By D’Anne Witkowski
Perhaps one of the most pathetic facets of conservative ideology is that a person becomes successful based solely on their own merit. The whole “self-made man” story gets applied to anyone who “makes it,” even when the story is so transparently false (see: Donald Trump). Conversely, anyone who doesn’t make it, well, that’s their fault alone. Sucks to suck, as my 13-year-old son would say.
It’s an attractive narrative. After all, it relieves us of any kind of collective responsibility. Caring about other people is, well, a lot of work. And having no societal obligation to take care of each other is the only way conservative ideology works.
But the truth of it is, nobody makes it on their own. We all need help, we all need encouragement, we all need someone to believe in us. And for a lot of us that person was someone we encountered in our youth. Maybe it was a teacher, coach, neighbor, community member, an older sibling. For so many of us there is someone who made an indelible impression on our lives.
For me it was my 8th grade English teacher, Mrs. Miller. She saw something in me that I sure as hell didn’t see. She told me that I had a talent for writing. I wrote poems and she would read them and write encouraging comments in the margins. Prior to that, I didn’t really do very well in school. But in the following year I thought, “Huh. I guess I’ll get good grades now.” And I did. But I also kept writing. And that teacher? She’s one of my oldest friends.
January is Mentorship Month, which makes me think of all of the young people who need someone in their lives and all of the people who strive to be that person. I want all kids to be as lucky as I was.
And, frankly, that’s why I’m a progressive. To be a progressive is to be someone who cares about other people, who sees us all as connected, who wants public policy to reflect and encourage that we’re all in this together. Things like fully and equitably funding our public schools, calling out and dismantling systemic racism, equal pay for equal work, making affordable child care available to parents, family leave time, paid sick days, access to health care including mental health care, caring for the unhoused and the hungry. The list goes on and on. There is no “on your own” way to address any of these issues.
And no progress is made unless we elect and continue to elect people to public office who share our values and will do the work.
In Michigan, we begin 2023 with a state government with full Democratic control. This Democratic majority didn’t happen spontaneously or quickly or easily. It’s the culmination of years of work by thousands of people across the state.
A tipping point was the 2016 election of Donald Trump, which set the stage for the 2018 election. Democrats were galvanized, looking for a place to channel their anger and disappointment, to show that Michigan was better than this.
A big repository of that energy was in the Voters Not Politicians ballot measure, which passed in 2018. The result was that in 2022, Michigan had much fairer district maps after decades of Republican gerrymandering.
The people who worked on Voters Not Politicians were nothing short of amazing. The number of people gathering signatures, talking to voters, making the case that this ballot measure was good for all of us, regardless of party.
The result wasn’t just passing a proposal, it wasn’t even just getting fairer maps. It was the connections made across the state between people working together to create real change. It created the epitome of a network: a net cast across the state of people dedicated to doing the hard and often thankless work of moving Michigan in a progressive direction.
Between 2016 and 2018, many dedicated and determined souls joined Dem clubs, formed Indivisible groups, became precinct delegates, and ran for office themselves. It’s not easy to sustain a forward momentum between elections, but the momentum continued through 2020 (though districts were still gerrymandered to favor Republican control) when Michigan voters ousted Trump (he lost. Bigly) and through 2022 when Michigan voters said no to the radical right’s plan to make Michigan more like Florida.
Make no mistake, the proposals that passed in 2022 protecting reproductive rights and voting rights in Michigan, from the moment they went from an idea to a reality, followed the road VNP paved in 2018.
We have a Democratic majority in Michigan because of years of relationship building, years of people encouraging and investing in each other to create a framework for achieving real change. In other words, it’s the culmination of sustained mentorship. Saying to that volunteer knocking doors in the rain, “What you’re doing is important. Thank you.” Saying to a friend, “You could really make a difference on the school board. You have my support.” Saying to someone thinking of running, “You can do this. I will help you.” Saying to themselves, “I believe in this candidate. I’m going to work on their campaign and help them win.” Bringing coffee and donuts to campaign offices working late nights. Volunteering to make phone calls. Every little, and big, thing that we do for each other to keep moving forward.
We did this. Together. What a powerful example of what mentorship can achieve.