My Trip to #CaDem13 (the California Democratic Party Convention)
A few weeks back, the California State Democratic Convention came to Sacramento, and I was there. Although I was not able to win a seat as a delegate, I helped out at the CTA (California Teachers Association) booth and got a non-voting pass. During my booth time, I talked to a political consultant from the Southland. He bemoaned the unwillingness of teachers to engage in direct political campaigning (phoning, going door-to-door, etc.), because teachers are “gold” in a campaign as we have a high level of trust with the public. I opined that there are many reasons why teachers shy away from political involvement, but often it’s a desire to stay out of partisanship, or above the fray. I got involved in politics because I realized that politics was going to get involved with me, and my profession, and my staying out of that fight would not keep it from coming to me. In this piece, I’m going to share why I got involved (and why other teachers should take an active role in politics), and what happened at the convention that supports my thinking on this. The views expressed are my own, and do not