Last week, a team of RepresentUs activists got a table at the Boone County Fair in Illinois, set up signs, and enlisted hundreds of new Citizen Co-sponsors of the American Anti-Corruption Act.
Better yet… they had a BLAST!
It was such a huge success that we’re asking you if you’ll do the same at your local fair this fall. It’s a great opportunity to enlist fellow volunteers and raise awareness about money in politics corruption and our exciting campaign to fix it.
Elizabeth Lindquist, John Galbo and their amazing group of volunteers tabled for six days at their annual fair attended by 200,000 people. During the fair, John and Elizabeth recruited Co-sponsors and volunteers willing to put time and energy into the campaign. Elizabeth wrote,
“Our experience at the Boone County Fair proved what many of us have thought all along, that ending Congress’s dependence on lobbyists and special interests is the one issue on which we all agree. In talking to people with differing political opinions, we found it is important to avoid getting wrapped up in discussions of specific examples of corruption. People have emotional attachments to all that. We avoided this and discovered that people really do agree with the all provisions of the Anti-Corruption Act.”
She continued…
When we asked, “Do you want to get money out of politics?” many people chuckled and wished us luck. We told them, “We don’t need luck, we need you.” If they responded with, “That’s never going to happen” we countered with, “We have a plan.” It was a lot of work but it was fun too. Being at an event like this allowed us to cast our net much farther and wider than we ever could just by talking to our friends and family. Going out into the community helped us to reach all those people that still don’t even use computers, but do care about corruption. It was well worth the effort.”
Most importantly, the folks in Illinois showed the rest of us what real change looks like: real people taking the time to talk to other people. This kind of passion is at the heart of every successful political movement.
They inspire all of us. I hope you will too.