I have had this title rolling around in my head for some time now and it now seems like the perfect opportunity to use it. The election year is upon us and candidates are coming out of the wood work to come to talk with us about their campaigns about turning this state blue again etc. The thing is though how many of us are really willing to work toward that goal? This makes me think about our membership a lot and I have noticed since joining the Young Democrats of Atlanta it seems to be the same people over and over again that sign up to do events that will achieve the goal that we all dream about which is Making the New South the Blue South. Why is that really? Why is it that not everyone in our membership is really working toward this goal? I have thought in the last few days what we could accomplish if we could just get those 102 credentialed members all working for the Future Being Blue we would be Unstoppable, but unfortunately that is not the case. You should ask yourself if you are one of those people who come to our meetings and Happy Hours and call yourself a member when you haven't even paid dues (insert eye roll here). It's not enough to pay lip service to our cause, you must willing to sacrifice for it because the people who we are fighting for need us now and not next week, not next month or next year, but NOW! Representative Alisha Thomas Morgan reminded me of that on Saturday night at the Louise McBee dinner.

We must as Young Democrats get more involved than just coming to meetings and Happy Hours. We must be willing to give up a few evenings a week to work on a campaign or be willing to give up a few Saturday mornings to canvas and get out the vote so we can say we took back the state. You can even put in a few hours over Pride weekend at our beverage booth to help raise money. Just imgaine 102 paid members working together -- we would have Republicans quake in their Brooks Brothers suits and Kennth Cole loafers. You must ask yourself in the upcoming months, how bad do you really want Georgia to turn blue again? What are you willing to do to get it? Now don't get me wrong: if you still want to sit at Manuel's and do nothing more than that then hey one of the best things about this organization is you can be as politicaly active as you want to be, but please do not necessarily call yourself a member when you haven't paid your dues.

Also, if you are going to complain about how this state is going to hell in a handbasket and all you did was come to Manuel's and our Happy Hours how much of a right do you have to complain when the rest carried the work load for you? When Emily or the rest of the officers ask for volunteers or when Billy Joyner shows up and asks us to help YDG out, will you put your name down or will you sit back and let someone else do the work for you? Don't you think it's about time to step up to the challenge? What do you really have to lose, but a few hours of your time? Just think of the gains that can be made if you come canvassing with the rest of us or working on any number of campaigns going on right now. We could actually Make The New South The Blue South and wouldn't that be cool!