Tomorrow, the day of the New Hampshire primaries, as popular conception has it, is one of two big nights in the presidential primary season. It’s a day, it is said in the mainstream chatter, when New Hampshire gains particular influence over people in other states.
So, what can you do on the day of the New Hampshire primary? Well, if you’re in New Hampshire, and you’re a Democrat or Republican, you can vote.
If you’re not in New Hampshire, however, you can make New Hampshire where you are.
You see, New Hampshire’s primary doesn’t actually have a lot of direct influence. It’s a small state with a small population, and not much sway with its delegates to the national Democratic presidential convention to be held later this year. The power New Hampshire has is indirect. The primary purports to persuade people in other states to vote one way or another.
Why does the New Hampshire presidential primary have that power? Because people say it has that power, and the people who say New Hampshire has the power are listened to, that’s why.
They say that New Hampshire is a center of power in the 2008 presidential nomination process. The funny thing about power centers, however, is that they move relative to where people actually are. Power centers follow people, not the other way around, at least when enough people are bold enough to act independently of the power centers’ influence.
So, the best thing for you to do, now that the day of the New Hampshire presidential primary is almost here, is to make a little power center of your own. Make a New Hampshire where you are.
The first thing you do is to turn off the television coverage of the New Hampshire primaries. You won’t help your favored candidate by staring at the screen, and nobody outside of your living room ever hears what you say in response to your TV set.
Get online, and find a place to speak. Maybe you’ve got a web page, or belong to a social networking site. Maybe you can just use the comment section of one of our articles here.
Tell people what you think of the various presidential candidates up for the Republican and Democratic party nominations. Don’t just say who you think will win. Discuss which candidates you think deserve to win, and which deserve to be knocked out of the process. Explain why you think that way. Try to persuade others.
If you do persuade, you’ve made your own little New Hampshire – a fitting activity for any day.
