Harvey Milk: The Dirtiness of Machine Politics

by Michael Jones · 2008-11-26 03:09:00 UTC
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Harvey MilkBefore Harvey Milk won his seat as a San Francisco Supervisor, he ran a race for the California State Assembly, where he went up against the inside baseball candidate Art Agnos.  Agnos had been groomed for the seat by city politicians, but Milk felt strongly that people, not politicians, should choose their representatives.

Milk ended up losing the race by just under 3,000 votes, which was pretty remarkable given how outspent he was by Agnos. The campaign against Agnos brought this nugget of wisdom from Milk:

I think representatives should be elected by the people -- not appointed. I think a representative should earn his or her seat. I don't think the seat should be awarded on the basis of service to the machine. Machines operate on oil and grease; they're dirty, dehumanizing, and too often unresponsive to any needs but those of the operator.

I'm not sure what Harvey Milk would say about the situation in Delaware right now...

After Harvey gave this quote, his campaign slogan became "Harvey Milk vs. The Machine." And sure enough, a people-powered politics is what eventually pushed Milk into City Hall.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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