Anyone who knows of the Bus Project knows that no other organization in Oregon is doing more for the cause of progressive politics. The Bus not only is effective in getting progressives elected — securing victory in 9 of 10 targeted House races last year — the Bus does an unmatched job of getting citizens involved in the political process. People get on the Bus not just because they know they can make change happen, but because Bus trips are just so much damn fun. There is nothing the equal of an evening doing politics with the Bus.

So what kind of exciting progressive hijinks did I get up to at the Bus the past two nights? What kind of craziness did I get swept up in over at Jefferson Smith's little secret project? Wow, I hope you can stand the thrill better than I did: For 90 minutes each evening, I scanned data into a computer.

Yup. Walking lists from "Trick or Vote", a hand-held scanner and the VAN database. The giddiness. You cannot imagine.

But there's a reason I went back tonight. Wednesdays are "volunteer night" at the Bus; lots of people show up, there's food and other refreshments (blessings upon Nick Popechuk), friends, music and some kind of necessary work. Usually it's phone banking, but last night: data entry. Scan scan scan. Tonight, when I went back after work, there were still refreshments, Garrett and Lucy were there, but as for the volunteers? Moi.

The point is not how special I am — god knows I don't have to make that claim for myself. As Henry would assure anyone, the Bus loves me, and that's all I need. The point is that politics has always involved boring drudge work. Phone banking isn't very exciting; lots of people hate it (not my favorite task). Mailings used to be a staple political activity, but less so now. Nonetheless, there are always dreary admin tasks to be gotten through, and, in this era of computers, data entry can be an unending source of volunteer activity.

If the volunteers will step up and do it. If they do not, the organizations that depend on them are stifled in their attempt to affect change. The data we are entering at the Bus is from "Trick or Vote": We asked voters if they would pledge to vote their whole ballot — all the races from top to bottom, not just President and Senate. This data, once entered, will be the subject of research by a Notre Dame professor, and GOTV (get out the vote) has, it turns out, been poorly studied. So, given how vital GOTV programs are, any insight we can gain into our efforts may prove invaluable.

So we have thousands of walksheets to scan and only another week with access to the hand-held scanners. That's a lot of work to be done by precious few volunteers. And once this project's done, there'll be more phone banking, maybe another boring admin task. Nothing exciting or glamorous.

And of course, the Bus is just one of many groups working for progressive change. These groups have varying numbers of professional staff capable of doing this kind of working, of recruiting and directing volunteers. Few have the luxury of more volunteers than work needing to be done. Almost every progressive organization is in desperate need of volunteers, and at a time when volunteer energy should be rekindled. After all, we won an historic election in 2008, and now Barack Obamam is President. The Republicans who wreaked such havoc on the world and nation have been beaten well back, for now, and the opportunity to do some amazing things has never been greater.

So where are the volunteers? Change is not a self-starter. Staring at the news and yearning that Obama fix the world is a pointless exercise. The only way the dream that he represents can be fulfilled is if those who share that dream get off their keisters and make some kind of damn effort on behalf of that change. Of course that might mean missing a tv show, or not getting home til late, or spending a couple of hours doing something boring or uncomfortable. The alternative, however, is that "moderates" and wingnuts combine in their uniquely stupid ways to block real change.

What Pres Obama and his limited number of allies in the Congress are trying to accomplish is massive, and the opposition they face will grow stronger by the day. The media will continue to speak in ignorance, uncaring at the damage they cause by refusing to even try to be journalists. The only way for Obama to succeed is for the American people to back him. That means, of course, they have to things that are boring and uncomfortable, whether with an organization like "Organizing for America," "Democracy for America," the Bus or any of dozens — hundreds — of organizations that support some aspect of the change so many of us claim we want.

Claim we want. If we really want that change, we have to be the ones who make it happen. "We are the people we have been waiting for" said candidate Obama over a year ago, and it's more true than ever. Data entry is a drag, but 3 hours over 2 evenings: that's a few more drops into the bucket. Without it, the bucket is that much more empty.