History, politics, people of Oly WA
There is a new game that I’ve been addicted to the last couple of days that shows you how redistricting is truly the important detail in our democracy.
And, California is thinking it might want to give a citizen jury the job of redistricting, rather than political hacks.
This is why the reason to go with caucuses next year was wrong, if it didn’t include a broader civic engagement component:
The provision of ‘de facto’ opportunities for empowerment embodies what can be termed a ‘field of dreams’ approach. Here the processes take precedence over people, as those responsible for engagement within government often believe that “if we build it, they will come”. Across the country there are countless consultation events and meetings that are focused around engagement for its own sake rather than aiming to meet the needs of local people. This approach to public participation in turn favours those who feel comfortable in these environments – and who have the time, skills and persistence to sit through a multitude of meetings.
While there has been a lack of uptake in these types of opportunities to engage with political and democratic processes volunteering and social activism remain a consistent part of British public life.
The same can be said for volunteering in the U.S. More people volunteer year to year, but very few actually turn out for the deep political engagement type activities, like caucuses. Just expecting people to show up and engage in party politics once every two years is absurd. We need to make the local parties more transparent, more relevant and more open.
The participatory democracy argument in favor of caucuses is disingenuous at worst and misguided at best. Last night when we were debating whether to support a primary election or caucus system for next year’s choosing of presidential delegates, two people argued the participatory democracy side of the caucuses.
This isn’t a direct quote, but it gets pretty close to what one of the guys was talking about:
It takes more of a commitment to come to a caucus, very little commitment to vote in a primary. We want to encourage commitment, not just drop in participation.
And
The caucus system is where people are coming together, and talking, it’s a real plus. It shows that the people in the state of Washington are really interested in creating relationships with people in their communities.
I agree with the sentiment of both of those arguments, caucuses are awesome in that they are participatory. People come together and chat, which is much more what democracy should be about than just indicating your preference in private.
That said, the Washington State Democratic Party does nothing else beyond the caucuses to encourage participatory democracy. Actually, its even worse. Before last night’s vote state party chairman Dwight Pelz gave a talk to the 22nd LD meeting (which every quarter happens right before the TCD meeting). He spelled out the ground game plan for 2008, which centered around a lot of people coming to the caucuses.
When all those folks are sitting on their hands while the precinct results are being tabulated, we PCOs are supposed to chat them up to see who we can get interested in volunteering with the party until election day. “We can use them for the next six months,” was something he said towards the end of his talk.
The caucuses aren’t about coming together and knowing your neighbors, if they were we would be doing them more often. They’re about recruiting ground troops for the fall of 2008.
What was implied to me was that after November of 2008, we don’t really care what happens to those folks. Some of them may stay on and stay engaged, but we’re not really worried about that.
The precinct caucuses should be the end result of a civic engagement campaign, not the beginning of a faux engagement campaign. People should come to the caucuses because the party is relevant and important to them in their community, not because we’re blackmailing them to come because its their only opportunity to vote in the Democratic primary.
I’m of two minds regarding the first quarter announcements that are bouncing around. I’m glad people are engaging by writing checks to the favorite candidates, but I also understand that check writing is one of the least sorts of civic engagement.
I’m also not one of those folks who bemoan the early start of the primaries. I started way way back (and my guy didn’t do so bad, considering), and the more we think about politics the better. Even if it is one race, its an important one, and we’re less likely to make a stupid decision if we give it more thought.
But, just on the amount of money raised, I have a Blue Tiger Democrat type of question.
Well more than $50 million was raised by Democratic candidates in the first quarter. How much of that will be spent on commercials and tearing down other candidates? A lot I’d bet.
How much will be spent (by local Democratic organizations) to serve individuals in our communities and to build our base? Not a lot, I bet.
The first presidential candidate I ever saw live (the second was Bill Richardson) is coming to Olympia again. Via email:
America In Solidarity is proud to host Congressman Dennis Kucinich for two events as he tours the United States in support of his nomination to be President. The Ohio Democrat was one of our original pledge signers and spoke at our original kickoff in 2003. Dennis is a union member, a tireless advocate for workers’ rights, and a visionary thinker with great ideas for how to improve the lives of ordinary Americans.
He was against the war in Iraq from the beginning and has consistently championed the interests of workers since his arrival in Washington, D.C. We are proud to have him on our side, representing the views of countless Americans whose voices have been entirely left out of the corporate media
There will be two opportunities for you to come and meet him. The first will be at Olympia’s Traditions Cafe on Friday March 30th.
Come out and talk with one of America’s great progressive leaders from 4:30pm-5:30pm in Olympia.
Traditions Cafe and World Folk Art
300 5th Ave SW
Olympia, WA
United StatesWe will also be hosting a rally for Dennis on Sunday, April 1st in Seattle from 6pm to 7:30 PM at the Labor Temple, located at 2800 1st Ave.
For any additional information, call our office at 253-471-1123.
This will guarantee that I don’t get another “exclusive” email from Dwight Pelz, but what the heck.
The Democratic Victory Circle is a boneheaded idea. The last thing you should try to do, especially when you’re leading a political party, is ever try to be “exclusive” with your communication. Instead of taking a page from Colorado vice-chair Dan Slater who blogs out in the open, Washington State Democratic Chairman Pelz is sending emails seeking donations in exchange for “insider” gossip.
Here’s his “exclusive notes” on his trip to the DNC (published here). Here is the pitch for you to donate $1,000 a year so you can keep on getting these “exclusive” emails.
From the pitch:
Special Benefits Include:
- Participation in quarterly Democratic Victory Circle events with recognized speakers and/or elected officials (i.e. nationally recognized pollsters)
- Regular updates from Chairman Dwight Pelz on state and national political developments, projects, and events
- Recognition at Washington State Democratic Party events
- Special reduced rate to attend Washington State Democratic Party events
- Photo opportunities with State and Federal elected officials
- Special recognition in Washington State Democratic Party publications and website
This kind of “insider” stuff is one of the reasons I don’t like politics.
I understand the attraction of the recognition stuff and the reduced rates, photo opportunities and other stuff that don’t particularly attract me. I don’t participate in politics so people will like me, but rather to make the world a better place (I know how stupid that sounds). Writing special emails to a special group of folks who have paid for the privilege is a quick way to making politics unbearable.
The sad thing is that his notes would actually make a nice blog post, but for some reason, instead of actually sharing what he thinks Pelz wants folks to pay for it. The really sad thing is that I don’t think he expected anyone to copy and paste what he wrote.
Ken and I are fighting the good fight (seemingly about over now) over at Scoble’s blog about why our guy is just as good, or even better, than John Edwards regarding the blogs.
I’ve made the point that not only are Richardson’s supporters the only group using an independent tool to organize themselves in the real world, but that Richardson has met with bloggers in Iowa, South Carolina and Washington.
The main difference between Edwards (especially his blog powered tour a few weeks ago) and Richardson is that one has focussed on the national blogosphere, while the other has focussed on smaller, regional blog networks. Edwards is the national guy, Richardson has focussed his attention on the regional blogosphere.
This may seem like a difference in time and money, that Richardson can only attract small fish, but the three instances above were when he was acting as chair of the Democratic Governors Association, when focusing locally was important. It also shows a different understanding of why blogs and the netroots are important.
Matt Stoller on the local blogosphere (and here):
You’ll notice that on the netroots page almost every candidate has a local blog or set of blogs that are covering the race. That’s because it’s the local bloggers that are going to keep tabs on the races and the campaigns, and create the buzz and the excitement necessary to win. Local blogs and netroots communities don’t just channel money, they channel volunteers, energy, intelligence, and news coverage. And sometimes, lightning strikes. A really effective local blog can shape a race the way the Ohio 2nd blog shaped the Hackett special election.
At least in how Richardson has approached the netroots, he seems to understand that local matters. It doesn’t matter really what national bloggers pay attention to you, it matters what the bloggers are getting locally.
Richardson’s “for governor” site last year also kind of proves this point. “The Plaza,” (which you can’t see anymore, was a scoop based community site. Open diaries, the whole schmere. I’m pretty sure it was the first open community blog in New Mexico.
His upbringing as a politician, which has included thousands of local town hall meetings and regular “open door” sessions, extends this point. I’ve said that Richardson was a blogger before AOL was around. By that, I mean, he has had the kind of open, up front, conversations that bloggers want, without actually blogging himself.
Over at Scoble’s blog, he gives too much credit to the netroots outreach of John Edwards:
One thing I just saw over at TechMeme is that USA Presidential campaigns now are conversations?
Really? So far only one Democratic candidate has met with bloggers who aren’t avowed supporters of his (and has had live chats on DailyKos), that I can see. Only one candidate has invited a blogger behind the press lines.
Yes, its a great thing that Edwards is doing, but he’s not the only one doing it. He’s the only one that is going way out of his way to take credit for it.
Bill Richardson has had two sit downs with bloggers, that I know about. Both happened well before Edwards’ well publicized tripping with bloggers and both were with groups that didn’t necessarily support him.
The first, I’d admit, was put together by a couple of pro Richardson guys (me and Ken Camp), but it was attended by now seriously pro-Edwards Will.
This wasn’t a high powered group of folks, but rather some regular folks that Richardson wanted to reach out to because he recognizes something in the netroots that I think he likes. Twice during the meeting his handlers tried to move him on to the next meeting, and twice he brushed them off so everyone could have a chance to get their answers.
You can find the audio of that meeting here. Also attending were Jimmy and Goldy, among several others.
He also met with some bloggers in South Carolina.
Also, if you check out the blog from Richardson’s 2006 race, you’ll notice its a community blog.
There was something I heard about the person with the longest title…
Anyhoo, Brendan is now “Majority External Relations Leader,” which at 13 syllables, bests Rep. Joe McDermott’s “Caucus Education Policy Leader” at 11 syllables.
My fears where not realized. The march for peace will not target Rep. Brian Baird.
On the library front, the meeting to figure this out will be on hold for a bit, there were some sick people.
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