Dear Howard,

Here is what I sent back to John Kerry after receiving an e-mail thank-you from him. I hope it rings true with you, too, and all of your organization who worked so hard for the goal we almost achieved this time. Let's all continue to stay focussed on the main point: so much power to do good (or evil) eminates from the Presidency and Congress of the United States. No matter what our specific causes and agendas may be, we must all remain focussed and united in taking back Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008 as the necessary foundation for all our other goals and causes--otherwise we will all continue to struggle to swim upstream against a torrent of reactionary, neoconservative turbulence financed by our own tax money!

Thanks and best regards,

Dr. Dennis Nagy
Chapel Hill, NC
______________________

Dear Senator Kerry,

Thank you for your tremendous effort!

It became clear to me during the campaign that we all had our work cut out for us regardless of who won this election. This loss is just a (hopefully temporary) setback in a multi-year, multi-decade effort to both move America positively forward as well as return to our core values: tolerance, positive leadership, intelligent dialog, true compassion--none of which are shown by the Bush Administration.

The Democratic Party needs very strong leadership and focus right now to wage a continuing effort to win back the White House 4 years from now and the Congress two years from now--please don't "fade from the scene" like other defeated Democratic Presidential candidates after past elections. You have not in any way failed the Democratic Party--we just all did not (yet) do enough to get people thinking about and feeling stronger about what really matters in their lives.The Democratic Party doesn't need any major overhaul or repositioning--just more focus, fine-tuning, and drive to capture a few more percentage points in 2 years, 4 years,... Please do everything you can to sustain, on an ongoing basis, the great momentum created during this campaign.

Dr. Dennis A. Nagy
Chapel Hill, NC

Dear Howard,

Thank you for your words, and for all you do. It's hard for some of us older folks not to wonder whether we can, indeed, survive another W administration!

Nevertheless, four of us held Meetup last night; the other three were all younger than I. One was Katie, the local 21st-Century Democrats organizer who has shared my house since Labor Day.

We did our job in Minnesota. We carried the state for Kerry; Katie and her volunteers targeted ten precincts in Republican Stearns County, MN, and carried all of them. Moreover, our Dean team worked especially hard in the Take Back the House campaign to recover control of the Minnesota House of Representatives. We needed 15 victories, and we got 13.

The Republicans have to work with a 2-seat majority, and a DFL-controlled Senate(which was not up for re-election this year). (For those who don't know, the party in Minnesota is Democratic-Farmer-Labor, or DFL.)

And one part at least of the silver lining is that we have an unlimited right to kvetch against the government, to track their doings, and to organize for 2006!

Blessings,

Linda Maloney+
Minnesota

Hello,

Yes, we have lost our ingenious system of checks and balances. We have failed our forefathers. They this time would come when the giants would arise and beat their chests and cause the earth and people everywhere to cry out in desolation and fear.

We are the ones who have the ears to hear their cries and who cry within our own beings at the desolations going on now and the desolations to come. There is no use for us to be fodder for their tortures and their prisons. This is the time to dance and to sing, to write poetry and music and to draw and to paint and to sculpt -- to the glory of life on earth.

The one thing I noticed during the campaign about the Pugs is their joylessness. They never sing. They never dance. They never praise God for the beauty and the bounty of our earth. This we can do. this we must do. this we need to do. This is our time to surrender every thought, to turn inward to the place where life or creativity reside and release into the world -- set free -- manifest -- the "voice" whatever it may be in each one of us --that speaks to us from within.

The grass can never be stopped from growing. No matter how many times it is trodden down or cut it never throws up its hands crying, "What's the use!" We must laugh. We must dance. we must sing. We must bring joy into the lives of our children. Joy and love of our beautiful earth, of one another -- This is peace. To live like that is peace. Peace is not absence or inactivity. Peace is alive and ready to live, to enter the world through us.

I am not talking "Pollyanna" here. I am not talking about pretending everything is as it was before. It is manifestly not.

This is the time when new songs are going to be written and to be sung -- songs that address the times we live in and lift us up. What I am talking about here is this: the current situation in the world today is that we must raise our own consciousness. Then and only when we have raised our own consciousnesses can we reach out to others all across the world, all those in other nations who had hoped for us in this election, who had prayed for us, who had counted on us. We are still here. We need only to change our course a little.

We no longer will have the public forum that our candidates could bring to us. We have long since lost the media. But we still have the newspapers. We can still write letters to the editor. We have Air America Radio. We need more liberal networks. We need liberal TV. I sense that we have Dan Rather -- CBS. His was the only channel and I count OUT PBS. I watched Lehrer and Margaret Warner and Brooks giddy with glee and filled with their inside jokes at our expense, the expense of our just cause, on election night. Mark Shields has become a ghost. He needs reviving.

It's a time to sing and write poetry and paint and draw and compose music and tell our great story of our love of our earth and of life to the world. We can raise our own consciousnesses that way and through ourselves the consciousness of the human race. It has been said that the dogs are becoming human and people are becoming wolves.

I'm not talking about opting out of our cause this way. I'm looking for a way that speaks to everyone, a way that is rising within me. I'm talking about Living this new way, every day. I'm talking about not taking those who are bent upon destroying us directly, not even with reasoning with them. That time is past. I'm talking about returning to the earth, singing How Beautiful for Spacious Skies at the site where they are bulldozing our national parks, at the factories where they are spewing out their noxious fumes. It was Jesus who said that he will know us -- that we will be known for -- by our love for one another.

Carolyn

Carolyn Lockwood-Pitkin
Vermont

Howard,

First I must thank you sincerely and with great admiration for the effort you put in during this campaign. That your followers are angry or sad is a factor of the goals you led them towards. They were achievable, as you and they well knew, but not, as it turned out, in the vehicle provided by the Democratic Party.

Below is our email exchange in August. I will let you decide if my concern was well founded or not.

We now have three Americas. Three? Red, Blue and Neutral!

The last time I saw this degree of bigoted divisiveness was in Northern Ireland, which I left 15 years ago to come to the US. The similarities between Blues and Reds here to the Nationalist / Unionist (or the Catholic / Protestant as it was spun in the US) factions that existed in N. Ireland in the late 60s is uncanny and depressing.

It took people working outside the established parties - inspired significantly by the civil rights campaign in the US - to stress and eventually crack the mold in Ulster. There were many small and medium sized organizations, with varying agendas, united in their opposition to the establishment. When the cracks ruptured, change was inevitable. Granted it had a violent element but that was mainly a factor of Ireland's history. In time the reformers became mainstream political parties and the process is now near completion. The same could happen here.

Though much used, the saying that "insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting it to turn out different" is relevant. To believe that, somehow, the Democratic Party can serve as an effective opposition is, in my view after this election, the height of insanity.

Who will lead us out of the quagmire? Who or what movement will inspire Americans to take back their hard won liberties? Maybe South America is the place to look? What sort of a campaign would Hugo Chavez have run, do you think? Or maybe, Howard Dean!

Tony
________________________

August 21, 2004

Howard,

You wrote
"So, if you still have questions or concerns about the Democratic ticket, or platform, please write to one of us with your contact information, including your phone number, and one of us will get back to you soon"

I continue to be on the mailing list, hoping to hear something inspiring. I admire your efforts to keep communications

I was an active Dean supporter. After his bad showing in primaries, I continued to fund him, waiting to see if he would remain true to his message. In my view he did not. I then waited to see if he and some others I could support would be able to influence the Democratic ticket. The record shows they were, in essence, ignored.

Kerry/Edwards say they will be more effective bully-boys internationally than Bush, and seem to think this will win us back respect and support from overseas. The only heat in the campaign centers around who did what 30 years ago or where troops army will be stationed in 10 to 20 years years time. What matters is what is happening now, and in the immediate future.

For example, the Medicare vote was flagged as a 'test of loyalty' by the Democratic leadership. Nothing has happened to those Democrats that voted for the bill. The planet is being choked to death, but this is an invisible issue. The output from our educational system gets worse each year. These are only a few of many many examples of the Democrats being the other side of the Republican coin. Both are clearly in the pockets of business. In addition, and in contrast with Republicans, the Democrats are out of touch with the rank and file of their own party. They may win by default, but this is a sad reflection on state of US politics. How can we 'bring democracy' to other countries if we don't practice it here?

If this ticket is the best the opposition can muster, then clearly we need more time under Bush so that another Dean can rise up, and this time stick with the program and carry the country. Check out Lou Dobbs who says the country should be run for the benefit of the people. Now, that's an approach that could catch on!

Bush or Kerry makes no real difference. The winner will be business. As usual. I can't hold my nose hard enough to vote for Bush, but if I do vote it will be for change. And voting for Kerry/Edwards is a vote for the status quo. I want my vote (or abstention) to count!

If the Democrats are soundly defeated in November, it could be the best thing that ever happened to the party. If a new party emerges, it could be the best thing that happened to this country since we kicked out the Brits!

I know there are many others on both sides of the divide who feel as I do.

Tony O'Doherty
Thousand Oaks, CA.

Dear Friends -

I sit in my office and hundreds of e-mail messages pour in. So many of you are despondent, drained, frightened and, literally, sick. So many say you want to leave the country.

But we are Americans. Moreover, Americans who are progressive, intellectual, socially conscious members of the political, media, academic and creative communities, and thus we bear a special burden of responsibility for the behavior of our society. It is OUR nation that is the imperial power in the contemporary world, and every stupid, reckless, selfish decision our nation makes has the potential to harm billions of human beings, today and for generations to come. It is our moral obligation to stand and fight to reverse our country's destructive policies, for ourselves, our children, and all humanity. Even if we move away (physically OR emotionally) from an America whose government policies we loathe, what will our disengagement beget? Only AMERICANS can win this cataclysmic struggle.

Go ahead, renew your passport, but also think about which activist organization you can join (or support financially) to minimize the damage the Bush Administration will wreak in these next four years. What project can you integrate into your professional life to enlighten American society? Can you become engaged in the looming battle for the soul of the Democratic Party, to pull from the ashes a party that doesn't move to the right but rather finds the language and the candidates who can appeal to Americans' best instincts and win?

Candidates who actually inspire the American people instead of receiving whatever support they can muster only because of hatred of the opposition? I own an original 1930's campaign poster for Franklin Roosevelt, a simple sketch of his face and three words, "A Gallant Leader." What candidate could issue that poster today and pass the laugh test?

I also have precious mementoes from working with Eleanor Roosevelt in the late 1950's and early 1960's in the "Reform Democratic Movement" she launched with former NYS Governor and Senator Herbert Lehman to vanquish the tyrannical, closed and self-aggrandizing Democratic Party machines in New York, and to elect progressives to the House and Senate (the NYS Congressional Delegation had some of the most hawkish Cold Warriors of the era until this reform movement rose up and threw them out of office). I remember working for Robert F. Kennedy on his 1968 presidential campaign and seeing thousands of "Red State" average people reaching to touch his hand and emotionally responding to his message of fighting poverty and ending a fruitless, horrific war in Vietnam.

Today, citizens in the Red States are frightened, and have been manipulated into voting against their own interests. While his core message was distorted in the context of the "Confederate Flag" flap, what Howard Dean repeatedly said to white audiences in the South was: "The right-wing has captured your loyalty and your votes through a cynical, Nixon-crafted 'Southern Strategy.' They support flying the Confederate flag over the State Capital, or opposed Martin Luther King Day, or side with fundamentalists to keep certain books out of the library or to put creationism in the classroom. But after decades of manipulating emotional symbols that attracted your votes, what has the Republican right really DONE for you? Millions of your kids have NO health insurance or access to quality medical care; the right has tricked you into believing that universal health care will mean the triumph of 'socialism.' You have lost millions of jobs. Housing costs are eating up 30-50% of your gross household income. Your kids are getting second-rate educations, and they have to mortgage their lives to pay for college. Your real standard of living has declined. Is all this worth it?"

Our greatest challenge is to get this message out in a way that connects, and to ease fears about social issues that have been cynically manipulated by the right to keep Americans from seeing how their core social and economic interests are being thwarted. YOU must help make this happen.

Ethan

Ethan Geto
former NY State Director for Dean
New York City NY

Dear Howard,

It's a sad, sad day today--but tomorrow will surely be better. There's no way to go but UP!

The following helped me and I hope that it will help you too.

Thanks, Nim

Nim & John Bellows
Rossmoor Dem Club
Walnut Creek CA
_________________________

As the wheels of the electoral machine grind on, I thought you would
appreciate these beautiful and inspiring words by Clarissa Pinkola
Estes, Jungian psychologist and author of Women Who Run With The Wolves .

by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have
heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered.
They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world right now.
Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment and often righteous rage
over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized,
visionary people.

You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have
aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders,
everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is
breathtaking. Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not
spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially
do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is that we were
made for these times. Yes. For years, we have been learning,
practicing, been in training for and just waiting to meet on this
exact plain of engagement...

I grew up on theGreat Lakesand recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see
one. Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able vessels
in the waters than there are right now across the world. And they are
fully provisioned and able to signal one another as never before in
the history of humankind... Look out over the prow; there are millions
of boats of righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though your
veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you
that the long timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a
greater forest. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms,
to hold together, to hold its own, and to advance, regardless.

In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how
much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. There is
a tendency too to fall into being weakened by dwelling on what is
outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is
spending the wind without raising the sails. We are needed, that is
all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet
great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know
them when they appear. Didn't you say you were a believer? Didn't you
say you pledged to listen to a voice greater? Didn't you ask for
grace? Don't you remember that to be in grace means to submit to the
voice greater?...

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of
stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.
Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to
assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely.
It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the
critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for
dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding
more, continuing. We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" to
bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will
not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene
in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck
shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks,
can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to
catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these
- to be fierce and to show mercy toward others, both, are acts of
immense bravery and greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light
from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you
would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you
can do.

There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I too have felt
despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it; I
will not entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate. The
reason is this: In my uttermost bones I know something, as do you. It
is that there can be no despair when you remember why you came to
Earth, who you serve, and who sent you here. The good words we say and
the good deeds we do are not ours: They are the words and deeds of the
One who brought us here. In that spirit, I hope you will write this on
your wall: When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe,
there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for.

This comes with much love and a prayer that you remember who you came from, and why you came to this beautiful, needful Earth.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D
Author of the best seller Women Who Run with the Wolves

Family and Friends,

It's raining here in San Francisco, which is appropriate, I guess. After 18
months of volunteering for both the Dean and Kerry campaigns, it seems that
52 percent of voters prefer George W. Bush for president. Go figure.

To those of you who voted for Bush, congratulations. I hope you're right. I
don't think you are, of course ;-) but really hope you are. I would be happy
to be wrong in this situation. My greatest hopes for the next four years are
peace and prosperity in Afghanistan and Iraq, and real progress toward an
equitable solution in Israel and Palestine.

To those of you who have guided me, organized and volunteered with me, and
supported me in my political efforts over the last year and a half, a
heartfelt thank you is not enough to express the depth of my gratitude. I
want to acknowledge the tremendous contributions to our country of America
Coming Together, especially the team in Reno, Nevada, and the local
volunteer organizers of San Francisco for Democracy and Kerry SF. You are
impressive. Well done!

This has been an extraordinary experience for me. I have learned so much
about our democracy and political process that it often felt like I was
taking a very long and intense Civics course. Even better, I have met so
many admirable people I would not have met otherwise; many of you will no
doubt be lifelong friends. Most importantly, I found my voice, defined my
beliefs, clarified my thinking, and took action to make our country better.

Even though we've lost an election or two, we have made America better. The
more citizens who take an active interest and an active role in the
political process, the stronger our democracy becomes. Imagine what Election
Day would have looked like if Howard Dean had not run and if none of us had
volunteered. The Democratic Party would be dead; and, contrary to what some
may think, in a healthy democracy, you need at least two healthy parties.

To that end, let's keep a skeptical eye on our government at all levels and
on the political parties and let them know when we approve of their policies
and actions, and, more importantly, when we don't. In Lincoln, Nebraska, the
north entrance of the state capitol is engraved with this advice: "The
salvation of the state is watchfulness in the citizen." Keep your eyes open
and make your voices heard.

Alane

Alane Bowling
San Francisco for Democracy
America Coming Together - N. California
San Francisco CA

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we
are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and
servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."

--Theodore Roosevelt, former Republican president, writing in an editorial
for the Kansas City Star, May 17, 1918, during World War I

Friends:
The piece below gives me some measure of hope and peace of mind, so I thought I'd pass it along. Our work has just begun.

Best wishes for brighter days and strength for the journey ahead.

Kristen E. Law
San Francisco CA


Subject: Epilogue

I am en route back to Austin and as I look over the clouds I am reflecting on the past few days and trying to muster up some optimism.

I am assuming that while I'm on this plane Kerry will concede the election. We have lost.

First, I want to share with you what I witnessed yesterday. I was a designated "voting rights advocate" for the Dem party at a precinct in northwestern Cleveland. It was a 100% African American community and generally poor. Most of the neighborhood uses public transportation and gets around on foot.

My fellow volunteers and I arrived at the poll at 6:30am. There was already a long line. I watched elderly men and women and mothers and children stand in the pouring rain holding on to one another. They were so optimistic and hopeful. They stood there with their "People of faith for Kerry" and "Working people for Kerry" buttons. Some of them sang to pass the time.

Children cried and moms said it would be over soon. They were reminding each other to push the stylus in hard so their punch card ballot would be counted. They repeatedly said, "we can't have another Florida." When they finished voting they proudly put the "I voted" sticker on their lapels and began walking home in the pouring down rain. When the precinct ran out of stickers at noon, people became very upset. What would they tell their co-workers, their pastor? What would they tell their children?

What would they tell their boss? They wanted to be sure everyone knew they had voted and that they had voted for John Kerry.

The overriding issue for the people I met and saw in Cleveland was the need for a living wage and a little respect. They wanted someone who understood that in this country you can work 12 hour days (or more) and still live in poverty.

They wanted to see an increase in minimum wage and better access to healthcare. Most of them were wearing uniforms.

They were postal workers, mechanics, firemen, cashiers, nurses, waitresses and maids. Sometimes I felt silly being there demonstrating to these voters how to use the ballot and reminding them that they could use another ballot if they messed up, etc...

They knew what they were doing and what they had to do. Most of them had been voting for 30-50 years. They were all inconveniencing themselves and being inconvenienced more than I will ever be as a voter.

Would I walk 15 blocks to the polls in the pouring rain carrying two children? Did I have that much personally at
stake in this election or any election? I know the answer to that question
was and likely will forever be "no."

Yes, I did feel I made a small difference. I told a young woman that her 74 year old diabetic and ailing mother could vote from her car. The young woman raced home and got her mom. She wouldn't have voted otherwise b/c she couldn't stand for long periods. I escorted the polling officials to the car so she could cast her ballot.

I sent a young man back in who had been denied a provisional ballot b/c the address on his voter registration was different from the one on the registration rolls. He had recently moved back in with his parents. He came out an hour later with a big thumbs up and gave me a hug. I sent a young girl off in a pre-paid taxi to go home and get her passport and try to vote again b/c she was denied the right to vote b/c her state issued ID had a different name on it than her registration card.

She was a brand new voter and they had gotten her name wrong on her registration card. She needed two forms of ID to prove it, or so they said. Very few people in this neighborhood have a drivers license. She came back 30 min later in a cab holding her passport and smiling.

I begged a mother to stay in the line even though her kids were crying. I found another young woman in the library to watch her children so they wouldn't have to stand with her in the rain. She stayed and voted. I showed several young new voters how to use the ballot so they would feel confident and relaxed. They were so excited and took the demonstration very seriously.

So, now here I am and it is 11:15 am on Wednesday. I have a choice. We have a choice. I can crawl into myself and build a wall and feed my anger, frustration and pain. I can start eating Ben & Jerry's for dinner again and just say, "screw it. people suck. what is the point?"

Or I can remember all the good things I learned about people over the past few days. I can think about all the proud union dads with their daughters and sons up on their shoulders waiting 5 hours in a massive crowd to see John Kerry. I can think about the marine in Warren who'd lost an arm in Iraq and who spoke so eloquently about his sacrifice. I can think about all those voters waiting in line in the rain demonstrating such pride and faith and optimism about our nation
and system despite all the schemes to suppress their vote they'd read about in the paper. This election was about them.

Their future was and is at stake. They have lost a great deal more than I - we -likely will in my -our- lifetime. And yet I feel certain they are all out today
greeting each other on the side walk with a smile and racing to catch the bus to work singing a song in their head. They'll be in church Sunday praising God for his mighty blessings. And they will say the pledge of allegiance with as much conviction as they did yesterday. They will go on just as they have so many times before. Just like the woman that was unmoved by the statements of an ignorant cop, these people know who they are. They know they are good, loving, patriotic people who love America as much as the next guy. They know they work hard. They know they deserve better. They know we all pray to the same God. They know they love their children. And they know a better day will come.

And so we must too. So, we don't have the power to change the course of our country today. We DO have the power to choose to settle for changing and impacting the lives of those that we can. I helped a handful of voters cast their ballots Tuesday.

What will I be doing tomorrow?

Evvie

Evelyn Nazro
Public Strategies, Inc.

Hello folks -

I have wanted to write to you all day, but the need for sleep got in the
way. Now, rested, I awoke to a little sunshine breaking through the gray and
rain of this day in San Francisco, with even a hint of a rainbow.

It is not lost on me that the day's weather has been like a metaphor for
what I also awoke to in my Inbox ... the words of determination, anger,
hope, and resolve from so many of you. The outpouring of these feelings is
the best medicine for all of us right now, and I appreciate it so much that
you are taking the time to share them with me.

By tomorrow I will begin posting your messages on our website at
www.seniorsforamerica.com for all of us to share. I hope that some of you
who received meaningful responses from people you wrote to during our
letter-writing projects will also share those.

Many of you have received Gov. Dean's strong words of encouragement and his
invitation for all to attend their DFA Meetups tonight. I share his
sentiments ... "This is not an ending"... we are a strong community and we
will endure. (please visit http://dfa.meetup.com/ to locate a DFA Meetup
near you ... held on the first Wed of each month at 7 pm.)

Finally, I'll leave you with the following words from Thomas Paine that
someone sent today ... that are as timely today as when they were first
written.

Thinking of you all,

Howard
_________________________

"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier
and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service
of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and
thanks of man and woman.

"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this
consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious
the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is
dearness only that gives every thing its value.

"Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods;
and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article
as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."

--Thomas Paine
_________________________

Howard Vicini
San Francisco CA