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TO ACTIVATE THE DEMOCRATIC BASE…
This has proved to be a powerful tool to turn
people out, fire them up, and get them involved with the campaign.
People who don’t like Bush are scared to death of him and what
he’s doing. Problem is,
despite all the campaigning being done, despite all the angry rhetoric,
the base isn’t convinced the Democrats are for real.
How come? They’re
not hearing the party articulate a clear ideological alternative.
So you rent a local auditorium… put an open mike at the front,
invite local, state and federal democratic officials to come and
listen… and advertise the chance for Democrats to meet, share their
views, and tell the Party what’s on their minds.
You’ll hear the anger and longing for yourselves – and
you’ll hear the demand for living wage (at least enough for workers to
support themselves)… for a national medical plan… for getting
corporate money out of politics. And
you’ll get a lot of volunteers. These
folks need to know you’re paying attention – and that an actual
antidote to Bush is coming. Details
on how to run one of these plus the results of our own Revival Meeting
are enclosed.
2) Go after Right Wing
talk radio.
There are over a thousand
conservative talk radio programs across the country, pounding away
daily. Why not challenge
the local ones to come out and fight?
Why not challenge them to face a small team of local citizens –
on the air – in a public setting?
You’ll know from your Revival Meeting who some of the most
informed and passionate speakers are.
Your local Democratic committees will know too.
So call the talk guys up and pop the invitation to them on the
air. While you’re doing
that, a FAX or email with the details should be sent simultaneously.
Public challenge can be aired in letters to the editor or in
op-ed pieces. Take out an ad if you can afford to. A rival radio station might enjoy helping you out.
Maybe the Left will never generate a radio movement
like the Right Wing already has, but we can smoke talk-show hosts out
into the open where the conversation is more sustained and less
dominated by one side. Then
it will be up to Liberalism to defend itself.
Why not try this at the national level?
A number of liberals have books out that are doing quite well.
Why not issue a national challenge to the big syndicated radio
Neanderthals? Invite Rush
– if he’s out of jail.
3) Clarify the principles of
liberalism.
The future
of the Democratic Party rests less in its tactics than in its
intentions. The Republicans
have two ideologies to explain events and tell them what to do next.
(Conservative… and evangelical Christian)
They’ve got their message honed down to sound bites, talking
points, op-ed columns, white papers and books.
It’s on talk radio. We’re
dead meat until we can offer a clear ideological alternative, backed up
with plans of action. (A
thesaurus for Democrats and a series of compact, teachable
liberal principals are included in this communication.
The rest are available upon request.
(These have been published in the Cape Cod Times as weekly
columns.)
4) Promote local focus groups - Click for Election
Fraud Forum
TO CONCENTRATE ON SPECIFIC ISSUES AND DEVELOP LIBERAL RESPONSES
THAT ARE BOTH VIABLE PRACTICALLY AND ATTRACTIVE POLITICALLY.
The Committee to Reenergize American Democracy, the activist
group who put on the Revival Meeting, is organizing these within its own
membership. From a purely
political point of view, this should be happening locally within town
Democratic committees. Such
activities make a good follow-up to the Revival Meetings.
We’ve held 2 since the Revival Meeting.
5) Set Up Local Democratic
Websites.
Post, organized by focus topic, whatever effective
reprints your members find. Set
up Yahoo networking sites. Check
our communications web at CREADcentral@yahoogroups.com
6)
Organize Local Political Programs On Cable TV.
Our group has done so already; the 60 minute program is called
FORUM. We discuss our focus
issues with appropriate panels – or interview local political figures.
Provide copies to nearby cable networks if they don’t have
their own FORUM programs. These
forums are also effective media to challenge local conservatives to
public debate.
Useful topics for FORUM programming include:
Church/state separation… a living wage… comprehensive medical
care… protecting women’s rights / gay rights – or the concept of
privacy itself… the environment… corporate money in politics…
how to combat terrorism w/o stripping civil liberties or turning
former allies into vassals – or enemies.
For further information on any or all of these ideas, contact Lawrence
Brown.
How-To-Do-It Kit
Thank you for your interest in holding a Revival Meeting for Democrats.
It is a powerful tool for activating the base and signing up
volunteers for the 2004 campaign. When
we held ours, 78% of the Democrats who filled out our opinion survey
volunteered w/ names and phone numbers for volunteer work.
The total of available campaign workers in our area more than doubled!
So we’ll show you how to conduct one of these events in detail,
complete with postcards, VIP letters, everything.
After that, we’ll suggest additional strategies to gear up your
local party for regime-change next November.
Contents:
-
Explanation of program & rationale
-
Program script, laid out for easy delivery.
Just fill your organization’s name in the blank spaces.
-
List of logistical requirements. (Staging
and advertising the program cost us about $2,000.)
-
POSTER, laid out
-
VIP letter
-
Questionnaire to hand out at revival
-
List of books, magazines etc. to hand out at revival
-
List of things to do next
Explanation
of program & rationale -
We are a local committee of concerned Democrats
determined to remove Bush from office in the next election. Since Massachusetts is already a Democratic stronghold, we
are perfecting some approaches that could be useful across the country.
The first of these has already been tried locally with huge success.
Democrats are frightened and angry.
They’re frightened by the pace and scope of Bush’s agenda…
how rapidly the Republicans are taking us back to the America of the
1930s, unraveling liberal accomplishments in workplace safety and
fairness, the environment, civil rights, abortion rights, and the
separation of church and state, to name only some.
They’re angry because the Democratic Party has failed to
maintain a vigorous and proud defense of liberal principles – and has
failed to advance and adapt these principles to keep pace with the
times. It is not going to
be enough to activate the Democratic base by harnessing our dislike of
Bush and his program. We
need a unifying set of general principles – a coherent narrative that
explains events and guides our decisions about what to do next.
Then, even if we fail in 2004, we have taken the necessary steps
to our revival. (More
on liberal principles at end of packet.)
To demonstrate the truth of this assessment of the
grass roots and to begin to revive their confidence (and to enlist their
help, a group of liberal activists on Cape Cod, Massachusetts put on A
REVIVAL MEETING FOR DEMOCRATS. In an essentially rural/suburban setting,
we filled an auditorium with frustrated Democrats.
We raised well over a thousand dollars, and we signed up 87% of
them for work in the 2004 campaign!
Such accomplishments mean little unless they are repeated over
and over again nationally.
To do that, you need an auditorium and an open
microphone. Invite local
democrats to come and share their concerns about where the country is
headed under Bush, Ashcroft, & Co… and what positions they want
their Party to take in response. Invite
local, state and Congressional Party officials to attend, greet those
who’ve turned out, and take notes. Local Party people can man tables
and sign up new volunteers. Local
Party people can man tables and sign up new volunteers.
Invite Greens who must
join with us next November if regime change is to come about.
So the
citizens are invited to sound off and
the party is invited to listen to them. This is key.
The Party cannot simultaneously activate its grass roots and
ignore them. Either the
party must respond to the ideological hunger of its electorate or fail
– and have its leadership replaced by new people who have been
elevated by the rank and file.
Listen to us once – publicly, and then we’ll
eagerly come back and listen to you when you lay out your plans for the
future, and ask our help and votes to realize them.
GIVEN THE SUCCESS OF OUR EXPERIENCE – ON SO MANY
LEVELS – WE’RE URGING THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY – OR INDIVIDUAL
CANDIDATES – TO ORGANIZE THESE EVENTS IN AS MANY PLACES AS POSSIBLE.
Locals can do all the work.
Just share with them the contents of this packet.
The Party will get a new influx of grass-roots
help… a finger on the pulse of the people on whose efforts victory
depends… face to face encounters with such people… and a chance to
bring in Greens and even disaffected Republicans.
Greens especially will run, not walk back to the Democrats –
but only when Democrats defend a revitalized progressive agenda.
Program
Script: A Revival
Meeting for Democrats:
Good evening and thank you all for coming.
This is an exciting night.
It’s a highly unusual opportunity for you,
the voters, to speak your minds in public forum.
It’s also an unusual opportunity to know that
representatives and elected officials from the Democratic Party are here
to listen to what we have to say.
We’ll
certainly hear from them at the end of the program
- and maybe at moments during it
– but there is an open microphone here and
the evening is yours. I’m
assuming that you’re here because you love your country and are not
happy with the direction our present government in Washington is taking
us.
We’re here to discuss regime change.
So this can happen smoothly and so a maximum number of us can be heard we have to lay down some guidelines for
courtesy and the use of time.
THIS IS NOT A DEBATE.
If you’re a Republican or a conservative,
we’re certainly glad to have you but this is not your night to speak.
For the time being, the Republican Party
dominates all three branches of the Federal government and the executive
branch of our home state as well.
Our interest here tonight is how to change this
state of affairs. This is a meeting of the loyal opposition, and
we’re the ones who need to talk.
We
hope to organize a public debate between liberal and conservative sides
next fall.
Let’s agree to have that argument then.
WE NEED TO HOLD ALL REMARKS TO THREE MINUTES
MAXIMUM. Otherwise, a
lot of people will never get a chance to be heard.
WE NEED TO SPEAK RESPECTFULLY, even of people
with whom we disagree or for whom we did not vote.
And we need to address each other civilly also.
We can express our most profound disagreements
in polite language, and we’ll ask you to do so tonight.
We’ll hold up time cards where you can see
them, and after your time is up, we’ll respectfully ask you to yield
the microphone to the next speaker.
If you do not do so – or if you rise to
defend Republican ideology tonight or if you speak crudely or disrespectfully of
anyone in this auditorium – or of anyone holding office
- I’ll ask you to stop…
…and if anyone refuses to do so, THE MIKE
WILL BE TURNED OFF.
That will be a last resort.
We’ll be asking you three general questions
tonight:
QUESTION ONE: At this point
in the Bush administration, with the prospect of a possible second term
coming, what are you feeling? We needn’t spend too long on this one but it’s a logical place to
start.
QUESTION TWO: What specific events at home and abroad cause you to
feel the way you do?
This is a chance to get clear about what is at stake here and to clarify
a bill of specific complaints. And
finally:
QUESTION THREE: What should we be doing? What’s our plan?
This is the key part of our evening, and we’ll be soliciting
questions in several categories:
1) How secure is our Bill of Rights these days?
2) How secure is the division between church and state?
3) How safe are women’s reproductive rights in this country?
4) Are working people receiving a fare reward for the goods they produce
and the services they provide?
5) How do you feel about the national deficit?
6) How’s the environment holding up under Bush?
7) Is wealth, especially corporate wealth, buying up the electoral
process in America? Or, to put it another
way, do ordinary people still have a say in what happens next?
8) What’s happened to America’s status in the world today?
Please understand our party is operating at a severe disadvantage.
This disadvantage is our own fault.
The Republicans have more than a party, they have a philosophy.
(Actually, they have two: conservatism and evangelical Christianity.)
So when you ask Republicans what they’re up to and why, they have
answers.
When the Democrats abandoned Liberalism, they surrendered their
coherence and their spiritual center.
We have to reinvent that now –
translate the heart of liberal sentiments into practical action for the
21st century.
Let’s begin to do this right now.
Let’s reframe our questions in programmatic terms:
In the Age of Terrorism, which
rights do we get to keep? OR
If we object to a bullying, unilateralist foreign policy, how
should we ombat terrorism?
Religious fanaticism is everywhere on the rise.
How do we explain and
defend the separation of church and state?
How do we defend a woman’s control of her
reproductive destiny?
How do we guarantee a living wage for all
those willing to work?
How can government promote a just and generous
society while living within its means?
How do we maintain our general prosperity
while protecting the environment?
How do we get corporate power and money out of
our political process and return sovereignty to the American people?
LET THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OFFER PRACTICAL AND
CONVINCING ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS AND WE’LL REGAIN OUR RELEVANCE TO AMERICAN POLITICS.
OUR CENTRAL THEMES MUST BE
FAIRNESS,
HONESTY AND
SECURITY,
physical and financial.
When we get to this third part of our inquiry tonight, we’ll be asking
for remarks in these areas one at a time, so you might want to begin deciding which topic you wish to address.
After we’ve completed this process, we’ll ask the representatives
from our Democratic elected officials, and from the party, to briefly
acknowledge your remarks.
Also, please sign up with the Democratic Party committees in your town at
the desks outside the door.
If we want to change things in this country, only grass-roots effort will
do it. Let’s offer both
this evening - and what we do after it
- as a model for
Democrats across the country.
We’re circulating questionnaires around the hall.
If you haven’t gotten one, please ask our volunteers for one.
By the way, just to give you an idea, I’ve been speaking now for 3
minutes. That’s how long
3 minutes is.
Now, let’s have our Democratic Party representatives rise and identify
themselves.
In addition, I’d like the members of the ________________________ to
stand up for a moment too. They’re
the folks who thought up this event and made it happen. May I add, they also paid for this event out of their own
pockets. I’m going to be
asking you for your financial help before the night is over.
We’ve got more ideas for the future but we’ll need your help
to make them happen.
If you’d like to speak, please raise your hand.
We’ve got two microphones and I’ll call on a few people to
line up behind each. We’ll
save time that way, taking turns between microphones.
OK, so who would like to speak?
PROGRAM BEGINS.
BEFORE
PART 3…
This is when I ask you for money to support this event and the next ones.
The Committee _____________________ is fully volunteer.
Everything we’ve done so far has come out of private pockets.
Here’s what I’d like to do.
We’ve got some buckets up front.
Please help us. Get out whatever you can and pass it overhead to the folks in front of you…
and we’ll let the
contributions flow from hand to hand up the front… up to the buckets.
IN CLOSING …
We’re running late and need to wrap this thing up.
I apologize if you wanted to speak and didn’t get a chance to.
We did the best we could with that.
I hope the questionnaires will give everyone the change to register your
opinions. We’ll tally all those up.
Look for one of my Friday columns for results…
and we’ll be communicating with the Democratic Party nationally and
with various Presidential campaigners to encourage them to organize
nights like this in communities across the country.
If you’re interested in joining_____________________________, we’ll
be happy to talk to you at the tables in the back. And please sign up with your town’s Democratic
Committee at the back.
It all starts at the grass roots… and the grass roots is us.
God bless you.
God bless our country – and thank you for coming.
List of
program needs:
Invitations To:
Local Democratic Committees, State Dem. Reps., State Party leaders,
U.S. Congressmen / representatives, U.S. Senators / representatives,
Reps from Pres. Candidates, Other VIPs (ex., Sen. Byrd)
Publicity:
Newspapers, all local, National Public Radio, other
local stations, local colleges / community colleges,
college-based radio stations, posters, Op-ed columns
(vital to get local
liberal columnists on board early),
Notifications To: Presidential candidates,
DNC, Move On, Progressive Dems., ADA, other groups in YOUR area.
Materials for Revival Meeting event:
Microphone for moderator, microphone w/ stand for public use w/ kill switch or
volume control handy, Sound system (amplification), Podium for moderator (or draped table / chair for
stage), Lg. print timecards to hold up (2 min… 1 min…
TIME’S UP), Lg. flag to hang across backdrop (or multiple flags
on poles for wings of stage), Some red, white& blue bunting for various locations,
Min. 6 tables for committees to sign up volunteers
& for literature / bumper stickers, (Maybe committees can bring own card tables),
2 lg.
tripods to hold placards w/ topics listed thereon, 2 lg.
posters w/ discussion topics listed in lg. bold letters, several hundred questionnaires printed,
2 collection boxes for questionnaires (for tables
near exits), special, bunting-draped section for VIPs at/near
front, AND BUCKETS TO COLLECT DONATIONS!
Personnel for Revival Meeting Event:
Videographer to run video system/operate camera, Sound person for public microphone.,
custodian to handle lights & general
trouble-shooting, several people to pass out questionnaires (& maybe
collect at end of program) students?, several people (students) to take names & notes on
what each speaker says, person to time & signal speakers
(or moderator can do it), Rent-a-cop for parking, if needed.
Assume local Democratic Committee will man their own tables
(reps for candidates also).
We
recommend recording the event on VCR for later rebroadcast on cable.
Mikes should be mounted at moderator and citizen microphone
locations – or better
yet, patch in to auditorium masterboard.
Free mounted mikes will likely produce unacceptable audio quality
– uselessly bad.
Suggested
statement of public invitation / poster:
If you’re unhappy with the direction our
government in Washington is taking us and equally unhappy at the level
and quality of resistance being offered, it’s time to talk… time to
decide what we want done and how to do it.
If you’re a discouraged Democrat, a Green Party member, a
moderate Republican dismayed at the direction your party has taken, this
meeting is for you.
Your local Democratic Party committees and an
independent group of concerned liberals are pleased to offer:
A Revival Meeting for Democrats
(date,
time, place)
If you’re not a Democrat… here’s why you
should come anyway: It’s
going to be easier to redirect the Democratic party than create a third
party with the power and money to remove Bush and his team from office.
Divide the opposition and we’ve got 4 more years of Ashcroft, Cheney
and Wolfowitz. And one more thing:
The Party is coming to listen. This is not an evening for campaign speeches.
The microphone is yours. We
have representatives from the offices of Kennedy, Kerry and Delahunt,
and local Democratic leaders from Cape Cod’s towns – all coming to
hear you. After getting the program started, we’ll have an open
microphone for your input.
Here’s what we want the Democrats to hear:
How are you feeling about where our country has been taken over
the last 3 years? Specifically,
what policies at home and abroad concern you the most?
And the one we’ll spend most time on: What principles, issues
and programs should a party of opposition be offering as an alternative
to the policies of Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft and Rumsfeld?
Got beefs? Got
ideas? This is your night.
Got friends you talk about this stuff with all the time?
Bring them too.
We are encouraging such grass-roots meetings across
the country. We’ll go
first. This is how
democracy is supposed to work. Let’s
take it back.
Sponsored
by … (say who)
and give Date, Time and Place
Dear VIP
GUEST,
Over the last several months, a group of concerned Democrats has been
coalescing to see what could be done about the Republican assaults on
personal freedom and our democratic institutions
At first, we spent some time in hand-wringing and lamentation,
but then began to consider practical measures to vote Bush out of office
and to reinstate a refreshed liberalism in the heart of the Democratic
Party. We’ve come up with
something – and we’d like you to be in on it.
Moreover, what we’re about to do could have an empowering
effect if duplicated in communities around the country.
We’re trying to start something and need your help.
On November
7th, we’re holding a
REVIVAL MEETING FOR DEMOCRATS. It
will begin with a few very brief opening remarks by several of the
organizers – then provide an open microphone for local people to list
their primary concerns and what they want their party to stand for when
we go up against the Republicans in 2004. We’re concerned by a
wide-spread feeling of discouragement that the party lacks the necessary
fire in the belly to overcome the Bush war chest and corporate influence
over the media. We need to
get the Greens on board and simultaneously convince the Party that basic
liberal principles, clearly explained and energetically applied, are
what the rank and file have been waiting to hear.
On DATE,
we’ll have an auditorium full of people here in PLACE,
eager for someone to hear them.
Our minimal
hope is that your office will send someone who can listen to them, take
notes, convey greetings and
a brief message from you, and relay back to you what the participants
had to say. Please bring literature and bumper stickers and we’ll
provide a place for their distribution. Presumably, the folks who show
up are will include our activists – the people most apt to do the
grass-roots work to get results. Local
party people will be on hand to sign them up.
Our maximum hope is that you might appear yourself, in which case
we’d provide you time to briefly respond at the end of the program to
what you’ve heard. This is also an excellent opportunity to mobilize the troops,
get names and email numbers so subsequent efforts can involve as many
activists as possible. In
either case, we’re asking you to spread the word that holding REVIVAL
MEETINGS FOR DEMOCRATS is a powerful tool to energize the base and
simultaneously hear from the people on whose votes and efforts all
depends.
There’s a
Bible story in which Samson does a politically incorrect thing to the
Philistines. (It’s useful
to quote scripture and thereby remind voters that the Bible wasn’t
written by Republicans.) Samson
sets fire to the tails of foxes and releases them in the fields of the
Philistines. They run every
which way, setting fires
everywhere they go. That
is our intention with the REVIVAL MEETINGS FOR DEMOCRATS – to light
fires all across the country. We’ll
strike the match in this historic place where the Pilgrims first set
foot. Please come, and then
carry the flame away.
Thank you
for whatever assistance you or your office can provide. A copy of the meeting proposal follows.
Sincerely
yours,
(YOU)
OPINION SURVEYS FOR REVIVAL MEETING:
Greetings
and thank you for coming. Our purpose with this questionnaire is
to:
1) Get a statistical reading on what tonight’s
participants think and want…
and
2) See if you’re willing to help get America a
regime change… do some grass-roots work in your neighborhood.
First for
your opinions. On
each topic, please check whatever response best describes your opinion. More than one is OK.
On the
present administration in Washington… the need to replace them is:
__urgent
__would be a mild improvement
__wouldn’t make much difference
__I like Bush
Re.: the
Patriot act, Ashcroft, and civil liberties in America…
the present course is:
__very
scary __need more
information __maybe a
necessary response to terrorism
Re.: the
environment… What the
current Administration is doing:
__concerns
me deeply __need
more information __not
a big issue for me
On the
influence of big (corporate) money on government polices:
__ordinary
Americans have little say now
__need more info. __It’s
always been like this.
On the
national deficit:
__a
catastrophe for our kids and grandchildren
__need more info. __not
a grave concern
About our
foreign policy:
__America
has never been so disliked __doesn’t
matter what others think, really __I
approve of the way Bush is handling things, generally.
The
Democratic party, as a force of opposition to the Republican course…
__has been
weak and indecisive
__is doing the best it can under the circumstances
__must
offer a clear, liberal alternative
__will get clobbered unless it sticks to the center
Please
check the 3 issues that concern you the most.
__environment __national single-payer health care system
__privacy/personal freedom __gay rights
__national deficit __failing
economy __collapse of state/local governments
__corporate
take-over of government __belligerent,
unilateralist foreign policy __racial
equality
__erosion
of church/state separation __reproductive
rights
other_______________________
I am…
__male __female
__teen-age __20-35
__35-50 __over
50 __Democrat __Green __Libertarian
__Republican __liberal __centrist
__conservative __
Independent
If you are
willing to get involved locally, please give us whatever information
you’re comfortable with. Name_______________________
phone:
( )
____ - _________ Email:
________________________
address:______________________________________________________________________
I’m
willing to: __phone/email
networking __neighborhood
canvassing __driver
voting day
__part time
office work for local / state / presidential candidates __financial support
THANK YOU!
Postcard
to democrats
Dear
Democratic activists,
Maybe
never before in our history has freedom and its future in America been
so threatened by one of our own political parties. Democrats must organize, clarify their minds, enlist their
friends (including Greens) and Vote the Republicans out of power.
To that end, your local Democratic committees and a concerned
group of Cape Cod citizens are holding:
A REVIVAL MEETING FOR DEMOCRATS
Where…..
When…..
We’ve
invited the Democratic Party, including our senators and congressmen to
come and listen to you. We’ll
provide an open microphone for you to share what current actions /
policies most concern you and to offer your thoughts on what the
Democrats should stand for in the new millennium.
This is your night. This
is democracy at its direct, New England best.
And stay to meet your local party committees.
We have our work cut out for us.
Let’s get started – and start a grass-roots movement for the
rest of the country to follow.
For information, call any of the following numbers: LIST NUMBERS
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