Jane Fonda’s workout videos and the streets of Bakersfield: How I got hooked on progressive politics
I grew up in Bakersfield, California, a sprawling suburbia surrounded by onion fields and oil derricks, perhaps best known for producing country music stars and right-wing politicians. It was an odd place to grow up, the son of an East German refugee and a Jewish anthropology professor. It was an even odder place to fall in love with progressive politics.
In California, the early-1980s power-progressive couple was Tom Hayden (of the Chicago 7) and Jane Fonda, who had just begun minting money by selling workout videos. They built a grassroots organization called Campaign for Economic Democracy (CED) and, thanks to my Dad’s involvement, my living room was essentially Kern County chapter HQ. As a teenager, I loved the campaign energy, the sense of fighting the good fight, and most of all, the Star Wars Cantina feel of the various lefties who, for one reason or another, ended up in deeply red Bakersfield.
So I became the youngest volunteer on the 1982 campaign to elect Democrat John Means to the State Assembly. His opponent was Don Rogers, who was straight from central casting filed under “Central Valley conservative Republican.” Rogers later claimed that he didn’t need to pay federal taxes because he “held a "white man's citizenship" and was not a U.S. citizen.” I guess overt racism didn’t bother the Bakersfield voters who elected him six times!
But it bothered the John Means campaign as we gathered in my living room. It was time for change in California and we were the vanguard! So, we hit the streets of Bakersfield, clipboards in hand and change in our heart. I even created my first political message, coming up with one of the campaign slogans: “Where there’s a Means, there’s a way!”
Knocking on doors with John hooked me on politics. I remember that rush of success when we talked someone into taking our flyer and maybe even voting for John. My anger at Bakersfield’s reactionary politics morphed as I discovered that people’s everyday concerns transcended partisanship. And seeing a skilled politician turn skepticism into heartfelt conversations about people’s daily concerns gave me a taste for the power of smart communications. I saw how the best communication starts with listening, not talking. It was the first time I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life.
CED did help Tom Hayden get elected to the State Assembly that year, but Fonda’s money and my campaign slogan wasn’t enough to unseat Don Rogers. He haunted the statehouse for another 14 years. But that campaign had an enormous impact on my career. I still call my Bakersfield friends to test messages that are aimed at the so-called heartland. I’m still driven by the energy and possibility that comes from talking to people about the issues that matter most in their lives. And getting my start in Bakersfield taught me to listen to and learn from people who might seem quite different from me. It taught me an early lesson that still holds true: To win campaigns, we have to listen first, seek to understand, and then begin to develop a strategy that will move people to act.