For political pressure comes in a currency that the people still hold: the vote. And a very small number of votes in New Hampshire could well set the direction of the 2016 presidential campaign. If just 50,000 New Hampshirites made this issue central—if they weaved a briar patch throughout the state, making it impossible for any presidential hopeful to avoid answering this single question: How are YOU going to end the system of corruption in D.C.?—then New Hampshire could create the conditions for a leader to take this issue on, credibly. And if a candidate could make reform credible—if she could somehow convince the voters that unlike every president promising change before, this time, this will be different—then that candidate could begin to thaw the enormous potential political energy frozen in an issue that 96 percent of America believes must be solved.
That tantalizing hope is what our walk seemed to trigger. We weren’t politicians promising “CHANGE.” We were ordinary citizens from across the country, putting our feet first. As Granny D had, we were presenting a case in a respectful if physically demanding way. People saw us. They heard us. And they began to echo us, as they knew again the reform that we as a nation must achieve.
And here is where I learned the most important lesson of this walk: the lesson of the we, not the one.
What was striking about Granny D was this lone and aged soul walking across a country for a cause. Of course, people joined her along the way for at least part of the walk. But the image that survives is of a single soul suffering an incredible burden to make a critically important point.
Our walk was not about a person. It was about a team. Though when I announced the plan to walk across New Hampshire, from north to south, in January, I was not certain, or even confident, that anyone would join me, in fact hundreds did for part of the way and just about twenty did for the full 185 miles.
As we did this, we did this. We did it together. The days were filled with conversations that bound us forever. As soldiers in a platoon (and three of our walkers were former soldiers), we knew our purpose, and showed our resolve, through freezing rain and heavy snow, across some of the most beautiful mountains in America. And through the calm but determined action of walking in a physically demanding context, we gave others a reason to listen, and gave at least some the inspiration that dedication rightly evokes.
Granny D walked 3,200 miles. It took her 13 months. Together, we walked 6,400 miles. It took us two weeks. And if we imagine 3,200 miles as a unit of measurement—call it one “GD”—then there may be a way that this model of activism could scale.
Now imagine that we multiply the teams of walkers—say 16 walkers, and four support staff, per unit. And imagine we multiply the routes, synchronizing each so that they all end up at the same place—Concord, Des Moines, Columbia—at the same time. Anyone could join the walk along the way, but each unit would commit to walking the full distance within an allotted time.