Started on 4/29..
So the political party called me back. They wanted me to do some campaign work for them. Not fundraising stuff, but door to door, advocating stuff in New Jersey. I got a vague voice message and then had a quick but nondescript conversation about doing something with them for a few days till that campaign ended. The lead guy on it was going to get back to me. I heard nothing for a week.
I then got a call from the one HR guy that I had originally interviewed me (and mislead me). I had questions about it all and he was a bit taken aback that I was questioning it all. I wanted to know the candidates name and a bit about them before I just jumped in. He had this air of arrogance and bewilderment in his stance though, as if I actually had bought into the sh*t they were shoveling over there and had really wanted to work for them; that I would be unconditionally involved with whatever candidate and issues that they were pushing and how they were doing it. No... I'm sorry, I am skeptical of you. I am skeptical of your party. I am skeptical of your means, your methods, and definitely the entire system you operate in and can't separate yourself from. You are after all just another political party, you stump for money first, and ask about votes later. No, I do not trust you. After all, I was let go because while I could get you votes and turn people's opinions, I could not raise you money. You are bought and you are sold.
Mind you, this HR call came on April 30th, and he asked me if I could start the next day - May Day!! Yes, the same international labor May Day that is celebrated all over the globe and would see a massive Occupy and labor coalition action that had been in the planning for the entire year! He was oblivious, yes the "political arm of the unions" was completely oblivious to the largest planned day of action for labor and workers issues in decades. This both amazes and scares me. I had pushed for observance of it while I was working there to no avail. I had gotten the same type of bull sh*t politically obfuscated response I had gotten to my questions about some of their fundraising leads came from. Deflection, subtle dismissal, and general plea of not being responsible. It was all bull sh*t at the time and I knew it. On the call of course this was completely apparent. I mentioned May Day to him and he was clueless and taken aback again that I would think people like them shouldn't be working that day. The unions and Occupy are talking general strike and you not only aren't supporting it with your workers, but you don't even know about it. Wow!!
I told him I'd get back to him after I looked into it. Two days later exhausted from May Day (yes, a looong reportage of that day has been undertaken and will be posted in an amazingly untimely fashion!), I ran into another guy from Occupy that happened to start working on this same campaign jsut a few days earlier. He was mortified. A complete disaster. He was working for the party, but was paid through a separate union maybe, yet could say none of this when he went to the doors. He had to say he was a part of some specific New Jersey organization for change type of name that was supposedly unaffiliated with any part of the party, unions, whatever. Yeah... Shady Super PAC stuff. The essence of what Occupy's push for campaign finance reform - and that party's own campaign finance reform push - where specifically against! Here it was, politics in America at its sleaziest.
Yeah, sure, that's how the system works. That's what Democracy looks like in America. Shady organizations, cutting around shady corners, in shady ways, using shady money trails. How does one get involved with that? Yeah, it's money, an income that I need, but I am sorry. I am in Occupy because our political and socio-economic system is corrupt almost beyond reproach and we have to change it. Yeah, you could look at it all and say how can you work for this or that, retail, capitalist, etc. But retail is a guy trying to put food on the table in a sh*ty system. While I don't condone the system, I don't fault the singular person. Politics on the other hand is the method to our madness, the means to bring about change. Sure, it's idealistic to think the system is going to change from within without using the funding methods instilled within the system. But I personally have barriers. Things I won't do. Lines I won't cross. And I am not going to stand on someone's door and lie to them. I am not going to tell them I work for someone I don't, and I am not going to pretend that money is more important than even the most basic forms of integrity. At least when I sell someone an expensive sleeping bag I don't have to lie to them about where it's produced or what company made it. I have no respect for this party or our political system at this point. It must be changed. It can not be run by money. It can not be run by the rich, the powerful, and/or the corrupt for the rich, the powerful, and/or the corrupt. It must be run by people. One person, one vote. Not one dollar, one vote.
So the political party called me back. They wanted me to do some campaign work for them. Not fundraising stuff, but door to door, advocating stuff in New Jersey. I got a vague voice message and then had a quick but nondescript conversation about doing something with them for a few days till that campaign ended. The lead guy on it was going to get back to me. I heard nothing for a week.
I then got a call from the one HR guy that I had originally interviewed me (and mislead me). I had questions about it all and he was a bit taken aback that I was questioning it all. I wanted to know the candidates name and a bit about them before I just jumped in. He had this air of arrogance and bewilderment in his stance though, as if I actually had bought into the sh*t they were shoveling over there and had really wanted to work for them; that I would be unconditionally involved with whatever candidate and issues that they were pushing and how they were doing it. No... I'm sorry, I am skeptical of you. I am skeptical of your party. I am skeptical of your means, your methods, and definitely the entire system you operate in and can't separate yourself from. You are after all just another political party, you stump for money first, and ask about votes later. No, I do not trust you. After all, I was let go because while I could get you votes and turn people's opinions, I could not raise you money. You are bought and you are sold.
Mind you, this HR call came on April 30th, and he asked me if I could start the next day - May Day!! Yes, the same international labor May Day that is celebrated all over the globe and would see a massive Occupy and labor coalition action that had been in the planning for the entire year! He was oblivious, yes the "political arm of the unions" was completely oblivious to the largest planned day of action for labor and workers issues in decades. This both amazes and scares me. I had pushed for observance of it while I was working there to no avail. I had gotten the same type of bull sh*t politically obfuscated response I had gotten to my questions about some of their fundraising leads came from. Deflection, subtle dismissal, and general plea of not being responsible. It was all bull sh*t at the time and I knew it. On the call of course this was completely apparent. I mentioned May Day to him and he was clueless and taken aback again that I would think people like them shouldn't be working that day. The unions and Occupy are talking general strike and you not only aren't supporting it with your workers, but you don't even know about it. Wow!!
I told him I'd get back to him after I looked into it. Two days later exhausted from May Day (yes, a looong reportage of that day has been undertaken and will be posted in an amazingly untimely fashion!), I ran into another guy from Occupy that happened to start working on this same campaign jsut a few days earlier. He was mortified. A complete disaster. He was working for the party, but was paid through a separate union maybe, yet could say none of this when he went to the doors. He had to say he was a part of some specific New Jersey organization for change type of name that was supposedly unaffiliated with any part of the party, unions, whatever. Yeah... Shady Super PAC stuff. The essence of what Occupy's push for campaign finance reform - and that party's own campaign finance reform push - where specifically against! Here it was, politics in America at its sleaziest.
Yeah, sure, that's how the system works. That's what Democracy looks like in America. Shady organizations, cutting around shady corners, in shady ways, using shady money trails. How does one get involved with that? Yeah, it's money, an income that I need, but I am sorry. I am in Occupy because our political and socio-economic system is corrupt almost beyond reproach and we have to change it. Yeah, you could look at it all and say how can you work for this or that, retail, capitalist, etc. But retail is a guy trying to put food on the table in a sh*ty system. While I don't condone the system, I don't fault the singular person. Politics on the other hand is the method to our madness, the means to bring about change. Sure, it's idealistic to think the system is going to change from within without using the funding methods instilled within the system. But I personally have barriers. Things I won't do. Lines I won't cross. And I am not going to stand on someone's door and lie to them. I am not going to tell them I work for someone I don't, and I am not going to pretend that money is more important than even the most basic forms of integrity. At least when I sell someone an expensive sleeping bag I don't have to lie to them about where it's produced or what company made it. I have no respect for this party or our political system at this point. It must be changed. It can not be run by money. It can not be run by the rich, the powerful, and/or the corrupt for the rich, the powerful, and/or the corrupt. It must be run by people. One person, one vote. Not one dollar, one vote.
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