We have about one year until the 2006 elections. You help us or don't.

[LoZoccolo]

There is only one year left before our next significant chance to turn things around. There are three types of people at this point:

A. There are those who will work for this change.
B. There are those who will be largely useless in this effort.
C. There are those who will work against this effort.

There is plenty of work to be done, even if you don't like the current state of the Democratic Party. If you'd like to change that, your job now is to support a candidate in the primary. Candidates in several states are collecting signatures to get on the primary ballots. If you're not doing that, be quiet or you are wasting our time complaining that there are no primary candidates to vote for.

After the ballot signatures are collected, if you would like to change who the Democratic Party is running as a candidate in the general election, your job is to convince more people to vote for them than for other candidates. To this end, you can volunteer the campaigns of one of the primary candidate. Your job here is more complex, but still manageable:

- You must convince more people within the party to vote for your candidate.
- You must either pick a candidate who it can be shown can win the general election, or you must succeed in convincing people to vote for them in the general.
- You must do both of these in a way that will not sabatoge whoever wins the primary.

If you are not doing these, be quiet or you are wasting our time complaining that there is no one to vote for. It is your job to give us who to vote for.

After the primary, you will learn whether you have succeeded or failed in providing yourself with your favored candidate to vote for in the general election. Your job here is to support the better candidate whether or not you voted for or supported them in the primary. If you are not doing this, you need to stop blaming other people for your own failure, and wasting their time trying to punish them for succeeding where you have failed.

I invite all of you to be a type A.

I also invite you to manage your time wisely, and give your attention where it deserves to be given. The type B's can be just as destructive as the type C's by leeching the time you could spend making progress. And the type C's are only trying to bring you down on account of their own failure to achieve the fully possible things I list above. Do not waste time arguing with people who show themselves not to be on a track to get what they want.

We have one year. Let's optimize our resources, and not give them to the people who do not wish to succeed, or refuse to learn how to.

[beyurslf]

1. You can also help by raising money for candidates or causes.

You can also volunteer and be active in your local party. You can change your local party by becoming an activist in the party. Most county organizations are run by volunteers and those who do the work help set the agenda.

[jobycom]

3. Careful raising money

You can become a PAC if you do it wrong, and get yourself fined, or worse. Basically, you aren't a PAC by filing, you are a PAC by acting like one, and if you raise money then give it to a candidate or use it to influence an election, you are a PAC.

To avoid this, make sure you collect checks written to the candidate or party, not to yourself, and record the names and professions of cash donors (or don't take cash). You ought to check with your local party to be sure of the rules in your state. They will know.

Also, if you have grand ambitions, start a PAC. It requires you to file with the elections committee (state, usually, unless you are doing this on a federal level), and to keep very careful records of where you got money and what you spent it on. Then you have to file a quarterly report. It's not hard, just a little time consuming. And you can use that money to support a cause or a candidate (with some limits, depending on your state).

Just some ideas. We should all start getting fired up, and this is the time to start getting involved.

[jobycom]

2. Also, go to your precinct caucus

When you vote in the primaries, they should have information on your precinct caucus, which will be somewhere near the polling place just after the elections close.

At the precinct caucus you get to vote on the party platform, and you can even speak and influence others to vote your way. In this way you can begin to affect the platform, and thus the party.

At the PC, they will also choose the county convention delegates, and often you can wheel and deal your way to at least an alternate delegate. At the county convention, you can vote on the platform resolutions that the county sends to the state. You can even propose your own. If you work it right, you can volunteer to be on the resolutions committee, which will not only give you more influence on what is put up for a vote, but also let you see how these things come about.

At the county, you run for the state delegation. That's harder, but if you win, you can go to the state convention and do the same things there. You can also hobnob with people who can give you more info on what to do and how to do it. Usually, there are several clinics and seminars. There are also cool parties.

At the state you can run for the national convention during a presidential election year, but it's unlikely you'll win unless you have been active in your state party for some time. Now is the time to get started making a name for yourself, though.

Also, most cities and towns have local party clubs you can join, which gives you access to candidates and party officials. If you don't have one, form your own. Contact the county party office, or just start a grassroots club. Then you invite local candidates to speak, and meet them one on one. Be careful if you spend ANY money--from organizing a picnic or doing mailouts to making contributions. Once you start giving money, you become a PAC, and if you don't file properly, you will wind up in a jail cell with Tom DeLay (Actually, you'll just be fined, but that wasn't as dramatic).

Another thing to do is hold a "coffee" or "meetup" or whatever you want to call it. You invite friends and neighbors to your house to meet a local candidate you support. They can make private donations at the party to the candidate without you becoming a PAC. Still, be careful. Your opponent will paly dirty, don't give him the chance.

Just some of the things you can do. You don't have to love the Democrats to do all of this. You can do it all with the hopes of changing the Dems. That's how the process works.

Remember, Bush won't be impeached, and Congress won't start doing the right thing. We have to beat them. This is how you beat them.

[rockymountaindem]

21. OhmyGod... productive, useful advice? On DU?

That's what this website should be about. Thank *you*.

[jobycom]

23. LOL! Thanks. I was hoping this thread would go in that direction. nt

[thinkingwoman]

64. Please repost as a separate thread!

This is GOOD information. The OP was good too, but please repost this as a new thread so that it can be rated up and seen by lots of readers.

I think some of us who have years of experience with politics and elections forget to reiterate the basics for those who are new to the arena. It bears repeating and you've done a great job here!

[crispini]

4. Hear hear! And I want to add:

Coming here to DU and discussing the events of the day is NOT ENOUGH for us to retake our Democracy out of the hands of these thieves. I am asking each and every one of you to do MORE than you usually do. Many of us write Letters to the Editor, email our representatives, and call people. That's wonderful, but it's not enough. We are coming up on 2006, and we will have 11 months to lay the groundwork for a successful victory in November of that year.

You need to find out who your Precinct Chair is, and ask that person if they need any help organizing your precinct. You need to get involved in a local Democratic club and meet activists in your area. You need to go to your Homeowner's Association Meetings, your PTA meetings, and network with people around you and MAKE THEM INTO DEMOCRATS! You need to contribute to your LOCAL Democratic party and help them help the candidates. They are recruiting candidates NOW. Can you run? Do you know someone you can encourage to run? Can you work on a campaign? Look at local offices too. We need to get good Dems in, up and down the ticket.

Many of you did this in 2004. Thank you. Now it's time to do it again. And if you didn't? Now is the time to begin, learn and enjoy!

Roll out. The train is leaving the station. And it's going to flatten those Bush bastards.

[LoZoccolo]

7. A side effect of people thinking message-boarding is "activism"...

...are the people who get overly concerned about what they see as pessimism on this board and start accusing people of being Republican operatives or disruptors based on it, as if the collective mood on one message board has anything to do with something in real life like, say, the Fitzgerald investigation. Whether or not people here feel good about Fitzgerald has nothing to do with what will come out of the investigation, and places an exaggerated importance on the place of sitting on the Internet and talking.

[crispini]

8. Exactly. The internet is a fun place to hang out, and

it's a great place to sort of "tune in" to the gestalt, or to sharpen your debating skills, or to bone up on the issues.

But it really doesn't have much to do with real life activism, and I wish I could pin that on a sticky at the top of every message forum here on DU. DU is fun, but DU is not real activism.

[BL611]

9. What?

Coming to DU and bitching about why the sun is hot won't make the world a beter place??? I'm so confused

[crispini]

10. LOL! nt

[mzmolly]

20. Great post. I think we need a forum for educating people as to what to do

I for one need to be more involved in the local races.

Thanks Crispini!

[crispini]

35. That would be interesting.

There are many different kinds of resources online but it might be worthwhile for someone to pull them together and give them a local spin.... Hm....

[mzmolly]

51. I think so. Many don't know HOW to get involved beyond DU.

:hi:

We could use the expertise of real activists and members of the Party.

[crispini]

60. The problem is that it's so local....

"Getting involved" really varies pretty wildly from county to county.

Hm....

This subject also isn't very well suited to a discussion thread. Do you think, if we put it in Demopedia, or wrote an article somewhere, that we could get a collective of the activists on DU to work on an article? Do you think people would read it? Sort of a "Getting Involved 101."

[KingFlorez]

5. I'm doing whatever I can to help

This country depends on it. In fact I'm going to be a candidate for my non-partisan city council. I think it's our duty to do whatever we can to help. Call candidates and ask them what you can do to help and donate something if you can. This is a fight that must be won, these fascists must be defeated.

[crispini]

11. Thank you for running, King Florez!

Being a candidate is hard work, but it's fun. :) Or so I imagine, never having been one myself.

[LoZoccolo]

6. I should add something for people in Illinois.

I belong to an organization that is encouraging people to get involved in real political efforts in Illinois, and I welcome you to check out their site to find things that you can do:

http://www.illinoisdemnet.org

[crispini]

12. You know what always disappoints me, LoZo?

Threads like these always seem to sink like stones, whereas more firey "debating" threads take off like a house on fire.

I dunno, I loves me some DU, but sometimes I think I should pry myself off of this board and spend the energy on my activism. :shrug:

[LoZoccolo]

13. I first became aware of this because of a thread sinking, actually.

It's an interesting coincidence which probably isn't much of mere coincidence at all. I posted a few days before the election asking what people were doing for the last few days before the contest was over. I was going up to Wisconsin to go door-to-door, and until 2004 I didn't know how much get-out-the-vote was needed for an election. I figured some people might be involved in some little-known areas of footwork where they needed more people, they could talk about it, and other people would hook up with opportunities. Well, that one pretty much sank.

Then later when people were complaining about the party I posted one about the DNC meetup, telling people they should get involved rather than just complaining, and that one pretty much sank too. It was after that that I realized that DUers are seldom doers. I very rarely ever meet people from DU at real-life stuff, and a lot of people haven't even heard of DU.

It's weird that it took up until a year ago to start figuring this out, and I wonder if there were a lot of active people, or people willing to be active, that found a lot of things to do during the 2004 season or hooked up with real-life people and opportunities and left the rest to kind-of wallow here.

[crispini]

15. I find that the folks in my state forum are pretty active.

Several precinct chairs, heads of local Democratic clubs, etc. Of course, in my state (Texas) I think a lot of people feel like they HAVE to be active.

Actually, though, the vast majority of the real life activists I know are only marginally involved in cyberspace. They may read a blog or two, but mostly they get their activist info from being on mailing lists.

It's an interesting phenomenon. I wish I knew how to move people from reading about politics to being active in politics. If I just had the solution to that problem, boy! we'd have something, wouldn't we?

[BeFree]

25. There are some activists here

And they come up with a lot of good stuff...this thread is evidence.

But for most people actual politcs is something quite foreign. And frankly, the squabbles are a big turn off. But DU serves a good purpose in that it spreads info and educates the uninformed.

As to how to get more people involved, an email I got a long time ago comes to mind. Basically it said that politics has to be made fun. How to make it fun is the question. Personally, I find politics fun, but then, I'm kinda weird.

PS: If we vote on electronic voting machines again, we will have to have a landslide in order to not lose. Since the machines are owned by republicans, examined by no one, and impossible to recount, the code that runs them is a secret, computer scientists are afraid of using electronic ballots, and the last few elections appear to have been stolen since over 60% of the vote was cast on electronics.

[crispini]

26. Yeah, I tell people that I think of politics as a big ol soap opera.

It's like reading a novel or something, only real.

The problem I see is that there's no A, B, C easy introduction, especially to local politics.

Hmmm... that might be worth thinking about... :D

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

29. "If we vote...

...on electronic voting machines again..."

If? You're joking right? No if. Republifascists aren't about to change that---they could not hope to hang on to the House and Senate, much less the White House without the machines. For us to keep doing the same things, things that would work if we had free and fair elections, when the reality of our situation is that we will have anything but, is to deny reality. Our efforts to restore democracy should be centered around restoring free and fair elections. This is the first order of business and until we tend to it, nothing else is going to matter.

[crispini]

36. I hate these kinds of posts.

You want to know why? They're defeatist. It's the ultimate trump card. "We can't do anything until we get rid of the machines, so let's not do anything at all!"

I have done as much as is possible on e-voting in my county. I am a member of the League of Women Voters (great organization, by the way) and I have worked with them to have dialogs with our Voter Registrar about the machines. We have educated him about the machines. And we are in the process of taking back our County Commissioner's Court -- these are the elected officials who control the purse strings at the Voter Registrar's office, and ultimately approve the machines.

I've done all I can do locally for now, until we take back the County Commissioner's court. I need to work on other things.

And you know what? I have gone into this issue -- pretty thoroughly, may I add -- and I just don't believe that wide-scale computer vote tampering can happen. Countywide scale, yes. Other forms of vote thievery and tampering like we saw in Ohio, yes. But I believe it would be too complicated and difficult, and require too many people, to steal an election using entirely electronic machines.

[BeFree]

42. I hate that kind of post

The ones that play down the impact e-voting can have.

You don't believe wide scale tampering can happen? What about the fact that just two companies are responsible for the machines that counted 80% of the country's vote last (s)election? Those two companies are the perfect set-up for wide scale tampering. Now, if all they did was print paper ballots for 80%, then yes, wide scale would be an impossibility.

It's good to have done all you can in your county, but the movement is bigger than your hometown, is bigger than individaul counties. It amounts to whole state ethics. The situation lead to Kerry losing several state electoral colleges the last election.

The election reform movement faces great hurdles before we get an honest vote system in place. Saying that there is no problem is a denial, and the movement is greatly harmed by such head-in-the-sand pronouncements. That's why I hate posts like that.

[LoZoccolo]

43. It's not that you brought up the issue of voting machines...

...or that it isn't a problem, so much as the manipulative tack you put on it by saying everything else was useless and we should drop everything until we fix your favorite issue. Some people fall for that, a lot of people don't. Don't put such an extreme spin on it and people will take you more seriously.

[BeFree]

45. Spin?

There was no spin- just facts. Ya want to argue the facts? Or do you want to kill the messenger?

I said: If we don't win by a landslide, we lose. I leave open the chance that we win with a landslide. I never said we should drop everything else. Maybe you are confused?

I know, it is a terrible thing to consider that after all the hard work of rallying the troops and getting the vote out in record numbers, we lose. But the facts are that's just what happened in 2004. Excuse me for being pissed off about that. But really, there is no excuse for not being pissed. None.

[LoZoccolo]

63. I apologize; I had you confused with the other BBV poster. n/t

[crispini]

53. I'm not saying there's no problem.

I'm talking about these gloom-and-doom posts that show up on every thread which is a call to action and say, in effect, we can't do anything until we fix the machines. I see this all the time on DU. It gets old.

Let's talk statewide for a minute. We have a Republican controlled lege in my state. We submitted a Voter Verified Paper Ballot bill last session. Guess what? It didn't get out of committee. It was darn close, but the political reality of the situation didn't happen. We followed it closely, and pressured the head of the commitee (who is a big Republican b*tch.)

So, I have done everything I could at my county level as well as at my state. I have also contributed to Common Cause. What else would you have me do on this issue?

And let's talk about your "just two companies" assertion. For one thing, only 29% of the countries voted on electronic machines last election. http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=5135">link. Ok, yes, that's not taking the central tabulator into account. That's fine. However, considering the fact that elections are controlled at the county level, somebody would have to hack into each one of the central tabulators at the county level. Seems like an awfully big task to me.

Yes, of course, there is a problem. I'm not denying it. We should all be on the same side. But Mr_Jefferson_24 here (whose post I was responding to) said, and I quote, "This is the first order of business and until we tend to it, nothing else is going to matter." That's bullshit. It does nothing but encourage us real activists to sit on our ass and do nothing, and I'm not buying it.

[BeFree]

55. Elections controlled at county level?

Ask your election supervisor if he/she can look at the source code that runs that tabulator. The answer will be NO. So while on the face the elections are run at county level, the decision as to how the votes are tabulated are with the Private Company.

As for the defeatist's posts on DU: I see very few of those, and the ones I do see I go after for an explanation.... usually I get no reply.

Still, for some people this issue is number 1, and all else is muted until the problem is fixed. And somehow that pisses you off? It pisses you off that some people don't think that until the election process is straightened out we are doomed to lose? I would think that we would not be pissed at our members so much as pissed that people do not have confidence in the vote being counted as cast.

What else would I have you do? Quit downplaying people's concerns about the vote. Tell everyone you know that until we have an election system that has the voter's confidence you will not rest.

[crispini]

59. No, it doesn't piss me off at all that for you this is #1.

That's wonderful. I actually don't have any problems with YOUR post at all. The Voter Reform issue is extremely important, and I am aware of it. I applaud your efforts and the efforts of Common Cause, CASE-Ohio, Verified Voting, and every other leader in the field.

I just don't think we can or should focus on it to the exclusion of all other issues.

I refer you to the phrase that DID piss me off, Mr_Jefferson_24, who wrote, "This is the first order of business and until we tend to it, nothing else is going to matter."

Can you not see how posts of that sort would tend to make a reader think, "Oh, well, then, why should I bother organizing my precinct, blockwalking, or doing anything else at all? It's not going to matter."

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

47. "I just don't believe...

...wide-scale computer vote tampering can happen."

If you really believe this, you have NOT gone into the issue "pretty thoroughly."

Here is just one of numerous DU threads that could offer you the reality check you so desperately need. I hope you'll read it and others with an open mind.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x399225

[crispini]

54. Again, what would you have me DO?

Please see the other posts on this thread. I have already:

- Educated myself.
- Made others aware of the issues.
- Engaged with my elections office at the county level. I know my Voter Registrar for the county BY NAME, as well as many of his office staff. We have discussed DRE's. He is constrained by the county and state, but he is aware of the problem.
- Became an Elections Judge for my precinct. (By the way, we have a mixed voting system. We do early voting on ES&S machines, and election day voting on Optical Scanning machines, with an ES&S tabulator. Many people choose to vote on election day BECAUSE of the paper ballot.)
- Considered what I could do with regards to county politics to de-fund DREs. (We have to take back the commisioner's court.)
- Helped support a statewide Voter Verified Paper Ballot bill (which couldn't get out of committee.)
- Contributed to national Election Reform organizations.

I'm sorry, but that's all I CAN do. Not everyone can be or wants to be an Elections Reform activist. I have a precinct to worry about, I have local races to work on, and I have a county Democratic Party to help.

Please tell me, Mr_Jefferson_24, what have YOU been doing in the cause of Election Reform? I would really like to know. If you have been doing some things that I have forgotten, I'd be glad to hear them.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

62. I would not presume...

...to tell you what to do, Crispini, but if you're asking what can be done about election fraud, I would refer you to this excellent piece by Ernest Partridge:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/crisis/05/008_ep.html

As to your "What have you done?" activism performance challenge, I see this tack taken from time to time on DU. I think it's very childish. The expression of an opinion you don't like or the raising of an issue you'd prefer be left ignored does not obligate me to submit to some kind of activism audit. Suppose my activism is twice the level of yours, or about the same, or half, or much less than half, of what possible relevance is this to our discussion? You seem to be under the impression that those who seek to raise awareness of the importance of the election fraud issue are somehow intent upon diminishing you and your work. You are mistaken.

[crispini]

66. Re: activism audit...

(Nice turn of phrase, by the way.... ) Anyway... Yes, this was half-snarky, but it was also half-serious. Here's why. I tend to give people who are offering an "expert opinion" more weight. This is not to say that people who are "experts" get a free pass. They don't. But if they are able to point to their experience, I am able to take this into account while weighing their opinion. For example, I give Kelvin_Mace a great deal of cred on the whole electronic voting issue. He has done a lot. So that's where that query is coming from. Although I do admit to an undertone of snark. Sorry about that. :)

Anyway. I don't have quarrels with those who seek to raise the issue of electronic voting. However, I really do think that your post, in which you wrote, "This is the first order of business and until we tend to it, nothing else is going to matter." -- this, to me, does effectively discount my work. When you say that, what I hear is that if I'm not involved in electronic voting, then I should just sit on my ass and do nothing. Don't you see how disheartening it is to be told that you shouldn't bother?

BIG DIGRESSION WARNING: You know, this has given me some thoughts about issue group activism vs. Democratic party activism in general. I see the Democrats as a coalition of issues: environment, women's, minorities, so on. To me, Verified Voting is an issue as well, and one that I am interested in and will push for (although strictly speaking it's not a Democratic issue, it's a citizen's issue.)

Now, here is my activist tack. There are only so many hours in the day. So my core activism is with the Democratic party. I try to be aware and informed about each of these issues, but I only have so much activist energy to go around. So, for example, I leave it to the Sierra club to do the research and inform me about the environment, and I try to encourage environmental friendly candidates and policies in the Dem party, but I let their activists do the heavy lifting in their area. I figure, the rising tide of Democrats will lift all boats.

In short, I put my Democratic Party activism as first priority and do my best to keep involved at a low level with the other issues of the day. I have to eat, sleep, and work sometimes, after all.

However, I feel that the issue-based citizen activists put their issue based activism squarely in the middle and are not even vaguely aware of the Democratic Party activism. It's not even on the radar for a lot of people at the citizen level.

I would bet you ten dollars that if we asked 100 people here on DU if they could name their Democratic Party precinct chair, they could not. But your Democratic Party precinct chair is your doorway to everything in the Democratic Party: to the Platform committee, to the members of the DNC, to your county party chair.

So -- to bring it back to Electronic Voting-- a dedicated electronic voting activist could and should be pressing their precinct chairs to get their county party to adopt a resolution against electronic voting, stuff like that.

Anyway. I don't know where I was going with that last bit, it's just a random thought. I really don't want to fight with electronic voting activists or ANY activists, for that matter. I respect your efforts.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

69. Firstly, I'd like you...

...to know that I do respect and admire the work you do. As far as I'm concerned it is the under-appreciated people in the trenches, people like you, who make democracy work. The problem as I see it, and I know you do not agree, is that we no longer have a working democracy---it has quite literally been stolen.

Secondly, I do not hold myself out as an expert on election fraud. I only know what I've read about it since the 2000 elections. I, like anybody else, form opinions based on my readings which I sometimes share here at DU.

Thirdly, I'm sorry if my remark concerning the restoration of free and fair elections: "This is the first order of business and until we tend to it, nothing else is going to matter." has been a source of distress or discouragement for you---my intent is to awaken, not discourage. Perhaps I can explain by way of analogy.

I now view our country as being not unlike a sailing vessel far out at sea that has incurred a serious breach (rampant, widespread election fraud) in the hull below the water line. This vessel (our ship of State) is taking on water at a rate that will soon take her under if this breach is not repaired. I trust that you would agree such a vessel, in this kind of peril, far out at sea, must immediately turn all necessary resources to the task of repairing the breach, and further, that other tasks, such as mending sails, repairing the rudder, fixing the engine, or reorganizing the galley, won't matter if this hull breach is not repaired. I understand some may argue that our ship of State has sufficient crew to tend the breach as well as many other important tasks which should not be left unattended. Perhaps so, but I don't see the election fraud issue being tended---not by MSM, not by Democratic leadership, not by our U.S. citizenry. And until it is, until free and fair elections are once again restored in America, I stand by my remark: nothing else is going to matter.

[Clark2008]

50. I flipped off a Diebold van, yesterday.

Does that count? :evilgrin:

Sorry... just wanted to kick the thread with something pithy.

I already have one of the few Dem city council members, the only Dem state House member in the "white" part of the city and a "blue" neighborhood. There's not much I want to change in local politics.

Now, I just have to convince the rest of the damn county that Harold Ford is better than Bob Corker, which ain't gonna be easy (and probably won't happen).

[crispini]

68. LOL! Good work!

It's nice to be in a blue area, isn't it? Good luck with your county-wide activism.

Would you believe we elect judges in Texas? We're going to have 40+ county-wide judicial candidates on the ballot next year. Talk about W O R K! :D It's a nice problem to have, though.

[jobycom]

24. I feel like that a lot, too, crispini. I think a lot of us do.

At least the celebrity bashing has been slower than normal.

During elections, though, DU has always come together and kept the focus. It's all this tween time that brings out the bubblegum rambling.

[crispini]

37. Well, you have to have downtime, I guess.

But it's almost 2006 -- time to get back to work, you know?!

[jobycom]

46. Yes it is. I needed that wake up call, too. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. I will support and vote for the best candidate. No matter what party.

Though I suspect he will be a Democrat for rep and Green for Senate.

[mzmolly]

16. One of the best posts ever! RECOMMENDED.

:toast:


:loveya:

[crispini]

17. Wow! It made greatest!

Cool! :toast:

[LoZoccolo]

18. Thank you both! n/t

[mzmolly]

19. Thank YOU bub!

:hi:

[usregimechange]

22. Amen!

[UrbScotty]

27. For once, I'm a Type A.

Let's re-elect Jennifer Granholm and Debbie Stabenow, and take back the Michigan Legislature!

[nashville_brook]

28. how do you tell if someone is A, B, or C?

[crispini]

38. Are you involved in local politics?

Do you know who your Democratic county party chair is? Do you know who your precinct chair is? Do you plan to do something that is above and beyond voting and chatting on DU? Howard Dean once said that if you're only voting, you just get a C. You have give of either your time or your money. Or both. You have to run for office, volunteer your time, blockwalk, register voters, or phonebank or otherwise work on a campaign. Then you're an A.

I don't know what LoZo had in mind for the B / C distinction. Maybe he'll come back to the thread and tell us. :shrug:

Let me tell you what I did for the 2006 elections. I decided that I was going to do everything I could to defeat W, because I didn't want to feel guilty if he won. So here is what I did, in the 8 months on the run up to the election:

- Personally registered over 500 people to vote.
- Contributed financially to Kerry, to the local Dem Party, and to local candidates.
- Organized a fundraising house party for a local candidate.
- Organized a MoveOn.org voter registration phone bank.
- Phonebanked for the Dem Party.
- Organized blockwalks for my precinct.
- Distributed over 100 Kerry signs in my precinct.
- Blockwalked and distributed signs for a local candidate.
- Took vacation days and travelled to a swing state in the weeks before the election and worked on the Kerry campaign.

And, yes, I have a full time job also. That IS eight months worth of work, after all.

[Douglas Carpenter]

30. Excellent--thanks for this post

[XemaSab]

31. I'd like to win

but we don't have a candidate in my district. :shrug:

[crispini]

33. Can you help find one?

Can you work with your local party to support local candidates? (farm team for the future). Can you work on a Senatorial race? There are lots of things to do even if you don't have a candidate in your district.

[XemaSab]

67. I'm new in this area

so I don't know a lot of the players. :(

[LittleClarkie]

32. I would also like to see the Dem Party and those groups who would

help them find some way to not duplicate efforts. It was very strange during the election, having progressive groups canvassing and collecting info, and then having Dems go into that same area to canvass so that we could collect info for our databases, and be told that the person at the door had already given that info to someone else.

I was told by a member of a progressive group that the Dem party didn't do dick, and that her group had gotten out the vote in the area they concentrated on. I told her what I had done, phone banking and the like, and she dismissed it, saying that I'd only done what I'd been told. (?!?!?!?!?) Oh, thanks.

We need to work together somehow, and respect each other. I know that independant groups can't coordinate with the Dem Party or lose their non-profit status. But it's pretty well known what the Dems methods are going to be. Surely there are tasks not being done by the Party that could be done by outside groups without duplication.

You know what I mean?

I for one have picked Bryan Kennedy, hopeful ouster of Sensenbrenner. I eagerly await the printing of the stickers and buttons so I may being my visibility patrol.

Kohl, my Senator, doesn't need me. He's solid.

My Governor, however, does need me. He's not so solid.

I wish Dems could cough up buttons and stickers the way the Repubs do. But that's the money thing again. They have tons, we don't.

[crispini]

34. Yeah, the whole 429 thing. It's a problem.

Legally we CANNOT work with the 429's. Too bad, it's very frustrating, I agree with you.

I wish the 429's would play a role similar to the one the churches play for the fundies. Now THAT would be a useful role. Not sure how though.

[crispini]

61. Wups. I think I meant 527s. Heh heh! nt

[connecticut yankee]

39. Unfortunately

Joe Lieberman is my Senator. And we're stuck with him.

If anyone can suggest a way to get rid of him, I'd gladly work my a** off to do it.

[LoZoccolo]

40. I did. n/t

[nickshepDEM]

41. Im already on board with Cardin for Senate.

Im prepared to do whatever it takes to hold this U.S. Senate seat.

:patriot:

[sasquatch]

44. Hopefully the Democrats will want to win this time

Just my 2 cents.

[jobycom]

48. Yeah, cause they've been deliberately losing all this other races

Cause it gets them more money and power to lose, I guess.

[TechBear_Seattle]

49. Give me someone who deserves my vote, and I will vote

Give me someone whose only qualification is "He isn't as evil," then you are on your own.

And don't you dare think that just because I am not a party sheep, I am not actively working for progressive causes or supporting progressive candidates.

[LoZoccolo]

65. It's like you didn't read my post.

Your problem starts with the words "give me".

[CornField]

52. Am I the only person who has a problem with "us and them"?

You're either with us or you're against us!

You're either part of the solution or you are part of the problem!

I just cannot buy these arguments anymore. They are vehemently juvenile and used by individuals who wish to create division.

Each person has a role to play in the process -- even those who do nothing more than show up at the polls on election day. (I might dare say those are the most important people within the process.)

There are people who don't work for a particular candidate, but work to raise awareness of issues (therefore steering people to candidates).

There are people who have no money to give, but give of their time to stuff envelopes, go door-to-door or make phone calls.

The point is: Each and every person is allowed and approved to work with his/her own abibilities and talents. Just because one does not work in the same way or at the same level of another is no cause for that person to be labeled "against us" or "out of the loop."

If your talent is writing letters to the editor, I hope your pen is blessed.

If your talent is talking to people in the doughnut shop, I hope your words are wise.

If your talent is biking across country, I hope your wheels lead you to those you can help and learn from.

It is time to toss the immature "with us or against us" arguement out the window. It is flawed because not everyone is one or the other.

[crispini]

56. I saw Howard Dean speak in the spring of 2004.

He told us that it's time for us to raise the bar. He said -- and I wish I had the transcript of his speech; it was SO eloquent -- he said something along the lines of: If you're only voting, you get a C. He called on everyone there to run for office. Or to give of their time, or give of their money. Or both, if they could. He spoke of the disease of apathy and inaction that is besetting our country. Low voter turnout. Low participation. And the only way that we can address that issue is by getting more involved.

I agree that people can and should work with their own abilities and talents. And I agree that every offering of work or time or money counts, and is a blessing. And I agree that everyone does what they can do.

But I think we have to be clear, because many people here don't seem to realize it: Hanging out on an internet message board discussing politics is not the same thing as taking action.

Am I going to judge the people who are doing their best, and who are contributing in their own way? No, of course not. Am I going to condemn the people whose contribution, for whatever reason, must necessarily be in front of the computer? NO. Letters to the editor, articles, other cyber-contributions are wonderful.

But you know what? Howard Dean made a call on me that day that I felt down to the bottom of my soul, and I think it's important to transmit it and keep on transmitting it. If you're just voting, you get a C. Because up until that day, I *had* been only voting, and I didn't even KNOW what "more" WAS! That day turned me into an activist.

And I'm passing on that call to everyone within the sound of my voice, both here, and in real life. Get out of your comfort zone. Come give just a little bit more. Your country needs you.

[mzmolly]

57. I didn't get that from the OP. I think that every letter is important,

every phone call, every petition, every conversation.

I agree with you we must all use our individual strengths to effect change. I think the OP was saying there are other ways to do that then sit here at DU?

[UrbScotty]

58. THANK YOU! I was wanting to say that, but I didn't know how. (nt)