Day 363: Davenport, Iowa

 

December 29th, 2011Today was a much more efficient day in terms of the work-load in Iowa. After breakfast, as assigned by the campaign, I went with Evan, Tyler, and Colin to a required district in Daverport to subsequently go knocking on doors. Some notable encounters me and Tyler, my buddy (under the buddy system), saw included: a Vietnamese lady who didn’t know english (Who knew Viet people even lived in Iowa?), a bunch of people who were not home, a house that was completely vacant and taken over, and a conspiracy theorist who believed the Bush family ran everything behind the scenes (not quite…). What was very uplifting though was seeing 17 Ron Paul signs on the course of our journey, which was only roughly through visiting a few local streets. Evan and Colin picked us up near KFC so we could all go get lunch at a local Mexican joint (Azteca). We ate some pretty cheap but decent tasting food before migrating back to our respective neighborhoods to continue canvassing. When we were eventually done we all got picked up, and saw some random Ron Paul signs being bombed at a very busy intersection. Subsequently we all joined in voluntarily as I screamed from my top of lungs “RON PAUL” to a bunch of cars that supported him. My picture of the day my eyes closed in the process of holding up a sign enthusiastically. They beeped their horns and put their thumbs up as I gave some bumper stickers out to the supporters. The people there were really nice that we helped and made it aware to us that the economy is ultimately dependent on Ron Paul’s election. When it was all done we went to some cheap local grocery store to get groceries (I merely got a sandwich, candy, and some lasagna). We got back afterwards where I phonedbanked for roughly an hour while simultaneously eating a sandwich; I also let David and Nikhil use my phone afterwards so I could take a huge break. HOORAH. The night ended with me sucking the wifi juice from the lounge. THE REVOLUTION CONTINUES all week long. It was only today I started feeling like I was making a difference in the campaign, especially through door knocking, phone banking, and sign bombing. I had a LAN party and a deep intellectual conversation with David and Nikhil before calling it a night.

On this day in 1890, in the final chapter of America’s long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry kills 146 Sioux at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Throughout 1890, the U.S. government worried about the increasing influence at Pine Ridge of the Ghost Dance spiritual movement, which taught that Indians had been defeated and confined to reservations because they had angered the gods by abandoning their traditional customs. Many Sioux believed that if they practiced the Ghost Dance and rejected the ways of the white man, the gods would create the world anew and destroy all non-believers, including non-Indians. On December 15, 1890, reservation police tried to arrest Sitting Bull, the famous Sioux chief, who they mistakenly believed was a Ghost Dancer, and killed him in the process, increasing the tensions at Pine Ridge. OUCH

So I am eating the free breakfast buffet at the downtown Embassy Suites and who should stroll in but Ron Paul. By himself. This may not seem strange to the average voter, but anyone who writes about politics or makes their living off it knows that a presidential candidate — especially one who could win the nation’s first nominating contest in five days — never ever goes anywhere without an entourage of some sort. One of the main reasons for the entourage is to keep pesky reporters away and fetch things so that said candidate can eat breakfast before another long day on the campaign trail. But Paul doesn’t need a sidekick to fill his plate at the breakfast buffet, fetch his coffee, whisper talking points into his ear, or get rid of pesky reporters — he does that all himself, thank you very much. Asked if he’s concerned that if he doesn’t win his followers will not rally behind the GOP nominee, he looks up from his plate of cantaloupe, honeydew, eggs, sausage and biscuit and says brusquely, “Right now, the only thing that bothers me is people who don’t respect my privacy enough to leave me alone for five minutes when I’m eating breakfast.” And then he goes back to reading his USA Today. WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN.

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