the people’s party?

This article in Mother Jones by Michael Kazin is worth the reading time.

Democrats need to start acting more like the people’s party they once were -- and less like a traveling road show that packs up after each election.
Listening to the Democratic nominees during the 2004 presidential campaign, it often seemed as if they were ashamed to belong to their own political party. In his acceptance speech, John Kerry boasted that he “broke with many in my own party” to support a balanced budget and ridiculed the idea of “Democratic values” and “Republican values.” John Edwards gave a rousing concession speech -- but didn’t even bother to invoke the party’s name.
The other side never makes that mistake...

my favorite ideas from the article are:

A reborn Democratic Party would draw ideas and energy from states and local communities, enlisting candidates and organizers who share the values and language of the people whose votes they’ll be seeking. It could sponsor comedy nights and dance parties and debates about whether one can support gay marriage and still be a good Christian; throw street festivals at which every immigrant society, sportsmen’s club, church, temple, and mosque feels welcome;

We are a backlash

Jane L expressed my sentiments so clearly, I am posting her Solstice message here:

My year has been dominated by the elections. The reactionary forces in our society have changed our prevailing dialogue by hijacking our language. “Liberal” has become a dirty word, “family values” has become synonymous with repudiation of homosexuality and non-conforming lifestyles, and “terrorists” refer to anybody but ourselves. Can we claim the high ground of moral values when we initiated a preemptive and unprovoked war on another country? Where is the America that is my home? I want to live in a country where family values means providing shelter, sustenance and health care to persons in need, and where “pro-life” means giving those who are alive the option to make unfettered choices. I want to live in a country where there truly is a separation of church and state so that “science” is what is taught in our public schools. I want to live in a country where we take the threat of global warming and the fouling of our environment seriously, rather than pass legislation that abdicates these responsibilities, mislabeling it the “clear skies” act.
This has been a time of great reflection; where in losing my country I have come to realize how much I love it. It has been a time of resurgence in political activity organized by Internet and community groups. My friends and I did more work for this election, registering voters and getting out the vote, than we have done in recent history. I remember thinking in the late 1960’s that when I became old (meaning the age I am now), my generation would form the Gray Panthers. The baby-boomers would rise up and organize for social security, medical care, and social programs. Well the time is here and perhaps that is what is happening. My group of friends has started a progressive think tank, groups of democrats all over have continued to meet since the election, and liberal churches are organizing to change the direction of religious dialogue. We are a backlash, we are a movement, and we are fighting once again to make this a better world.

VOTE Integrity: Paper ballots essential!

There was a small but enthusiastic turnout at the Verify Our VOTE Rally at the State Capitol, Dec 12 at noon. Jewelsong sang a few lovely songs. My favorite speaker was Republican geek, Chuck Herrin. He is a powerful voice for the essential need for paper ballots to insure vote integrity.
He shows exactly how simple it is to hack the vote at present.
He is also working hard to engage Republicans in this fight for fair elections. Most of his speech can be found at his website in his two primers for empathy between the parties. This one has some excellent tips for how to speak more productively with conservatives:
Empathy Training for Liberals: A Primer on the Conservative Mind, From the Inside of One.

I highly recommend forwarding this next piece, addressed to Conservatives, to any that you know:

Empathy Training for Compassionate Conservatives: Why the Democrats Are Still Whining About the Election (and Why Maybe We Should Be, Too)

Speakers at the Rally included:
Joyce McCloy, N.C Coalition for Verified Voting, David Allen, Black Box Voting
Chuck Herrin, Republican computer security analyst,
Cecil Bothwell, The Progressive Project and many more,
including elected officials and musicians

Voices for Verified Voting
a coalition of concerned citizens organizing to:
educate others about election irregularities, and
mobilize effective action to ensure transparent, verifiable elections

for more information:
http://www.51capitalmarch.com/
http://www.divas4democracy.net/

Operation: Red Alert

Susan S. found this blogger who is doing just what someone suggested at our last Think Tank... but with a new twist...organizing a way to make short soundbite size mini-flyers that we can post around town. You can sign up to receive them by e-mail as a pdf ready to print.
Sign up here:
http://aethern.blogspot.com/2004/11/operation-red-alert.html
If you want to help write them, go to dailykos on Mondays. In fact, it's the most happening political blog around imho[in my humble opinion], so check it out any time:
http://www.dailykos.com/

Operation: Red Alert comes from an idea that surfaced on the Daily Kos diaries a few days back. Essentially, we will organize to craft messages and distribute them through an email list. The members of the list will post these messages on grocery store bulletin boards and the like. Here are some potential examples:
WASHINGTON REPUBLICANS CHANGE RULES
In the early 1990's Republicans put in a rule that said a congressional leader who's been indicted of a crime must step down. Now that Republican Tom Delay appears to be heading towards indictment, they get rid of that rule. What do Washington Republicans really stand for?

WASHINGTON REPUBLICANS SEEKING TO ERASE YOUR MORTGAGE DEDUCTION
The White House and congressional Republicans are seeking to do away with the tax deduction on your mortgage. Some tax relief, huh?

WASHINGTON REPUBLICANS WANT TO SNOOP ON YOUR TAX RETURNS
Congressional Republicans attempted to gain the power to not only gain access to any citizens tax returns, but also to make them public. Do you value your privacy? We sure do. Vote Democrat.

Solidarity better goal than unity

Susan S sent me this as a great perpective for our discussion.
It's from "a gilas girl's diary" at daily kos

"Solidarity is more than compromise, and shouldn't be mistaken as such. At its core is respect: respect for people and their experiences, respect for possibility, respect for the not-yet-known. It doesn't require assimilation (which must always contain some degree of erasure) and it belies two-dimensional (black and white) thinking.

Its a concept that's not foreign to US political history, but is certainly not familiar to contemporary politics. Its also the foundation of progressive politics.
This is the kind of work that needs to be done now. Its a small place to start, but begin here, with the difference between a politics of unity and a politics of solidarity and see the different directions they each yield. Then make that part of the move to rebuild maintain and rebuild a progressive and democratic America.

Let's start by explaining why we don't want "One America", and point out that as a society and we are far more than the "Two Americas" that the populist-inclined Democrats bemoan. The power of American democracy isn't "unity" of outlook and positions, it is both the balance AND the struggle between different outlooks and positions. It is the recognition that both the majority and minority are part of the government. That democracies can only work when they have the government AND an opposition. That politics only works when there are multiple interests being struggled over and discussed."

It's not long and she makes a few more good points at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/3/14456/5254

Extra Think Tank Content Pages for You

I've made a place at http://equal-peace.com/ for additional content to support our ongoing discussions in the Living-Room and on the blog,
http://livingroomthinktank.blogspot.com/
If you want to post an entry to the blog, (instead of entering a comment to another
post, which you can do yourself), please e-mail your post to susan@snakeandsnake.com and I will add it to the blog. If it is long I will
post the beginning and link to your content page here.
Each person can have their own content page, and I can put the most recent entry
at the top of your page. I began with Jane N since she was the first to send me something.
Your "Corner" will be in the list of entries at the right side of the blog page. Click there and it scrolls down to that post, then click on "continued" link to find rest of your post.
Check it out!
http://equal-peace.com/thinktank/thinktank.htm

Jane N's Corner

Wake Up America!!!
Wake up America
get your heads out of the sand
The Neo-cons have hijacked
and taken control of our ‘homeland’...
continued @ Jane N's Corner

“Have you recovered from the election yet?”
...
Recovered? Hello NO. There is no recovering from this election
until we recover our democracy. Until we use it as one more wake up call
to finally accept what is happening in this country and step forward to
stop it and take ourselves and our government in a fundamentally different
direction...
continued @ Jane N's Corner

January events

Next meeting: Jan 14.
I want to change our meeting day to the third Friday of every month, but there are two conflicts on Jan 21, so for January only I suggest we meet on the second Friday, Jan 14th. The conflicts are both fun events for progressive Democrats, which you may want to attend:
The Blue Dot Ball on Jan 21 somewhere in the Triangle, (not fully planned yet).
Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) Summit
in Washington, D.C.
January 21-23, 2005
Helping to shape the future of the Democratic Party, and the direction of our country, with progressive speakers, discussions and workshops. Together we can take back our Democracy. Some of the speakers:
Medea Benjamin
Rep. John Conyers
Gov. Howard Dean
Tom Hayden
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
Rep. Barbara Lee
Marianne Williamson
Jim Zogby
More details in this flyer:
http://www.pdamerica.org/tools/events/jan_summit_2005.pdf
I just heard about this group, and I think it is a great idea. I am in full agreement with their vision and strategy:
http://pdamerica.org/vision.php

Dec 3rd Think Tank notes

We had fewer attendees (10), but a stimulating discussion. We ended with watching the abridged version of "Hijacking Catastrophe". There are also some powerful interviews on this DVD with military personel who speak out against the Bush administration.
I read a part of Pericles (the blogger, not the ancient Greek) concerning moving Christianity to the left. We mostly talked about religion's influence on politics, how to explain that our progressive values are consistent with Jesus's teachings (New Testament), how Christianity was dragged to the right and how to move it back to the left, defining progressive values as moral values, etc. Kathy M. told us about a group that facilitates talks between the opposing sides, "Let's Talk America" whom we may ask for help for our February meeting. Daina has a Republican Christian fundamentalist friend who volunteered to come to our group for a discussion some time. We may be able to get a small guest panel of Christian Bush supporters who are willing to come explain their perspective and hear ours.
We talked about the White Rose group of resisters during WW II, which led to a suggestion that we put out some sort of little messages, leaflets perhaps?

Did you know that Gandhi professed "militant nonviolence?"

"You don't have to be black to quote Martin Luther King, you don't have to be Hindu to quote Mahatma Gandhi, and you don't have to be Christian to quote Jesus." -- Pericles

Books & Websites

websites for improving dialog between left and right:
http://www.letstalkamerica.org/
http://www.radicalmiddle.com/
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm Sojourners Magazine
Book Suggestions
"Had Enough?- a handbook for Fighting Back" by James Carville.
This is a terrific action oriented book for how Progressives can get their sh!t together. It's humorous, but also very factual with footnotes, proving his claims that Bush was actually blocking our safety and "homeland security" every step of the way, etc. Susan B.
The following books came up in our discussion as aids to bridging the left/ right religious gap:
"Engaging the Powers" Walter Wink
"Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism" John Shelby Spong
"Understanding the Bible" John Buehrens (UU)
"God and Other Famous Liberals" Forrester Church (UU)
Video:
Kathy M suggested we watch this:
God is Not a Republican…Or a Democrat Webcast Panel Discussion Featuring Jim Wallis
a panel discussion From the Riverside church in NYC between Jim Wallis and four religious leaders about religion and politics.
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.display&issue=041117#3
( scroll down to find the streaming video.)

npr "Fresh Air" about the Religious Right

Here is a link to Dec 2 "Fresh Air." It covered in detail the methods by which the Religious Right has, over the last 25 years+, attained political power. Having some notion of their tactics and strategies cannot help but positively affect any actions we might select to take. It is about 40 minutes.

Chuck

http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.php?prgDate=2-Dec-2004&prgId=13