CATCHING TORI
By Liz Solomon
I had the pleasure of catching up with Victoria “Tori” Leroy this week via telephone. I have to assume that Tori is as pleasant to text with as she is on the phone, which is probably why she is so successful! Since joining the phone bank, Tori has texted nearly 50,000 people on behalf of the Jo Jorgensen for President campaign. This is five times the size of her hometown in Washington! Tori and I talked about her schedule, starting with campaigns on the East Coast and working her way to the West. We talked about the time she gives herself for responding to people who text back. In addition to texting, nearly full-time, as she explains later, she juggles life and a toddler! I asked Tori about her most interesting interaction. She said it was with someone who, after texting back and forth, conceded to check out Jo Jorgensen instead of giving her further push back! Here is Tori, in her own words:
Liz: How is it possible to send 40,000 text messages?
Tori: It takes commitment, for sure, all of my free time is dedicated to getting those texts out. A certain level of passion for what we're doing also really helps. The biggest thing is to not jump in, thinking you'll get those kinds of numbers out right away; it comes after getting to know the system.
Liz: What kind of time commitment does it take to send so many messages?
Tori: It's become a second full-time job, honestly. I thoroughly enjoy doing it, though, so the majority of the time I don't even notice how much time I have spent working on the campaigns. Even if you just do it in your spare time, you'll be able to get thousands of messages out to people.
Liz: Do you have special equipment?
Tori: I use a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse so that I have a bit more mobility when dealing with my son: other than that, no, just a computer and the Internet.
Liz: How do you juggle being a full time text volunteer for the Jo Campaign and being a mom?
Tori: That's what I love about the program! It seriously offers so much flexibility. I'm able to text all over the country, which opens up so much time to do it.
Liz: What is the best response you've received from a text message?
Tori: My all time favorite interactions with people are when they start off completely disinterested. Then you start playing along with them, and it spikes their interest in Jo. It offers a level of satisfaction that maybe, just maybe, I was able to sway that person into voting for someone that actually has the American people in mind.
Liz: Do you have a favorite texting campaign?
Tori: I don't, mostly because you come across so many witty and clever people all over this country. It's hard to pinpoint one area that I've enjoyed working on more than others.
Liz: How do you plan to stay on top of the texting and beat Ryan Cooper?
Tori: I truly hope someone can beat me, because that means we have reached out to so many people! Healthy competition is great, but my main goal is to work with some amazing people and let people know about the third option that is on our ballots. I'm just going to keep what I'm doing and keep it at that.
Tori’s personal goal is to reach 100,000 people by the end of the campaign. Will anyone catch up to Tori? We’re rooting for you, Tori; you can do it! If you’d like to get involved with the text bank, please join us on one of the following Zoom calls listed below:
Training sessions for new users are held every Tuesday and Thursday from 5pm-11pm EDT / 2pm-8pm PDT. |
Why “Non-Essential Workers” Need a Libertarian President
from Genet Jones
There is a sign on the fence of a nearby independent-living complex that says, “To our police, healthcare providers, and other essential workers: THANK YOU!”
Every time I drive by that sign, I feel the urge to add another one next to it that says, “To everyone else: please don’t let anyone tell you that you are not essential.”
If you put food on the table for yourself or your family, you are essential. If you are working your way through your degree or skills training, your work is essential.
No human being deserves to be labeled “non-essential.”
But the entrenched political parties are perfectly happy to label you non-essential. They have made it clear for decades that whatever words they throw around on the podium, when it comes to their actions—the laws and policies they support—they have no problem throwing the average American, and the disadvantaged American, under the bus.
Republican and Democrat governors alike locked down their states and destroyed family businesses with the proverbial stroke of a pen. “Two weeks to flatten the curve” turned into months of lockdown, restrictions, harassment, polarization of health concerns, and massive unemployment.
Politicians at every level favor or even subsidize some industries, penalize others, and protect still others from competition or from liability to consumers. You as a consumer are treated as far less essential than those protected industries. And it doesn’t matter if your business is essential to your family; if it conflicts with the agenda of the best-paying lobbyists, even in a pre-Covid world, you were less than non-essential.
But the libertarian ethos is that everyone is essential. No one is less important than anyone else.
You may have heard this from other political parties, but they do not practice what they preach. On a daily basis, they enact laws and make policies that favor some groups of people over others—not to mention that politicians are the most favored group of all.
Each of us is an essential human being with unique talents and personal goals that matter the same as anyone else’s. This is why Libertarians believe that everyone deserves to make their own decisions about risk and reward, have equal protection under the law, and not get their livelihood thrown under the bus by the governor, the mayor, or the health department.
A Libertarian president would help to actually end police brutality, making it easier and safer for good police officers to do their jobs, by ending qualified immunity. Police officers are essential. So are the people they are sworn to protect. The way we respect both these truths is to make sure that those few police officers who don’t respect the value of life are never again allowed to represent the law. Getting rid of laws that protect them from prosecution is the only way to begin making that happen.
A Libertarian president would end the war on drugs, releasing millions of victimless “offenders” to live their essential lives with their families and communities, and opening up the growing marijuana industry to thousands of businesses and workers.
A Libertarian president would bring our troops home from entanglements all over the world, recognizing that those men and women are essential to their families, and essential for protecting our country, but not for policing the world. The Libertarian perspective that every person is essential makes it clear that sending our troops around the globe to intimidate the rest of the world is not only wasting the lives of our troops but also making all Americans less safe at home by virtue of our leaders making enemies abroad.
Whether you are serving your community as an “essential worker” or one who has been labeled “non-essential,” remember that if the government has the power today to label your neighbors non-essential and take away their means to live, then tomorrow it has the power to do that to you—unless we make a real change.
A Libertarian vote in 2020 is a vote to protect the essential in every one of us.
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