Last Friday and Saturday I had the privilege of visiting with leaders from over a dozen local LWVs in meetings arranged by LWV dynamo,  Rosemary Heilemann, (most recently LWVIL's expert and activist on the issue of abolishing the Electoral College). As she and I were leaving one of those meetings, she turned to me and said, "How can we not be inspired by that!"

The "that" was just one more stop where we had heard the inspiring stories of LWV members - young and old, female and male, recently-joined and 50-year members, too. You can read more about this meeting, held at the Adlai Stevenson Democracy Center,  HERE. 

 

You are doing great work out there. Your energy, dedication, creativity, and patriotism do inspire! It would make our founder, Carrie Chapman Catt, so proud and happy to know her idea and dream for the League of Women Voters continues to come to life in communities all over our state and nation.

 

What was her idea?  A civic organization dedicated to the idea that citizens should play a role in our democracy just as important as the politicians. This organization would encourage and teach its members to be civil and issue-oriented and to study and seek consensus before taking action. These citizens would engage at every level of government from the local board to the highest offices in DC dedicating themselves to promoting the common good versus purely partisan interest.  This organization would encourage every citizen to understand and value the right and responsibility to vote. It would dedicate itself to the fight to protect and promote both the right and the responsibility.  

 

Hamilton said, "Your legacy is planting seeds in a garden you may never see." If only Carrie could see the "gardens of democracy" we have planted and continue to tend.

 

Thank you to Rosemary for arranging these inspiring meetings. Thanks to all who shared their stories with me and listened as I shared the equally inspiring stories of the work being done at the LWVIL level. You can learn about that in the rest of this eNews!