cell research, cut interest for student loans in half, and started rolling back billion dollar subsidies for Big Oil. That was in the first 42 hours. Don’t believe me? Check out http://www.speaker.gov.
And Julie, I have the utmost respect for Republicans. Unfortunately, I hope you do realize that the current state of the Republican party is crippled, incompentent and have failed. The party of “compassionate conservatism” does not advocate placing SUSPECTED terrorists in Guatamo Bay to be tortued. The party of “fiscial responsiblity” does not cut taxes during war time and increase the use of earmarks. The party that advocates small government does not increase government by 30% in the past six years (I don’t know where I read this statistic, but I did read it. Feel free to disbelieve me, as I don’t have proof with me right now). The party that believes in the “self-made man” does not target minorities with punitive legislation that serves only to limit their rights.
I hope the Republican party will recover, because in my Dad’s day, I actually had respect for their positions before they sold out to the K street lobbyists for easy money. I still do have respect for most Republicans I know, as they do not support those extreme positions. Good luck with bringing your party back. I’m working on mine - the Democratic party. :)
Back in 1989 or 1990, while I was living in Saint Paul, Minnesota, I received a postcard inviting me to attend a special reception to meet an “unknown underdog” who was running for the U.S. Senate.
I had never been that interested in politics - that was more my brother’s thing…he and my father would have lively debates on the topic at the dining room table, while I sat and ate my dinner in silence.
But there was something about this invitation that piqued my curiousity, and I decided I wanted to go. But of course - as Shane stated in his comment - the big issue was communication. While I am a pretty good lipreader and have above average speech skills, I didn’t feel comfortable going to this shindig without an interpreter. So I called the number on the postcard (via relay), and explained to the individual on the other end that I am Deaf, that I was interested in attending this event, and I would need the services of an interpreter. This person took down my name, my phone number, and relay number and promised to get back to me by the end of the day.
Yeah…right.
To my pleasant surprise, I received a call - directly to me via relay! - less than two hours later, informing me that interpreting services had been arranged and “the candidate was looking forward to meeting me.”
This was the first time I had ever attended one of these campaign things, and I honestly didn’t know what to expect. But when I walked into the room and greeted the interpreter (whom I recognized), this man came bounding up to me with a huge smile on his face, gave me a big hug, and then standing next to the interpreter so I could both see his face and her hands, introduced himself, told me how happy he was that I had come, and asked a few questions about myself. During his comments, he mentioned the Deaf President Now Protest, how the students at Gallaudet had taken a stand and changed the world as a result, and how we all needed to follow their example and do our part to create change. Needless to say, I was touched by his words.
That man went on to become Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, known for being a liberal and a leading spokesman for the progressive wing of the national Democratic Party. He was also a close friend of Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, who of course has close ties to the Deaf Community due to his deaf brother.
I credit Senator Wellstone with inspiring me to get involved in politics, and I worked on his campaign for a short time. Even though I left Minnesota shortly after his first election, I continued to follow his political career carefully. It saddened me deeply to learn of his death…he was killed in a plane crash on my birthday - October 25, 2002.
At one time, Senator Wellstone actually did consider running for the Presidency in 2000. However, after investigating such a possibility, he withdrew his candidacy. Later, one of his colleagues in the Senate would recall a conversation he had with Paul, in which Paul was asked if he was seriously contemplating the White House. Wellstone’s response was to say “I’m short, bald, and Jewish. Would the American people truly elect a man like me to the Presidency? Not a chance!”
Somehow, I would like to think that the American people have progressed to a point where we are capable of electing a candidate based on far more than his height, religion, or hair loss.
Virgina,
You surely are lucky that you had a great experience working with a true patroit….
Do you think Paul Wellstone would be easily won for the White House if the entire voters are blind?
Virginia– wow. I’m impressed with Wellstone’s behavior. It’s a shame he died. I think this is the key for us if we want to engage in national politics– find a politician who shares the same sense of inclusivity as Wellstone, and work our asses off for that person. Naturally, this doesn’t necessarily mean all of us– not everyone shares Wellstone’s political worldview. But it could be an important step.
I agree- I think we’ve come a long way in our society and in our political choices. Interesting you mention religion– there are questions surrounding Mitt Romney right now because of his Mormon faith. Can Romney emulate JFK and transcend this? It’ll be interesting to see what happens should Romney still be in the field by the time the first caucuses and primaries roll around.
I am not very impressed with Romney, he supported gay marriage before he was against it. I only see a person who is willing to change his position and advocate bigotry against a whole class of people in order to achieve his presidental ambitions.
His mormon faith is not an issue for me personally. His opportunistic bigotry is.
If it was up to me, I’d just get rid of the Republicans and Democrats and vote for him:
http://reason.com/news/show/118086.html
But alas, with all of the senses of entitlement among our supposedly disenfranchised groups, he will never be President. That’s a sad commentary on today’s society, nevertheless.
Aw– was hoping we’d finally arrived, and we could rally around Ron Paul. ;-) At least we know who will be getting an order for lawn signs from you.
Each to their own, I guess. *grin*
The lack of discussion on this Blog may be an indication of the community’s priorities. Topics that cover Gallaudet, deaf identity, and deaf politics appear to be more valued than equal access, changing public policy, and gaining influence in American politics.
..which is especially ironic, because making changes in the grander scheme of things can ultimately lead to utopia in your backyard.
I think it’s because those concepts are more easily understood than equal access, etc. The deaf community leaders also focus more on Gallaudet, deaf identity and politics.
So if the leaders break it down into easily understood concepts, and how those issues have a direct impact on the deaf’s quality of life, like Noelle’s guest blog on here, about the captioning issue, I think you will see more interest.
Deaf Pundit,
I don’t know if I agree with that assessment.
It probably has more to do with the community’s priorities than the clarity of the concepts or messages conveyed by deaf leaders. And like you said, the leaders are just as distracted with Gallaudet, deaf identity, and deaf politics.
But that is human nature, many are more interested in the latest Paris Hilton drama than legislation being pushed through Congress that would have negative consequences on their lives.
While society forges ahead, the deaf are left behind.
Deaf Pundit, are you saying deconstruction is necessary? If so, how?
Hmm. I suppose I am saying that deconstruction is necessary. I agree with Shane on this one actually. I think we’re both right.
Our priorities are screwed up, and the leaders don’t really convey the messages clearly. Nor do we don’t have a very long attention span.
This really needs to be a grassroots movement, and needs a critical mass to start. We need a mass of political savvy bloggers who can break down it to the elements.
NAD isn’t doing much on this front. They do send out an e-zine talking about what they’re doing, but it’s not very interesting. It doesn’t have that hook, like the blogs on here do.
For instance, Noelle’s blog: It broke down the captioning videos on the internet to its basics. Then Noelle illustrated how this impacts us, and how it will continue to impact us if we don’t do something about it. That did generate a discussion on what to do.
The NAD e-zine doesn’t do that. All it says basically is: “This is the issue. This is really important! Contact so and so to let them know that this is important!”
We need bloggers or leaders to explain to the community why voting matters, this whatever issue is important, and changing public policy is important.
Politicians do it all the time to win over voters. It’s one element of leadership, really. Why should I follow you if you won’t tell me why?
And I think that’s one key element we’re missing here.
I agree with you- I think you and Shane are both correct. Clarification always helps, but I do think it depends a lot on collective priorities as well.
However, deconstruction by bloggers on politics would need to be taken with a grain of salt– it’s rare to find anyone who can be totally objective on politics– most people are biased to some degree, and it will show in any deconstruction/explanation posted. The danger is that some people may come to rely on or unquestioningly follow one or more people’s recommendations/suggestions without thinking for themselves. That’s why I prefer people do their own research and reach their own conclusions. You may or may not agree with me, but I think it best that anyone reading my blogs/opinion pieces come to the discussion with an open and INDEPENDENT mind.
Touche, David. You’re absolutely right in that regard that the readers have to have an open and independent mind.
God knows many of us don’t have an independent mind… *sighs*
Which leads to another question, Shane. What *should* our priorities be? As Julie points out, working on different levels can enact changes that will influence our community across the board. But I think first we have to determine what our priorities are going to be.
Shane, I’m not sure I agree with that assessment. I thought this post was very well-written. I agree with the info contained herein. I think we are dropping the ball big-time about not working to influence public policy, other than NAD’s lukewarm e-zine. Any comment I could make would be along the lines of “Yup, right. Absolutely. Yes, a must.” I didn’t feel this would contribute significantly to the discussion. So why bother to comment? I bet I’m not the only one who did not comment for this reason. ‘Course, maybe there is some apathy going on here too. *shrug*
Good point. Such answers, even if in the form of one-liners, would be especially helpful if written in response to Noelle’s recent guest blog, for example, about captioning on Netflix. If Netflix saw that over a hundred people responded to her blog, then they’d be more inclined to take action.
Hi All,
I sure hope members of the Deaf community run for office such as City Council, Mayor, Assemblyperson, State Senator in their respective cities and states and hopefully one day see someone in the House of Representatives and moving up to the Senate in 2008. Over the years, I’ve experienced several opportunities meeting political figures of both parties in California (Republicans Michael Huffington, Bob Dornan, Jack Kemp, Pete Wilson, Dan Lungren then I switched to the Democratic party while meeting Howard Dean, Al Sharpton, Jerry Brown (believe it or not he bumped into me as I was watching John Acre interpret for Art Torres while serving Delegate for the 5th Assembly District, Phil Angelides and Steve Westly, etc..) I’ve learned that if you really put in time and of course money is always a factor then you could get to places. I’m working promoting and drawing attention to deaf issues while serving on the Board for Disabilities Advisory Commission. I do also want to point out today, politics is quite challenging and it’s up to us to write the laws (policies).
I had Hugh in mind when I wrote this post– he’s one of the few people I know who have been very politically active in the past few years. Although he’s had difficulties due to problems over communication (Virginia, you’re sadly correct in this- I think communication barriers, or the perceival of such barriers, are the biggest problem we face in getting involved in politics), Hugh served as a delegate. Now imagine if several of us served as delegates? What about the next level?
We’ve had a sprinkling of deaf politicians here and there; we’ve had a few people run for office. I’m hoping this continues, not just for the sake of highlighting and promoting issues of importance for the community, but also to demonstrate that Deaf people are just like anyone else, and are capable of participating in local, regional, state, and national dialogues as anyone else.
David,
Can you tell us more about Hugh Lafler?
Yeah David tell them about me. Smile…
Ha, ok, tell us about yourself Hugh.
Hi Shane,
I’m just one guy living in Northern California who has passion for politics. Smile. Responding to what David pointed out in comment (#77551), the most challenging aspect of serving as a delegate and alternative for the Central Committee while attending meeting was getting an intepreter. One of my friends who is a blogger himself quoted,”They don’t accomodate you.” I feel cost is a factor and accessibility along with educating political organizations will open doors for all deaf who aspire to seek public office and attending meetings so forth. The more delegates we send to the Conventions would give us opportunities to address our concerns with politicians or at least become one of them (policy writer). I know there were a few (delegates) who were with the Kerry campaign back in 2004.
Hats off to Virginia L Beach and CyanSquirrel and the rest for their inputs. One of these days someone from the deaf community will be in Congress. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, Hugh! You bring up a very good point– critical mass. If we get enough people in on a certain level, then that group can work en masse to effect more changes, which in turn leads to more people involves, which then leads to even more leverage. I agree– I don’t think Congress is totally out of reach. It’ll require the equivalent of a Barack Obama running from a district with a large deaf population, such as the DC area, Rochester, or Fremont. For that to happen, it’s gotta start with people like you and CyanSquirrel, who participate actively. If you ever run, I’ll help you out. *grin*
Personally, I really believe politics at any level is exciting. Being involved with politics gives one an opportunity to change things to a certain degree, big or small. Attitude plays a major part. The very least one can do is to register to vote. Then vote when election time comes, either in the primaries or general elections. I vote in both, each year.
I have participated in politics prior to attending Gallaudet. My incentive was I needed a job. I was laid off from General Electric Company at the time. So, I thought about running for office. I was determined not to let my deafness get in the way. “Sure why not?” I decided to run for General Assembly Seat of Pennsylvania 2nd District. That represened, at the time, the entire west side of Erie, PA. That year was 1986. I had a rude awakening to say the least. I took out a petition to get my name on the ballot. I needed 300 signatures and had 3 weeks to do it. I tried running as a Republican. Even though Erie had a voter registration of 4 to 1 in favor of the Democrats, not many people are willing to run as a Republican. So, no one else did for the Asembly seat. I thought I will worry about the Democrats in the Fall General Elections. So, the Republican Erie County Chairwoman handed me a stack of Republican addresses. She said for me to get my friends to help and get more than 300 signatures because the Courthouse will need to verify each signature on the pettition. I left the office with a stack of addresses. It weighed between 5 to 10 pounds. So, I was excited to get started. Then the realization hit me. Only a few of my deaf friends were registered to vote. And they all did not live in Erie. Of those who did, were not interested or had other obligations and did not have time to help. And my hearing friends did not live in the county but the next counties away from Erie. “Oh, boy” I thought. Then I thought about it more and decided “Ah what the heck? I will do it myself! I have 3 weeks to do it. It will be a cinch. Plenty of time!” LOL! Boy, was I in for a rude awakening. To make this short, I knocked on over 450 Republican households. I never had so many doors slammed in my face. I wore out 2 pairs of leather shoes. Embarrassing to say, I only managed to get 22 signatures on the petition. 21 were from men who knew my father when they all were in the Army back in WW2. And one signature was from a very elderly lady who knew my grandmother from the Italian neighborhood.
The excuses people used, not to sign the petition were ridiculous! For example…1. Many told me since I have an Italian name I should run as a Democrat. What was I doing runnig as a Republican? 2. Some have said, I am really a Democrat who had changed party registration because I did not want to be bothered by some many Democrats for support. What makes you think I will sign your petition? 3. Oh yes, some Deaf people have told me, what chance do you think you will have? Hearing voters for sure will vote against you. Etc. My response was, “Let’s all find out once the elections are over.
There were two things I have learned from this experience, “know your constituents” and “organization.” You need both. For a small office you really do not need much money to run. If you have a lot of help in getting people to sign your petition it will make it a little easier. I did not have that help.
Still laid off, I decided to attend Gallaudet College. About 2 years later, the famous event took place, a miracle happened! The Deaf students protested and once it was all over and the smoke had cleared, I. King Jordan became the first Deaf President of Gallaudet College. “Boy” I thought, “if the Deaf took a stand here, there is no telling how far they can go!” I had expected to see some of the participants to run for public office after they graduated from Gallaudet. Maybe they did, but, I have not heard if they did. Then several years later, again it happened, The students and all others involved took a stand and had won! So, what do you say? Will anyone from Gallaudet University after graduation, run for public office?
We need to make ourselves visible. That is a challenge to say the least.
So, now we have several people coming out of the woodwork tossing their hats into the ring to run for President. Perhaps I should too, Why not? I’m a natural born citizen and 52 years old, Clean record. Respectable. Willing to listen. Nice guy but tough guy. Not afraid of confrontations on issues. I do not have the troublesome handicap of being hearing. So, I toss my hat into the ring as a write-in candidate for President of the United States of America