Close to Home: Vote for all of ‘us’

As a county supervisor who won election in 2014, I'm often asked what it's like to have this election 'off.'

Well, as someone who breathes everyday purpose into this public servant life, I can tell you that I'm definitely still 'on.' And for this election, while I'm not on a ballot, I am still asking for your vote.

I'm asking you to vote for the future; an optimistic and hopeful future; a future that casts aside the old, boring political frames of yesteryear and pulls us together around the understanding that we can all unite around the vision of ensuring Sonoma County promotes a healthy community, a healthy environment and a healthy economy.

And the only way to do that is to vote for us — all of us.

As this campaign season reaches its crescendo, I can't help but think about my own race in 2014. I think about relentlessly knocking on doors, wearing out shoes, hosting meet-and-greets, attending 20 events a week, raising money, designing logos, and on and on and on.

I absolutely loved campaigning.

That anxious energy — a mixture of excitement and worry — I felt truly alive and connected with my community. Not just with the loudest voices but those who don't count local politics as a priority, that quiet majority who only speak when you knock on their doors.

And unlike the screaming cacophony coming from the political insiders in the county, these people, the silent supermajority, they communicate through whispers. They don't write letters to the editor. You only hear their voices if you go to them and ask for it. They don't usually like politics, and rather than get into policy dialogue they just want to have confidence in the future.

I often feel more connected to them than to the political cognoscenti in our community. And I remind myself that my work has to represent them even though they don't always speak up.

Put simply, we have to work with those who show up, but that work has to reflect those who don't show up.

I have to admit: I am just over the whole us vs. them mentality. It's too old and dusty and crusty for me. As someone born in 1978 — a young Generation Xer — I can honestly say that my generation and the millenials behind me are tired of hearing about the political battles of the past. We are tired of the hate.

And we refuse to carry that angst into our future.

Rather than subscribing to timeworn political dogmas, our focus is much simpler than one might think. If we identify a problem, we fix it.

And then we move onto what's next, because we have too much paving to get done toward the future to get stuck filling one pothole (pun intended).

If we feel insecure about the future, then we get together, make a plan, get to work and adapt as necessary.

We realize that the healthiest means to invoke positive change is to have a short memory and to relentlessly bring people together — despite the forces that try to divide us.

I write all this because I fervently believe in a healthy society, a healthy environment and a healthy economy. And I use my position as Sonoma County supervisor and active citizen to do the best I can in the time that I have. And I encourage you to do the same, through your vote.

I hope you all will keep the future in mind when you cast your ballot on or before Tuesday. Vote for those who promote 'us,' not 'us vs. them.' Onward.

James Gore represents the 4th District on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.