Thursday, October 23, 2008

Leave Adam Alone! He’s a Human Being!

Ok, with the days narrowing down to the election (get to work, Drunky, why are you reading my blog when you should be campaigning or something?!) I have to vent about something which is really, really obnoxious.

Street campaigners. You know, the idealistic bright-eyed youth with their little DNC or HRC t-shirts and clipboards. “Do you have a minute for Barack Obama?” “Do you have a minute for gay rights?”

On one level I feel sorry for these youth. Chasing strangers down for donations has got to be soul-crushing work akin to prostitution. Hmmm, actually it is a lot like whoring, only a politician gets your money instead of a pimp. But I digress. And once these kids realize that they are not making a difference, I’m sure that’s when the heavy boozing/heroin injecting will kick in.

But do they really have to spoil my daily walks down the sidewalks with their well-meant (yet naïve) pestering? I swear, these days just going to lunch from my office I feel like I need a valium to run the gauntlet of campaign-whores who want my minute(s) for (insert cause/politician here: _______). I don’t even try to be polite with them anymore, either.

Sean laughed recently because I snapped at some poor Greenpeace kid – “NO!” But I mean, he wouldn’t get out of my way! These political whores have gotten more and more aggressive. They’ve gotten to the point where they try to physically block your path. Not cool.

This brings me to my point. Maybe I could use a political science person to help me with this, but my question is: do street campaigners really make any difference? How effective are they, truly? I ask because pretty much everyone I know ignores them, and is irritated by them. Doesn’t it have the opposite effect? I mean, I could easily see someone voting Republican just out of spite because of these kids!

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