It Starts With One Person

I’ve been thinking a lot about how change actually happens.

We tend to imagine it’s some enormous moment.

A million people marching on Washington.
A presidential election.
Some famous person standing behind a podium.

But I’m beginning to think we’ve got it backward.

Change starts with one person talking to another person.

That’s it.

That’s the revolution.

I’ve been going around Greensboro lately, visiting fire stations and handing out flyers for the Truth Party event on August 23rd.

And I’ve got to tell you—I love these visits.

Because you walk into a fire station and immediately you’re reminded what community actually looks like.

These men and women don’t ask who you voted for before they come to your house.

Your kitchen is on fire, nobody pulls out a voter registration card.

“Before we get the hose out, sir, we’re going to need to know where you stand on immigration.”

No!

The house is on fire.

Everybody gets the hose.

That’s America.

And firefighters represent something I think we’ve forgotten.

Service.

Community.

Showing up for somebody you may not even know.

So I walk in with my little Truth Party flyer.

And I’m not giving some 45-minute political speech.

Nobody wants that.

Hell, I don’t want that.

I say hello.

I tell them what we’re doing.

We talk for a couple of minutes.

And something interesting keeps happening.

People may disagree about the solutions, but there’s a pretty broad feeling that we’ve got problems.

People are frustrated.

They’re tired of the fighting.

They’re tired of politics being treated like professional wrestling.

Everybody’s got an entrance song.

Everybody’s screaming.

Everybody’s got merchandise.

And somehow nothing gets fixed.

Meanwhile, out here in the real world, people are working.

They’re raising families.

They’re running businesses.

They’re teaching kids.

They’re driving trucks.

They’re putting out fires.

They’re trying to pay the mortgage and buy groceries.

And most people aren’t sitting around all day thinking:

“How can I hate the other half of America today?”

They’re thinking:

“How do we make this work?”

That’s where I think the opportunity is.

Because the Truth Party doesn’t have to begin with millions of people.

It begins with one.

One person hears about it.

That person tells somebody else.

Two becomes four.

Four becomes eight.

Somebody comes to an event.

Somebody brings a friend.

Somebody has a conversation with somebody they normally wouldn’t talk to.

And suddenly you’ve got something.

Not because somebody in Washington gave you permission.

Because people started talking to each other.

That’s how communities work.

That’s how movements work.

And frankly, that’s how America has always worked.

We have this idea that democracy happens every couple of years when somebody sticks an “I Voted” sticker on your shirt.

That’s part of democracy.

But citizenship is everything that happens between elections.

It’s knowing what’s happening in your community.

It’s meeting your neighbors.

It’s volunteering.

It’s asking questions.

It’s showing up.

It’s listening to somebody you disagree with without immediately deciding they’re an idiot.

That’s apparently become an advanced American skill.

Maybe we need classes.

Listening 101.

Prerequisite: Put Down Your Damn Phone.

Because we’re more connected technologically than human beings have ever been…

and somehow we stopped talking to each other.

So maybe the answer isn’t another giant political organization telling everybody what to think.

Maybe the answer is something much simpler.

Start a conversation.

That’s what August 23rd is about.

We’re getting people together.

Come by.

Meet somebody.

Ask questions.

Tell us what you think.

You don’t have to agree with everything.

In fact, please don’t.

If everybody walks into that room agreeing with everything I say, I’m going to become extremely suspicious.

Because this isn’t supposed to be the John Eagleton Appreciation Society.

It’s supposed to belong to the people who show up.

And August 23rd isn’t the culmination of anything.

It’s the beginning.

We have the event.

We meet people.

Those people meet other people.

Then we go somewhere else.

Another neighborhood.

Another business.

Another community.

Another conversation.

One person becomes ten.

Ten becomes a hundred.

A hundred becomes a thousand.

And somewhere along the way, something that looked impossible starts looking inevitable.

That’s the part of this that excites me.

Because when I look at the news, I see politics as usual.

Fighting.

Accusations.

People trying to score points.

But when I actually get out of the house and talk to people?

I see something completely different.

I see people who still care.

People who want things to work.

People who haven’t given up on their communities or their country.

That’s where the hope is.

Not on television.

Right outside your front door.

So here’s my challenge.

Don’t wait for somebody else to start.

Talk to one person.

Invite one person.

Bring one person.

Listen to one person.

Because if you’re waiting for Washington to create the movement that fixes Washington…

we might be waiting a while.

Change doesn’t start with Washington.

It doesn’t start with Democrats.

It doesn’t start with Republicans.

It doesn’t even start with the Truth Party.

It starts with you.

One person.

One conversation.

One community.

And then another.

That’s how this thing grows.

That’s how we turn spectators into citizens.

And on August 23rd…

we show up.