HOW DEMOCRACY WORKS

Yesterday I went to the wonderful  march in San Francisco, protesting the insanity of our country's suicidal policies concerning climate change.  I ran into Jessica Tovar, who I had worked with in 2004.  We were trying to get the City to pay attention to the terrible pollution in some parts of Bayview Hunters Point.  Jessica was a paid organizer.  I was running for Congress against Nancy Pelosi.

Jessica is still working as an environmental organizer, now in the East Bay.  I told her that, when I ran for Mayor  of San Francisco in 2011, the only Green on the ballot, Clean Power SF was my absolute FIRST priority.  This is a project to build small wind and solar installations throughout the city.  It was all ready to go, but nothing was happening.

This is my leaflet with my platform when I ran for Mayor.

At first, I was the only candidate for Mayor talking about Clean Power SF. But during the campaign, a lot of the other candidates picked it up -- although not Ed Lee, who won.  Nevertheless, right after the election, Clean Power SF moved forward.  Now we have Clean Power SF in San Francisco.  Jessica told me that  other cities were sending people to San Francisco to see how it works. 

I feel that I helped make Clean Power SF happen.  I am so proud of myself.  There I was on Saturday, marching with thousands of people who deeply believe we need to change the world -- and FAST!  I had been able to do something because I was running for office, because I had a platform.

Yes, protesting is crucial.  But it's meaningless unless we  elect people who are moved by our protest.  The common wisdom says that protest demonstrations brought an end to theVietnam war.  But that's not true!  Our elected representatives in Congress actually listened to us and cut off funding for the war.  Boom!  War over, abruptly.

In contrast, we saw what happened in the run up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, when Congress didn't give a damn what the the voters thought.  All over the world, masses demonstrated against the U.S. invading Iraq.  But the people we elected to Congress paid no attention.  I'm ashamed to say my own representative, Nancy Pelosi, supported the invasion.  That's why I ran against her in 2004. 

I am so thrilled at all the wonderful people running for office.  It's just great.  This is what we need.  The right people are out there.  We just have to elect them.  But we cannot elect them if they're not running for office.

If you run for office, even if you don't win, you can effect change.  I did.  So, onward!  Work your ass off to elect someone to office who you believe in.  Or even better, decide to run for office yourself!  Yes!

This is how democracy works.  And it's a LOT of work, let me tell you.  It can also be fun. When I ran for Mayor of San Francisco in 2011, I had a lot of fun ... and did some good. 

Here are some photos from the protest:

JESSICA & ME