Cross-posting this from the Yes to Fairer Votes North East blog…
I have a confession to make (in case you hadn’t noticed): I’m a huge West Wing geek. One of my favourite moments is when President Bartlet hires Will Bailey at the end of the fourth season. The President says: “There’s a promise that I ask everyone who works here to make: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Do you know why?”
And Will replies, “Because it’s the only thing that ever has.”
The Yes to Fairer Votes campaign office in Newcastle is hardly the White House, but that statement is as valid here as anywhere else.
Sometimes, when you’re really really passionate about something, it’s very easy to feel that you’re the only one in the world who cares, that no-one else feels the same way, and that you’re swimming upriver. When I first got involved with the Yes campaign, I felt that way. I checked for local Facebook groups, I checked all of the affiliated organisations like Take Back Parliament, but somehow the North East seemed terribly under-represented. Since then, though, we have reached out to campaign supporters across the region and we are starting to build a solid network of passionate and committed volunteers across the region.
Every time I speak to a supporter – on the phone, in the office, or at campaign events – I am struck by the passion I encounter for electoral reform. People are tired of MPs who have jobs for life and no incentive to actually represent their constituencies. They are tired of not being able to vote for the party they actually support and having to vote tactically. They are tired of having their votes wasted. And they are jumping at the chance to have a go at changing the world.
I hear a lot of first-hand accounts of how our current electoral system lets people down. My own MP, a former cabinet minister and Labour whip, is in a seat so safe that he won’t even turn up at campaign events if there are other candidates there. Unlike one of the MPs down the road, my one at least holds a surgery – once a month, and in public. Last year, when the government pushed the highly controversial Digital Economy Bill through the wash-up process before the general election, I tried to get in touch with my MP: I wrote three separate letters, and called both his Parliamentary and constituency office twice, to no avail. This is how our democracy lets us down because MPs like mine can get elected with only 42% of the vote – or even less!
But I’m digressing. What I really want to get across is how amazing it is to be able to come together with a group of like-minded individuals and change the world. Every time I have reached out to our volunteer network and asked for help I’ve been overwhelmed by the response: whether it’s been for a street stall in Newcastle, our phone bank, or our campaign launch event on the Millennium Bridge, people have happily given up their time, travelled long distances, battled the snow, and tried something new they’ve never done before (anything from telephone canvassing to giving television interviews!) – all for this campaign.
We come from all walks of life, all ages, all political backgrounds. We are a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens, and we’re changing the world.