Every Month CommonSense2 will feature an unsung hero-a person who works tirelessly to make this a better world. In this cynical world it is always the bad news that grabs the headlines. However we all know that there are many progressives who are giving their time and effort to improve our lives. Linda Wood is one such person. A resident of Greenwich Township, Linda decided many years ago that sitting on the sidelines and complaining changes nothing. She became a political activist on many fronts. In addition to becoming Greenwich Township Supervisor and a Democratic Committeewoman for Berks County, Linda has built a progressive Democratic Club in Kutztown that has become a model for other clubs. Against formidable odds Linda has shown that progressive ideas can take root even in the most conservative of areas. We sat down with Linda this summer for a little chat.

Chuck Brown

CS2: Hi Linda. How did you get involved in politics and when was it?

Linda: It was 1979 in Michigan. I was pregnant with my first child. We had spent years looking for just the right property to raise a family and thought we’d found it. After the first month that we moved in, someone knocked on our door and informed us that our neighbor (the electric company) had easement rights to put high tension wires some 200 feet from our property. We were just starting a family and Rick knew the ramifications of this with magnetic fields and decided that we had to move.

Rick was offered a job in PA. We bought a farm in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. I was setting everything up as we had just moved in. He was away on a business trip when I heard on the news about trouble at a nuclear power plant [Three Mile Island]. At first I said Oh!! I was interested; but then I felt I had questions that weren’t being answered by the television. I thought: Oh my God. I left because of the electric company in Michigan and now here I was being screwed again by an electric company in Pennsylvania. I wanted to know what was going on so I called the newspaper. The Reading Eagle couldn’t give me any information. So many things being said on TV were contradictory and I thought somebody’s lying here. I felt betrayed because we obviously weren’t being leveled with. I was angry because I had moved my family here and felt that I had to take a stand. I attended my first protest rally in front of Met-Ed. This whet my appetite for political action. I started out with the anti nuclear movement and became active in recycling. This led to becoming active in the environmental movement and it was like an evolution in my thinking until I realized that I had to get involved in politics to affect any changes in these areas.

CS2: When did you first get involved directly in politics?

Linda: Shortly after my child was born I started leaving our secluded farm to go to township meetings. I thought I had something to say and out of sheer determination I went to many of these meetings. I talked one of my neighbors into running for township supervisor and that was my first political campaign. Eventually I ran for township supervisor.

CS2: Which Township was that?

Linda: Greenwich Township. I was elected Greenwich Township Supervisor. It was a very contentious time as you can imagine, with all the competing interests vying for your attention. Between wanting to help the people of my township, teaching part-time and taking college credits I decided not to seek another term.

CS2: But you’re still in politics and are considered the founder of The Kutztown Area Democratic Club.

Linda: When George Bush was selected by the Supreme Court to be president my son and myself went down to Washington to protest. I was beginning to feel isolated because people were blindly waving the flag in my community and school. I talked to a friend and was surprised when she launched into a tirade about these events and I thought I’m not alone in my feelings. And then I found out that George Bush was coming to Kutztown. I started to organize a protest of his visit and many people came forward to participate in the preparations for this. I realized that I wasn’t alone. I think I just put the match to the fire. It was already ready to go. The more I think about it I believe more people were coming to the conclusion that the media was complicit in his rise.

CS2: I think you’re being modest about your role because George Bush goes to a lot of places but doesn’t leave behind a great Progressive Club like the one you built. On another subject, what do you think is the most exhilarating thing that happened to you in politics?

Linda: When you can shake someone out of the apathy. That’s big. It’s so pervasive. Sometimes you want to just grab them and shake them. You want to scream Look what’s going on around you. How can you stand it? So many just care about the latest episode of Survivor.

CS2: If you had your way what would America look like?

Linda: No offense intended, but I always say give me 10 organized women and we could clean this whole mess up. America needs to change direction. We need to focus on what kind of world we’re leaving our children. Clean water, breathable air. Health care for all. Protect the land. Control sprawl. When I was supervisor I was careful to consider these quality of life issues in every decision. I did this for 6 years but that’s enough. Somebody else’s turn. Enough is enough. I went through with my commitment.

CS2: Are there any politicians that you admire today?

Linda: There are many people I admire in politics as well as many I don’t. When you get right down to it, whether it be before my entry into politics and becoming supervisor, or later and even now, the person that I keep coming back to is Gandhi. Not just his philosophy, although his resistance tactics and his nonviolence are most important, but also the man’s life, how he lived it and the example he set for everyone is still so inspiring to me. Yes I would have to say that Gandhi is the one I most admire in politics–the philosophy, the life-it was all so right.

CS2: Let me ask you this. As someone who lived through the Vietnam generation you see what’s going on now in Iraq, have we as a country learned a lesson, or are we capable of learning a lesson?

Linda: What’s so amazing to me is that not only are the events similar in many ways but the rhetoric coming out of politicians mouths to justify it is the same. I feel like screaming “I’ve heard this all before!”

CS2: Does this make you feel….

Linda: What’s the question? Are you asking if I’m frustrated by this?

CS2: Well more like: Do you have a sense that nothing was learned from all this travesty?

Linda: Well part of me understands this. Back in the Vietnam days I was more interested in socializing, listening to music with my friends rather than the political life of the country. You could say I was politically naive then. Many people are this way so I see how history repeats itself.

CS2: Where do you see yourself putting your political efforts in the future?

Linda: We’ll I’m trying to distill my political feelings. I’ve been through the political cycle. Whether it be the environment or health care reform, it seems to me that nothing worthwhile will happen until we have meaningful campaign finance reform. That’s probably where I’m going to put my efforts in the future.

CS2: What’s the three most important things needing to be done?

Linda: Peace, health care reform, save the environment. If I can digress for a moment, I’m optimistic about the future. I can see change coming. I believe people are being jolted out of their apathy and good will come of this. Like planting a garden, we have to plant ideas (seeds) to grow into the country I envision.

CS2: That’s a good note to end this on. Thank you Linda

Linda: Your Welcome

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