political perspective

I went to my first ever County Committee meeting this past Monday night, thrilled to be participating with hundreds of other newly elected or appointed people, ready to dive in and make change happen.

That’s not what happened. The meeting was disorganized, contenscious, with little to no context given. We basically rubber stamped votes that had been set up beforehand with shouts and screams and chaos at times. I, along with many others, walked out feeling that we were puppets in a show we didn’t understand, that our time had been wasted, and if this was how the Democratic Party worked, we were forever doomed.

Disheartening and despair pretty much covered my take aways.

But then I heard and read feedback from people who’d been in the system far longer than me and they were thrilled. Energized. Excited. It seems the messiness that left me so frustrated was actually different and new. That convening another meeting to attempt to clear up messes of this first one, was unheard of. That we were experiencing democracy in action even as we thought we were watching a sham.

Nice to know there’s another side in this.

And now I’m left with a “we’ll see” instead of “there’s no hope.”