And Now Where Do We Go From Here . . .?
Together, we can keep making history !!!
I took the online survey, after being emailed by the Obama-Biden transition team which advised me that, “Now it's up to you to decide how we move forward.”
I believe this is possible and hope you do too. Here is an excerpt from my own answers to the Online Obama-Biden Transition Project Survey… enjoy and then go online yourself to add your own 2-cents or don’t complain about what does or does not get changed over the next term of office.
Please tell your own folk & please be mindful, reasonable and forward thinking. . .
and remember to
THINK PEACE, TOLERANCE & JUSTICE FOR ALL AMERICANS. . .
as a learn to truly unite and stand together as the wonderfully diverse and unique people we are. . .
Please . . .CONTINUE TO INCREASE THE PEACE. . .
AfraShe's Survey Response:
Q: How would you like to see this organization move forward in the months and years ahead? And how would you like to be engaged as a volunteer and organizer?:
AA: I would like to see a truly realizable plan for change around the issues that will help stabilize the working and middle class.
I would like for the party to keep the public aware of exactly what can be expected by their efforts, transparency around what changes will result in economic and social equity. Grassroots councils that report the REAL issues and make real change from the bottom up. I want a council for reform around Church/ State involvement that keeps politics free and our laws and government policies free of the current trend of religious tyranny.
I hope we can see a council which informs faith-based citizens about the essential need to preserve this constitutional anchor and why it is essential that we respect how true diversity makes our country what it is the land of freedom.
I like the idea of a peace council locally, state, national and globally so that we make real change from war politics to a world of peace politics.
I would like to see a peace & tolerance council to address the social divide which is often faith-based driven to build a social climate where our citizens fully understand that our constitutional freedoms should not be subject to individual religious mandates and that real diversity can only happen when ALL American citizens feel they are treated equitably under the local, state, federal and international laws. I trust that this will remain a real focus of the party as we move forward.
Q: What first inspired you to join this campaign?:
AA: I saw a video of Sistah Obama speaking to a Gay and Lesbian leadership counsel and was impressed by her speech, so I looked into PE Obama’s policies and watched him and was convinced hat he was a man who walked his talk and that his campaign of change, hope and national diversity was a genuine one and decided that I wanted to be a part of his campaign for change so that we have a nation I can be proud of too. I like the diversity and inclusiveness of his campaign.
OPTIONAL: What was the best part of your volunteer experience?:
There were so many Best Parts of my volunteer experience. I started out giving money and the phone and one-on-one support til I finally wanted to be more directly involved with others who were volunteering to help get PE Obama elected. I was delighted to go there and make calls at the Long Beach center because there was a real micro community there and I feel that if this sort of diversity of people could come together and bond together despite our often apparent ethnic, age, social, gender, educational religious, economic and political differences.
My experience at the local Lakewood/long beach center was inspiring and more than I could have expected because the volunteers cared about the campaign and each other in ways that I can only hope will spend nationally. We were working hard when the call came in at 8 pm that PE Obama had won, as I returned home and watched the gathering in Chicago I was proud of my country for the first time in my life and finally I believed that I was fully included in this country’s title: American Citizen. I felt that change that would make this a free and equitable and just country was possible. . . I pray that those who currently feel alienated will also come to feel as I do, that this is a fully inclusive administration as was intended by our founding government intended.
Q: What could have been improved about your volunteer experience?:
AA: Availability of campaign info and materials. more comfortable seat.
Q: What was your greatest achievement as a volunteer? What was your greatest challenge?:
AA: My achievement was that i went to the local phone bank to engage with other who were different from me so that I could " be the change I wish to see in the world “ and I feel that this was more that I had hoped for as a purposeful/ memorable life experience.
My greatest challenge was to pace myself and focus on the entire campaign to the extent that I did not burn out or get sick from over-volunteering and maintained my health, wellbeing, faith, hope and determination in this wonderfully diverse and inclusive national grassroots-based effort by the kind of Americans that I am (finally) proud to be identified as being.
Q: Did you meet a fellow volunteer or field organizer who inspired you? How did they inspire you?:
AA: Yes, I met so many. Our phone bank was awesome. Charla Shelton was also a great inspiration. I met her in Carson and was inspired by her dedication and commitment and how she had opened 2 phone banks a mere few weeks before I met her because she could not find a local campaign office in long Beach. I committed to work at her Lakewood phone ban and did so. I was very inspired by her dedication and intelligence and compassionate inclusiveness and found myself going far beyond my initial intention to work for Change and to be a productive part of our phone bank.
I hope the campaign will acknowledge her gargantuan efforts toward getting PE Obama and VP E Bidden elected. She was tolerance and encouraging to all who came to the phone bank to make a difference, and we had a very diverse group, some who had never been close to others who were very different from themselves, politically, socially, economically, etc.. everyone was made to feel valuable and fully included under her watch which made me believe that this was a serious part of the success of this campaign. She worked with others who had been leaders themselves in the primaries and they all worked hard under her leadership.
Additionally, I was very impressed by the efforts and strategy which the internet, funding and email, public, grassroots and volunteer organizational framework and delivery system that the staff created and maintained, it was genius and I was proud to be a part of such a people-powered and organic process.
Finally, I knew that if the process of change that we would see under the Obama/Bidden administration was anywhere near the one I found myself so completely dedicated to; then I knew that the slogan of hope, diverse inclusiveness and meaningful social change was truly a well intended and realizable promise. My deepest gratitude and thanks for all who gave such great effort, determination and possibility to America's future !!!
NOW Please DO Also Pause to Give Your Own Feedback & to Contribute Whatever You Can. . .
A Message From the Obama-Biden Transition Project:
“Thank you!
You proved that change can happen. You built an unprecedented grassroots organization in all 50 states that brought a record number of people into the political process -- many for the first time, many for the first time in a long time.
Our success required unprecedented resources, and the Democratic National Committee played a major role in the on-the-ground efforts that generated record turnout up and down the ticket.
Please make a donation to the DNC to help fund the efforts it undertook in 2008.
Your hard work and passion created this opportunity for change. But we only have a few weeks to assess the state of the federal agencies, prepare our agenda, and staff key positions in the new administration.
Your support right now will be crucial to helping us accomplish these goals.
For the first time, transition efforts won't be financed with donations from Washington lobbyists and PACs. We're committed to building the White House team the same way you built this campaign -- from the ground up.
Will you make a donation of $5 or more today to support the urgent mission of our transition team?”
Join the cause for change/ Take the survey:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGxt8D
Please Donate at:
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php
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