Grass Roots Resource Thread

This past weekend, I attended a couple of community events. I had an opportunity to meet and speak with a US Representative, a state Assemblyman, and the state Comptroller. More, I had a chance to socialize with a variety of old friends: former co-workers; a friend from the Mohawk Nation that I haven’t seen since in almost 20 years; an attorney, who has helped with a variety of Indian-related issues; a woman who is a member of a state-wide group for helping elect "local" democratic candidates; a representative of the state democratic party; and other liberal/progressive democrats and Greens.

One of my former co-workers is a psychiatrist, now specializing in work with children and youth. In 1992, she and I headed up an informal group from the clinic where we worked, who went door-to-door in low-income neighborhoods, registering voters. We had a chance to catch up on the grass-roots work she is doing on environmental and health care issues. And she reminded me that the voter education/registration that we did was, in fact, her first experience of that kind.

Recently, on DU, I’ve spoken with a few friends about the possibility of trying to have some sort of organized "grass roots" threads on the General Discussion forum. A number of people here used to participate in the "DU Activist" forum, and my goal is certainly not to try to compete with that …..but rather, to try to get a collective effort that can serve as a resource for people here. For example, one friend had posted about the frustrations of being ignored by elected representatives, and I told of how I used to deal with this in what proved to be an effective manner.

On a forum such as this, there are literally hundreds of people who have had various experiences from "grass roots" political action. Among a community such as this, there is the potential for people to have questions, to offer suggestions, and to provide the answers they have found from personal experience.

I’ll start with a simple example. I am a democrat, and a registered member of the Democratic Party. I also have long ties with others on the liberal/progressive left. There is no question that I have more in common with the members of the local liberal/progressive left, than with the moderate/conservative democrats here or in Washington. When I invested time and energy in the 2008 elections, a large part of my effort involved getting votes for democratic candidates from voters who were not registered democrats.

On Sunday, during the discussion among democrats, my goal was to make one simple point. In any political conversation, I keep in mind that to communicate, you have to speak in the language the other person(s) understand. In this context, three things come in handy: volunteer hours, money raised, and voters brought to the polls. That’s the language that everyone involved in politics grasps.

I also try to use some form of imagery. In this case, we were at a picnic. I used the image of a picnic table. When it was campaign time, I invited my liberal/progressive friends to join us at the democratic party’s picnic table. We paid for our seats. We brought food for ourselves and others. And now, we have politicians in Washington, talking about the need to seat republicans – at our expense. It’s as if some democrats in Washington expect us to be happy to sit near the table, with an empty plate. Others don’t even want to act like they know us. And still others expect us to serve the food. Everyone understood what I was saying.

The liberal/progress democrats and friends helped to raise the tide in 2008, and that helped all democratic candidates in their elections. And we can do the same thing in 2010 and 2012. But we are not going to do it for an empty plate. We need to see some representation.

Representatives such as Anthony Weiner (D-NY) are more likely to earn the support of the liberal/progressive members of our communities, than are those democrats who are more intent upon cocktail parties with republicans than in representing us. Again, this is the type of plain language that people can easily understand.

Now, for "part two." There are four area newspapers, and three regional newspapers, that I will target with "letters-to-the-editor" this week. Again, I will attempt to communicate a simple message, in a manner that everyone understands. Rather than attempt to attack republicans, the insurance industry, or the right-wing freaks disrupting town hall meetings, I will use another tactic. I will quote from the 1953 US Supreme Court case, United States v. Rumely, where the court focused on the "indispensable" congressional obligation to provide the public with accurate information regarding government. The court’s decision quoted Woodrow Wilson, who noted that Congress’s duty to inform was "preferred even to its legislative function."

Then, a simple paragraph or two about recent "town hall" meetings in this area, and how important it is for both elected representatives and the people who elected them to keep in close contact. I’ll thank those politicians I had the chance to talk to over the weekend. And I’ll cut out and send copies of those letters, once published, to each of their offices, along with a short note reminding them of what is important to me as a community member.

For many DUers, this is certainly not new territory. For others, it may well show a different, more organized way to communicate with both politicians and the public. I hope that DUers will find the basic idea of a series of "grass roots resource threads" to be both interesting and worthwhile. I look forward to any responses. Thanks.

Peace,
H2O Man

As it gets closer to 2010? I'm thinking in terms of FDL, where they find and check out progressive candidates to support, all over thew country

I rarely read more that GD, GD-P, and Sports. I know that thereare state groups, etc. But being a creature of habitat, I remain parochial in my thinking.

A coordinated focus on those who will stand up for progressive values. FireDogLake started small and have grown this idea into a successful one.

this needs some views!

I had kind of hoped for responses, too. It's important to be active and organized now, rather than sitting back and expecting the work done in 2008 to carry the day. But I suppose that DUers who recognize this are already active and organized. Oh, well!

first, I want to introduce you to this guy (not that I know him, but was sorta randomly directed to his blog via Daily Howler - Hullabaloo - Empty Wheel - Attackerman - 14%)

http://fourteenpercent.typepad.com/14/2009/08/allow-me-to-reintroduce-myself.html

That is off topic, I know, but it doesn't hurt to have your thread kicked.

As for the topic, I am in sort of a tougher spot. With Republican Congresspeople in a Republican district in a Republican state.

My focus is on the impossible dream of trying to defeat the new incumbent in my house district. A dream I felt I had helped accomplish in 2006, only to lose it in 2008. Right now 2010 does not look good either, we don't even have a candidate yet. We lost our Governor to the Obama administration, and I felt that she could have been elected Senator. Our Lt. Governor is a former Republican and also has stated that he will not run in 2010. So did the guy he appointed as new Lt. Governor.

One thing that people can do is get involved at the local level. Depending on how their State Party is organized, there are perhaps County Party organizations that can use help. At least I found it very easy to become a precinct person, and as a precinct person/party activist you get more contact with your elected representatives. If Boyda was still in Congress, I would have a Congressperson who would recognize me, and so would her staff. (Although some of that comes from just visiting her office, and also going to other events. It was kinda funny that a couple days after I went to her office that I ran into two of her staffers at my local Kmart and said hi.)