new column:

"Fighting Depression
(of the vote)"

I suffer from depression.

It comes and goes. Some days are worse than others. But it’s always there. Sometimes it gets worse, much worse, and once it starts heading in that direction it’s literally like a downward spiral. There seems to be no end in sight and all I can feel is the depression causing further depression.

My symptoms manifest themselves pretty simply. I don’t want to do anything… because nothing seems to matter anymore. I can’t get out of bed, because what’s the point? I can’t do my laundry, because I’ll just have to do it again anyway. I can’t clean my house, because it’ll just get dirty again anyway. I can’t eat, because I’ll just get hungry again anyway. What’s the point of it all? And so I sit there, on my couch, or lie there, on my bed, and stare at emptiness.

It’s not rational. It just is. Depression doesn’t make sense in any intellectual way. It just takes over. And the more it takes over the worse it gets. My depression eats away at my psyche to where I can’t seem to get out. And each time I have to cling to my own hope for the future where I know I’ll be better, and I try and remember being fulfilled and strong, and I fight the worst instincts of my own mind.

It’s so strange to be fighting with my mind, but that’s what my struggle with depression is like for me. And it’s a difficult struggle continually.

Lately I’ve been thinking about this in terms of politics and elections.

We Democrats are a rather depressive bunch I would say. We have our ups and downs. Some days are worse than others. And we constantly have to fight to pull ourselves out of our own funk to get past the bad days and work for better days.

After our Democratic Party lost the House and Senate 12 years ago, we were in an awful funk. And for a long while we just couldn’t even believe it. And then when we lost the presidency in 2000, and lost election after election of late, boy howdy we were in a funk. Sometimes it was just hard to even think about keeping up the good fight because it all seemed so pointless. And the more depressed we got, the more depressed the vote got each election.

But then, this last year especially we’ve seen a resurgence in the Party, thanks in no small part to our own Leader Nancy Pelosi who has reenergized the Party and who is bringing us so close to the strong possibility of retaking control of the House and Senate this November 7th on election day. Whatever number of seats we may win, the fact is we are excited again.

But then, we’re still a depressive bunch. We seem to shrug our shoulders a lot and ponder what is going wrong on our own California state level. And we wonder sometimes, what’s the point? We seem depressed just to be depressed. And the more depressed we are, the more depressed the vote will be here in California this November. We can't just sit on our hands and stare into space and think hopeless and aimless thoughts. This doesn't get us anywhere.

We know that we can win elections. We know that we can succeed locally, statewide, and nationally. We know that we have positive and energetic and exciting possibilities in front of us and within us. We just have to fight this depressive funk each and every time it confounds our minds and keep on keepin’ on.

There is a beautiful new day each day, and there are hope and possibilities and love to be found within it. I try to remember that myself whenever I’m in one of my depressive episodes. And we as Democrats need to remember that a new day is constantly upon us each day. We have the power to fight our own depressive moments, so that we can shore up that Democratic vote we know is here in our city, our state, and our nation.

Now let’s get out there and get to work! We have an election to win on November 7th.