The political animal

One of the reasons I do Kung Fu is to de-stress. You may say, "what are you stressed from?"
I'll say that doing all this political stuff is pretty stressful. A lot of it is cool. But a lot of it... well people can get mad at you. That's why they say you should never talk about politics or religion. There are a lot of gray areas to what you can do to get out the vote. What is appropriate and what is legal.

And once you start talking politics, a lot of people will want to look at the flor and no longer will look you in the eye. It's almost like you have committed a crime.


 I open my mouth about politics and  immediately people say, "Oh no we can't do that." Because all the non profits legally can not endorse a candidate. But you can still legally let people know that an election is going to happen. Now I'm not saying that everyone in Chinatown will automatically vote for Diana Hwang. But chances are, the more people who are in Chinatown that know about the election, the more votes that Diana Hwang will get. Yes the other candidates may get some votes too. But I think the people in Chinatown who want to support say, Livingstone. They already know about the election. The people who do NOT know about the election.. more of them are likely to vote for Diana.. based on human tribal type thinking.

I'm not saying skirt the law... but I am surprised that people more people didn't make plans with me. In fact nobody has. Even those campaigning were like, "yeah just help with the campaign." Do what THEY say. Instead of thinking of OUR way to approach this issue. It's interesting right?

But the thing is we never actually get to that point in the conversation. We just start with no and then it ends there.

Somehow the other neighborhoods get further. Not just with this election.. but with every single one. Like JP, which has very high voter turn out, has all sorts of festivals etc.... that are actually extremely political. Maybe that's why I am doing this now. Because when I lived in Chinatown I never would have done any of this. The most I would have done would have been to vote. That's it.

Basically getting the vote out in a non-partisan manner will automatically Diana Hwang.  even if there is no endorsement of any kind whatsoever.

There is a lot of get out the vote stuff that already happens in Chinatown...but here's the thing. Even when I first started helping Diana's Campaign. I was not sure about the date of the election. That's important. Yeah register to vote and all that, but this election is in two weeks. I handed a few registrations into City Hall today for people.. not much but I did what I could.

Of course even though more registrations won't matter for this election, it is still good to give them the paper to register themselves anyway. I mean the Presidential election is coming up, and though I won;t campaign for any of them.. I think it is important for people to know that Castle Square votes... or Tai Tung Votes.. or Mass Pike votes... because then they have to do stuff for you. They won't ignore you as easily. In general it doesn't matter who you vote for. It matters tat you vote.

It means that not a lot of people know about this April election.. it's at a weird time.  And only the super voters are getting approached.

I feel like I've been pushing towards this.. maybe to the detriment of my health and the loss of friends. Because once you cross that line of "helping the community" into politics. You are seen differently.

To tell the truth all tis has been affecting my Kung Fu. A) I have less time to do it. And B) my mind is not jahp jong jing sun when I am doing it. I am not as emptied of thoughts. I can see how it is easier to simply not get involved in politics whatsoever. But I do think this particular election is important. I just have to see it through to the end.. not only doing calls and door knocking.. but pushing to do my type of door knocking. Getting people who don't usually vote to vote. To bring in new blood.


I said that usually it doesn't matter who you vote for. I think the reason I am campaigning is because this time... there is an exception  to that cynical rule.