Political Tourism

Hello America!

Its Presidential primary season, so that means I'm going out on the road in America canvassing door to door.  This year, like in 2008, I headed out to Iowa to volunteer for Hillary Clinton's campaign. Once again, I was able to meet people and have real conversations about the issues of the day.  I was privileged to learn about concerns from people in a very different area than mine and make deeper connections than the average tourist trip.

A Bernie Sanders Office wall

Good swag!

Each stop around the campaign trail, whether it be post-industrial cities in Ohio, Northeast Philadelphia, tech heavy Northern Virginia or Iowa farm country brings me closer to understanding America. I'm always interested in how our past immigrant migrations have left lasting cultural marks on different places.  Iowa is a land of Germans, Scandinavians and other Northern Europeans.  Little reminders like the types of Christmas decorations or facial structures and very blond hair reminded me I was somewhere different.  Northern Virginia in 2012 was interesting because it is a home for new immigrants and the rise of the Homeland Security, military industrial complex and tech industries are changing the color and culture of the average Virginian face.  Each door brings you to a person from a different country or color and reminded me of our great melting pot. Philly means going door to door in poorer black communities and thinking more deeply about income inequality and urban policy.  And all of them are interesting.

Political signs

This time in Iowa I also took time to go see candidates speak.  Iowa is lucky that candidates spend a lot of time doing retail politics and that means lots of small gatherings and hand shakes and plenty of interesting questions from curious audiences.  I went and saw Jeb Bush and Donald Trump as well as Martin O'Malley, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.  Along the way, I saw a really wide swath of people with vastly different political opinions. It was amazing.  I only wish it was a slightly smaller state and I could have seen all the candidates!

My girl Hillary

Now today I am yearning to go campaign in the southern states, whose politics I really don't understand. In 1992 on my first campaign I did get a chance to work in South Carolina and seeing the segregation and poverty had a profound affect on me, but now I know there that was a bit simplistic and I would love to learn more about the opinions of southern blacks and dig deeper into the history.  Maybe I'll go in 2020??? Thats one thing I know for sure.  There will always be other chances and I promise to keep taking advantage of them.