A few weeks ago when we were planning our trip to Iowa, one volunteer signed up to carpool to Des Moines from California to help us canvass for Bernie. I was excited she was making such a bold plan; it was a terrific way to have a real impact on the race. But she dawdled her way across the country, stopping at landmarks to get photos of her decked-out Bernie car, and sharing enthusiastic Facebook posts with lots!! of!! exclamation!! points!! Last I checked she had posted her ultimate prize, a selfie with Bernie. I have no evidence she ever knocked on a single Iowan door.

…Cut to a friend of mine who read one of my blog posts and offered to help Bernie get elected. “Rare are the times when reality trumps my pessimism,” he declared, and I was glad I’d written something that reached him. “What do you want me to do?” he asked. I told him to watch the Bernie dialer training video, and his first reply was:

“The only way I can help is to cold call people on a phone bank? That’s everything I despise.”

That was about a week ago and he hasn’t called anyone yet.

…Crossfade to the caucus I attended in Nevada last weekend, where there were three uncommitted voters who wanted to hear from each group why they should choose Bernie or Hillary. The Hillary guy did a good job talking about her experience, her background and specific points about why they should support her. The Bernie gal spoke in generalities, using vague umbrella statements and various clichés; she offered no specifics or details; she couldn’t answer a direct question about Bernie’s foreign policy. Instead, she glowingly declared Bernie would “bring people together” and this would keep America safe. When the period ended, none of the uncommitted voters had joined Bernie’s group. Hillary got nine delegates and Bernie got two.

Now, I do realize I’m a lot more involved in politics than most people. And we should encourage new volunteers to participate and grow their skills and abilities. But I can’t shake the hunch that for too many people, Bernie’s campaign is just a way to feel good without really doing any work.

We need people to step up. We need people to realize that Bernie’s campaign is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to change the fabric of our society. We need people to do things that are essential to the success of Bernie’s candidacy. We need everyone to realize not all of those things are fun, convenient or free.

People need to show up in primary states and go door-to-door canvassing. People need to make phone bank calls so canvassers know which doors to knock on. People need to know what Bernie’s policies are so we can persuade voters and refute bullshit.

Bernie didn’t lose Nevada. We lost Nevada for Bernie, and we didn’t need to. We didn’t make enough calls. We didn’t knock on enough doors. We didn’t know how to answer predictable questions and criticisms. In short, we didn’t do our jobs.

So before we squander another primary state, and allow Hillary’s aura of inevitability to grow larger, let’s all refocus on what will actually make a real-world difference in this election. We know what they are:

donating money

making calls

ground-game canvassing

volunteer intake and coordination

Posting your dank Bernie meme on Facebook is not on the list.

One of the great things about volunteering for Bernie is that you can genuinely have a great time while doing something truly important. It’s okay, terrific in fact, to enjoy doing Bernie things. We all just need to make sure we’re having fun while doing the important things, not just having fun instead of doing the important things.

So ask yourself and everyone else why you are doing this. Do you want to have fun or do you want to make a difference?