He was a very shy six-year-old standing in center field with his dad’s baseball glove flopping around on his hand. It wasn’t so much that he caught the first fly ball of his life, but more that the ball caught his glove by magically landing right in it.
All the parents of course erupted in unbelieving screams of joy. The boy seeing the crowd yelling at him, thought he had done something horribly wrong. He shook the glove off his hand and ran across the field and into his father’s arms.
True story and one that reminds me a bit of the young staff and students at VoteSmart.org. Most have never experienced politics before, but you give them a glove and they catch fly balls, one after another from thousands of mis-hitting politicians who now so rarely hit home runs or have a hit at all.
It has been a marvel in my life to watch so many young people come through our doors to help track every hit made – every word spoken, every vote cast, every contribution received, every rating received, every issue position stated. All so that you can see the lies.
The crowd now cheering them on numbers in the millions of users, but like that small boy, it is hard for them to see how valuable and necessary their efforts are.
No one else is doing this work and the only people making that effort possible are me and those willing to become Vote Smart members to have their backs.
If you aren’t already, please back them up. Join:
Facts matter
Richard Kimball
Vote Smart President