Three of us were supposed to canvass today. The previous 2 days there have been just 2 of us. However, it was supposed to storm all day so we cancelled the outing. However, the rain let up so I canvassed my neighborhood by myself. Our previous canvassing was in very poor areas with high unemployment. My neighborhood is transitional, with quite a few wealthy people who took advantage of low home prices from the gentrification process, as well as long-time residents who were able to keep their homes, despite attempts to force them out by high taxation and incessant citations.
I had a neighbor question about something that I thought was fundamental common sense. By the posters she had around the house, she clearly has an interest in education, and I assumed we would agree that strong schools create the foundation for strong communities. She visibly shut down at that point and called me a social engineer. I wasn't sure what she meant by that and when I asked for clarification she acted like I wasn't worth her time if I didn't understand why having safe, educated children was social engineering. She wouldn't sign my petition, which is fine, but considering there's only one person on the ballot for our district, I hope she realizes that refusing to allow anybody else on the ballot means that there is no democracy.
On a more positive note, later in the day I met with another local candidate who is also trying to get on the ballot, but for state, whereas I'm running for city. She and I had a great talk as she talked about her previous experiences running and shared ideas.
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