[SfN] now's the time to volunteer for the final push

[Alf Siewers]

Hi folks,

Now is the time to come forward in preparation for the final
Election Day push. We need each of your help at home or in the office on
the phone (in addition to the ongoing precinct work).

The state Nader campaign will shortly be sending out an e-mail
call for phone-bank volunteers to their lists. By arrangement with them
we'll be handling Champaign and some surrounding counties from here.
I'll be coordinating this activity and training phone volunteers.

If you can spare a few hours between now and election day to help the
cause by making some phone calls from home, this is a most-needed
activity. We'll be using both local lists and lists generated from sources
at the state level to encourage folks interested in Nader (or likely to be so) to get out and vote.

If you're interested, I can train you quickly and get you a portion of
the local lists to work with. Please respond via e-mail, or else give me a
ring at 328-7410.

When Teddy Roosevelt addressed the Progressive Party's convention early in
the century, announcing a campaign to battle corporate monopolies of his
day, he told cheering crowds: "We stand at Armageddon and we
battle for the Lord."

The Green movement today involves a different vision of reform coalition,
of course. But we can see a new curve in the gyre of political
history opening up, of which this movement is a part, the process of
renewing a basic motivation in American politics that goes beyond
corporate profit and philosophical abstraction to embrace real-life
human needs and issues.

But make no mistake, as front-page stories in the New York Times and
Sun-Times indicate today, powerful forces of corporate-linked political
machines in this state are targeting our efforts even here. They aren't
going to be getting much sleep between now and election day. They have
lots more financial resources than we do. Let's put our "people power"
into play. Let's show them what people are for.

Alf