Photos by AJ White

News for many people in the Democratic Party has been bleak the last few weeks.

As covered in a previous blog, the Iowa caucus was an embarrassing catastrophe showing the DNC in a horrible light — particularly at a time when they needed to look so much better than the opposition. The wishes of the majority of Democratic voters are being ignored, while the powers that be are aggressively promoting more establishment candidates, Michael Bloomberg and Pete Buttigieg. There were audible gasps and cries of “have they not learned anything?” when it was reported Bloomberg was sizing up Hillary Clinton to be his running mate. All in all its left many of us feeling like we’re stuck in some hellish political version of Groundhog Day, where we’re all doomed to repeat the mistakes of 2016, until we either learn a lesson and appoint someone visionary and progressive or we all just give up and appoint Trump as the emperor of America.

At this stage it’s easy to become despondent and start googling how much it costs to buy a small, isolated island in the middle of the ocean, but this is precisely the time not to give up, because there are many, many cracks of hopeful light seeping through the darkness. Tulsi’s campaign is a case in point — actually many points (of light.)

Against all odds, Tulsi’s campaign for the nomination continues to flourish. Her town halls are sold out on a nightly basis, with standing room only showing the level of the support almost every publication wants you to believe she doesn’t have. There is a growing sense of fury at the ongoing efforts to keep her out of the official debates and serious questions as to why lower-tier candidates are being given the exposure she is being denied.

Inevitably where all these factors are intersecting, a perfect storm is brewing. People are sick of being denied their democratic choices, sick of having candidates foisted upon them they don’t want, and there is a growing sense that the Democratic Party is being hijacked by the establishment — much in the same way the GOP has been since the Trump victory.

If people want to be represented by the candidate they want and want their democracy back — the time has come to take it back. This means voting in numbers impossible to deny or minimize, making a lot of noise, and getting behind candidates who will shake up, and bring back Democratic values to the party we all know and want to love again.

You all know who these candidates are, so get behind them — show up in huge numbers, shout I huge numbers and most importantly vote in big numbers — and let’s take the Democratic Party back.

Chloe Combi, writer @standwithtulsi