by Kathie England

The Power of Small Steps

The outcome of the 2016 presidential election inspired me to launch the project My 1000 Small Steps, so the results of the presidential election on November 3, 2020 would not leave me and millions of other Americans with the same feelings of disbelief, despair, and doom we experienced in 2016.

Although we didn’t learn the results of the 2020 election until November 7, the power of millions of small steps prevailed. One example of the collective power of small steps was the work of Vote Forward and Swing Left.

  • Citizens raised more than $25 million for candidates and civic organizations in key states
  • Volunteers made more than 7.8 million phone calls to voters in battleground states
  • And we wrote more than 18.9 million letters to voters in key states

But when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris take office on January 20, 2021, our work will not be over!

Let us remember the words of the late John Lewis as we renew our commitment to create the country we know it can be.

“I never ever thought about giving up….Each one of us has the ability to resist, not to be quiet. We have to be brave. We have to be bold. And sometimes we have to fight some of the old battles over and over again for the next generation. You too can make a contribution, and you must.”

Each letter I wrote for Vote Forward shared the words of Lewis: “The vote is the most powerful non-violent tool we have to preserve our democracy!”

Let us continue to take small steps that will preserve our democracy!