There's nothing unusual about taking a walk. But if you're 89 years old and you have arthritis, emphysema, wear a steel back brace, and your "walk" is a 3,200-mile cross-country political statement, then it's amazing.

Doris Haddock (better known as "Granny D") is a former executive secretary and lifetime political activist who is not taking retirement sitting down. She's concerned over the role of campaign contributions in determining the outcome of political elections, and therefore the direction of our democracy.

Her civics discussion group in Peterborough, New Hampshire, started a petition drive to persuade Congress to pass a campaign finance reform bill. Many politicians ignored this issue or actually said it was unimportant. Haddock concluded that a petition would not be enough, that she needed to do something dramatic to help rescue our democracy "from this sewer of cash and greed we've slipped into."

That something dramatic was her decision to "walk the talk" and travel, on foot, across the U.S. talking to people about influence peddlers who've "set up their cash registers in our temple of democracy." She trained hard for her marathon journey, hiking almost every day wearing a 25-pound backpack. Family members tried to talk her out of it, but she went right ahead, setting out from California and heading for Washington D.C.

She logged 10 miles a day, through sandstorms, blizzards, blistering heat and torrential rains. She braved danger and even death each day that she walked. She was hospitalized for dehydration after crossing the Mojave desert and risked hypothermia by skiing through snow in Maryland. Her emphysema made her lungs "sound like a teakettle" when she marched up a hill, but she kept walking.

And everywhere she walked, she talked. She told people all across the country that "fund raising muscle should not be the measure of a candidate" but that the candidate with the most money almost always wins. Often the winning candidate has over ten times as much money as the loser.

Haddock told people that the voice of the common citizen is drowned out by companies and associations that shower cash on political candidates and then expect the winner to pay them back by voting as these contributors want them to. She told her audiences that over $100 million dollars a month floods into Washington D.C. to influence politicians, adding, "You know where that leaves you and me, don't you?"

 

Along the way, "Granny D" met a lot of people, many of whom were so impressed that they started walking with her. She says that of everyone she encountered along the way, not one believed that "their voice as an equal citizen" counted for much in government. Haddock preached in churches, gave speeches, joined in parades, and appeared in newspapers and on radio and television. One of her admirers said that she motivated "tens of thousands of young people to get involved in civic life, and has inspired older people to stay involved in their communities." Fourteen months, 12 states, and 3,200 miles later, "Granny D" arrived in Washington D.C. She had celebrated her 90th birthday on the road. Others might have taken a long rest after such a journey, but within days Haddock was arrested with 30 others for demonstrating in the U.S. Capitol building. Her "crime" was reading the Declaration of Independence, telling people we need now to declare "our independence from the corrupting bonds of big money in our election campaigns." The judge could have given Granny D. six months in prison and ordered her to pay a $500 fine. Instead, he imposed no jail time and told her, "Take care, because it's people like you who will help America reach our destiny." She went right back to the Capitol building and read the Bill of Rights. Yes. She was arrested again. Since her cross-country trek, Doris Haddock helped found the Free Democracy Movement, that works to raise the volume of individual citizens' voices. Partly prompted by her courageous efforts, several states are reforming their campaign finance laws and the issue now has a much higher profile among voters. In the words of one U.S. senator, "She's rebuilt our faith in the idea that one person can make a difference."