U.S. President-elect Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in Chicago December 18, 2008. REUTERS/Jeff Haynes

On Sunday, Dec. 14, 15 people in Flagstaff, Ariz. responded to the Obama campaign’s invitation to attend a “change is coming” house meeting that one woman — with a little help from her friends — agreed to host. It was one of 4,000 such meetings to take place that day.
Ten women, six men: 15 whites over 45 — if not 50 — and one younger black woman. Why were they there?

“Although I’ve been a lifelong Democrat and am a practicing news junkie, this was the first time I actually participated in an electoral campaign. Now I want to make sure the change really happens.”

“I hate our healthcare model that focuses on treatment rather than prevention. I went to Barack’s Web site and wrote him a personal letter from my heart. I found it immensely empowering.”

“After the last eight years of active desecration of the environment, we need to turn things around. I am really concerned about the security of our food supply.”

“I am so jazzed about regime change…. If it weren’t for the excellent health insurance I get at work, my husband wouldn’t be covered.”

“I’ve been involved in politics since I was in grad school … I love the way community organizing really works. My family is blessed to have healthcare, but that’s a big policy concern. And living in Flagstaff, affordable housing is an issue that concerns me directly.”

“I teach at a special education school and we’re all about service learning and teaching sustainability … For the past seven years, my family has had no healthcare coverage because I don’t get it at work.”

“I’ve always been avid about politics. I went from being a Barry Goldwater supporter to participating in the environmental and antiwar movements. I’ve given money to various campaigns. I guess I’m ready to be involved more personally.”

“I come from upstate New York and also started out as a Republican — of the Javits type I guess doesn’t exist any more … How do we channel what’s been created in the campaign into helping our elected officials make a difference? Perhaps the people can actually have a voice in what legislation gets enacted, and maybe that legislation will actually help the people.”

“This was the first time I got involved in an election, although I still feel I didn’t do enough to get Obama elected; all the same, I am really grateful for the turnout. This is the first time I feel hope for our country’s future. I have been so tired of feeling embarrassment and despair. I want to practice doing something about the promise: it’s so much more difficult to get up out of your chair and actually do something. I guess if I have to have an issue, it would be ‘quality of life,’ which involves everything else everyone has mentioned. I’m so tired of narrow-mindedness and ignorance being accepted and labeled ‘family values.’ I’m excited about the opportunities we have now … On election night I was sitting there going, ‘O.K., how are they going to steal this one?’ I’m so very thankful for the country getting behind Obama and want to do whatever I can to help him be successful … I am very disturbed about the increasing disparity in class structure: the country is not supposed to be this way.”

“I’ve been in a Buddhist monastery in Canada the last four years and returned in October thinking of what I can do to help…. I was involved in the GI Rights Hotline in California and I’m very concerned to continue to help out the military, but lately what’s touched my heart deeply is the prison-industrial complex. We need restorative justice.”

“I was oblivious to politics until this election. In the past, I felt that politics was a dinosaur that should die. Now I’m hopeful it doesn’t have to be that way. There are so many issues. With all the difficulties we have now, I hope I see some glimmerings of real organic fundamental change, so that special interests are no longer running things, like the healthcare industry and drug cartels orienting our approach to health. We also need a complete overhaul of the ‘industrial model’ for universities I saw in action when I worked at NAU.”

“I’ve never been that interested in politics, but I do like the idea of community-based change, of having the grassroots affect policy…. It’s up to us really. He’s not going to be able to do that much on his own. He’s going to need a huge groundswell. I’m concerned about healthcare, local food production — even though we live in Flagstaff … The way our government works and the influence of special interests gets pretty discouraging sometimes.”

“I came here because of my love for Grand Canyon National Park and my opposition to the ‘National Park-industrial complex” and the way this administration has been ruining the parks for short-term profit and exploitation … I have a long history of involvement in electoral politics … I’m concerned about civil liberties, discrimination, human rights, pollution, preservation of Park quality, and I guess I’d say education underlies all that, as I see up close as a substitute teacher in the Flagstaff Unified School District.”

“I’m a bit of a cynic about politics, but I felt real hope in spite of all that when Obama was elected. I have a background in finance and economics and I’ve been disturbed by his cabinet choices in those areas, so I feel like I’m here to help keep this administration honest…. I feel we need a fundamental restructuring of the model of our civilization. The IPPC says we have only six years to start reducing CO2 emissions. That alone is going to require a major change in how we do everything.”

“I’ve been involved in Arizona state politics for 18 years. The Democrats here used to call this state the Alamo … Thomas Jefferson said we required constant revolution, something conservatives keep trying to make us forget. The United States is going to reinvent itself under the leadership of Barack Obama and under grassroots efforts like this one.

“Arizona politician Eddie Basha used to say that if your children are about to fall off a cliff, you can either put a fence at the top or a hospital at the bottom … We should promote schools instead of prisons for economic development.

“My issue, I guess, is the economy because it influences everything else. We need to focus on the true economic fundamentals and return to an equalitarian, mutual aid approach to the economy. The economy needs to serve the people.”

Our hostess completed the circle by describing a career of service broken by some 23 years of corporate existence and concluded, “Mother always said, ‘It starts with you.'” That was not the first time these stories were punctuated with tears, laughter and huzzas of approval.

Now that we all knew each other, what could we actually do? The Obama campaign had suggested Martin Luther King Day — the day before Inauguration — be a national day of service, that we plan an “event” or a project. We watched a video from the Obama campaign which reprised some of the themes people had already articulated themselves — specifically, “Obama can’t do it all himself.”

Talking about one specific project or event proved far more difficult than what brought us there. We agreed it should be non-partisan, something that sends a message of change, that would have a ripple effect and could be “big.”

One participant was concerned: “Aside from projects, I think we all need to take a hard look at how we live our own lives … [and how we use resources]. I’m just trying to pay a lot of attention to how I live my own life, day to day, hour to hour.”

How could we link the absence of a kitchen in the city’s new temporary homeless shelter — which already has a shortage of beds — and the class skewing of nutrition, nutritional education, community gardens, the outreach program of the new local clinic that is much of the community’s sole access to primary healthcare, do something that would impact the whole community, in January? Could we build on the excitement, energy and involvement generated by the campaign itself — all those phone bank volunteers? How could we bring people together?

One man objected:

“Policy is all very well, but what will touch the lives of people directly? We know the city has a huge budget shortfall; that will mean layoffs. We have neighbors who don’t have jobs, who can’t pay for heating, who are going hungry. How can we make a concrete difference to people who are struggling through this winter — make a difference in our neighbors’ lives right now?”

A woman suggested:

“What about piggy-backing on NPR’s idea of a national day of listening? We need to hear these people’s stories before we know what to do next.”

Another person interjected:

“Yes, that way we could mobilize lots of people: we could go to the soup kitchens, the homeless shelter, the schools, the jail, and hear from people directly.”

We had a professional facilitator co-hosting the session or we’d probably still be talking. The meeting adjourned only a scant quarter-hour after it was scheduled to do so, with the hostess charged with drafting a statement about the day of action for participants’ critique.

Behind Barack Obama, I suspect the ghost of Saul Alinsky was smiling on us all.

Reprinted from truthout.org.