Where did the Deaniacs go? [View All]

Ginny Ross of Portland, who is a member of the Democracy for Oregon Steering Committee

Ever wonder where all those pioneering, fund-raising, people-powered, first-time activists for Howard Dean went after March '04? Did they "unsubscribe" and take the summer off? After Nov. 3rd did they bite back the sweet temptation to say "We told you so, dood" and hang up their mousepads and shoeleather? Nothing of the kind! We still hear Howard Dean's gruff inspiring phrase ringing in our ears --- We Want Our Country Back!

In April, we sat in awe as Howard Dean immediately picked himself up after the Primary, created Democracy for America and went about, in a matter of weeks, raising and spending $5 million to put hundreds of progressive candidates across the nation in office on election day. So following Dean's lead, we refused to give up the fight to put ordinary citizens back in charge again. We stuck together, continued to Meetup, and we are still an active community today. After working non-stop to support Kerry through an exhausting General Election, we summoned the energy to knit our group back together. To help place a veneer of officialdom around our rabble of patriots wielding cyber pitchforks and torches, we did the obvious thing. We incorporated.

With our shiny new Democracy for Oregon, we will bring Howard Dean's national initiatives right to the pub in your town every month. We suspect this will glue us together, amplify our voices, fill our inboxes to brimming, and forge us into an awesome team of coordinated progressive activists ready for any campaign. Looking back over 2004, thousands of us Oregon Dean supporters (like Blue Oregon contributors Lew Frederick and Andrew Simon) did our utmost to elect Kerry and other Dems in vital races throughout the state. Our historic Dean houseparty fundraisers became Kerry fundraisers. Our Dean Shoeleather Brigade worked tirelessly registering thousands of voters to elect Kerry.

But I wanted to let you all know that in the midst of working for Kerry and other Dems this year, we never lost sight of the long term battle Dean opened our eyes to. We have to restore our democracy for ordinary citizens again. This is the message and appeal of the ongoing Democracy for America campaign: That when corporate interests control the debate through media consolidation, and they also control the candidates through campaign financing, real democracy for ordinary American citizens (of any party) is doomed. We must face this fact and fight back. Howard Dean did, and we can too.

http://www.blueoregon.com/2004/12/where_did_the_d.html