Showing Up in House District 16

I'm not sure a day goes by when I don't read an article, op-ed, or letter to the editor bemoaning the state of democracy. Across the country, Americans equate their government to invaders from Mars. Many feel that they have no say in how their lives are governed, that there is no hope for anything better, and so they give up and opt out.

As coordinator of Linn-Benton for Democracy, the local Deaniac organization in the Heart of the Valley (Cor-vallis: heart - valley; there's your local geography lesson of the day), I can vouch that we deanistas gots no truck with that line of thinking. We paid attention to Howard Dean's message two years ago — "You have the power! Take back your country!" — and we got involved and stayed involved. Had the rest of Oregon, and the country, followed our shining example, John Kerry would be president, gays and lesbians could legally marry, and Karen Minnis would instead be talking about just how many fries customers would get in "her house."

One of the key themes in Dean's message, one that rings clearly through everything he says, is personal responsibility. He speaks directly to individuals, like a doctor to his patient. To each voter, one by one, he says: "You can make a difference. You! Do something to make that difference." Here in Benton County we are doing that. We made sure we kept our county commissioners in office when they took a courageous stand for marriage equality. We are personally involved in our children's classrooms, we are running for all the "little" offices, we are showing up to make a difference.

Showing up. Another thing Dean likes to say, not an original statement but on the mark: "Showing up is half the battle." That's why he was in Texas Monday, and why he's visiting all the red states, repeatedly. He knows you have to be there to make a difference. In the real world, you can't phone it in. You can't be a part-time patriot.

Which brings me to House District 16. We have a problem here, a legislator who may well have set a two-session record for most unexcused absences. Our incumbent Democrat has not shown up for us in Salem, and what was clear to many of us last year when we voted for her opponent in the primary has become unmistakeable to even more people this year: We have to do better than this. We need a state representative we can count on every day of the session, and for the period between sessions. The grassroots may be the heart of a democracy, but leaders are its soul. Leaders who demonstrate excellence provide a voice for the many who support them. Leaders have the ability to translate mass desires into tangible actions. Leaders take the kinds of singular actions that are available only to them because of their unique position in our systems. The grassroots provides the energy; the leader provides the opportunity.

Not all leaders, of course, have to be elected to office, but when we do elect someone to an office, we expect that person to be a leader. Not just an election winner, a leader. House District 16 has the opportunity to elect a true leader next year, someone who does not need the false legitimization of an election but a person who has been demonstrating for years that she is one of those rare citizens, a born leader. In deciding to challenge once again for the Democratic nomination for HD16, Sara Gelser is taking her proven record to the next level and providing us with a chance to have a representative in Salem we can count upon -- a leader who knows what she is doing.

(Full disclosure: I'm doing her website, saragelser.com, as I did last year.)

Sara is a relentless personification of all Howard Dean emphasizes. She shows up and works as hard as she can to help us all take back that which rightfully belongs to us: our government. After the disappointment of losing the primary last year, she became an integral part of the Benton County Democrats' campaign. She took on the crazymaking task of organizing the different phone banks. The grace she showed in defeat demonstrated to many skeptics that her campaign to unseat an incumbent had been based in a genuine belief that she could do a better job. Her devotion to helping Democrats win last fall proved to many doubters that she was not oriented on personal aggrandizement but aimed at the same "take back our country" beliefs that fueled the activity of hundreds of new volunteers in Benton County.

Sara Gelser is a tested candidate, winning re-election to the school board, beating the odds to come so close in the 2005 primary, and doing the hard work of walking the streets, evening after evening, tireless in pursuit of what she believes to be the right thing. She is smart, and that never hurts; unlike a certain national leader, she speaks in full sentences, on virtually any matter of policy, extemporizing intelligently, enthusiastically, and convincingly. If someone approaches her from a point of opposition, her first and natural inclination is to sit down for a cup of coffee and have a conversation -- and to spend much of that time listening. But perhaps most importantly, given the record of the past two years, Sara does the one thing we seem to need more than ever, the one thing that is required for intelligence, passion, and talent to be of any use at all:

She shows up.

(BO editor kari chisholm changed my title to "The Democratic primary challenge in HD 16"; see the site to read submitted comments)