Organizing Means Being Organized
Democrats Need to Build a Stronger Grassroots
These extremists are not the majority in America - they're just well organized and fanatical. And if we progressives don't get it together, "President Bush "absolutely" will use his second term to push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, his top political strategist said Sunday." The Religious Right also wants a constitutional amendment banning abortion with no exceptions. In fact, this is in the Republican Party Platform (p. 84)! The extreme right-wing has paid Bush their dues in volunteer time, and now they want their payoff.
Now you might assume that Democrats, the party of the people, would have the grassroots thing down - WRONG!
I volunteered for the Kerry campaign at the Florida Democratic Party headquarters in Tallahassee, Florida's capitol. Florida of course is a vital swing state and the immediate Tallahassee area is actually blue country - a prime opportunity to "get out the base". You would think that the Democrats would have the Tallahassee operation running like a well-oiled machine. Nope.
Don't get me wrong - Democrats are not lazy. There were plenty of committed, hard-working volunteers coming in - some 10, 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week. BUT THE TALLAHASSEE KERRY CAMPAIGN WAS COMPLETELY DISORGANIZED. So a lot of that hard work went into running around in circles trying to figure out what you were supposed to be doing and how.
On most occassions that I went in to volunteer, I had to wait at least ten minutes to be told what to do. On more than one occassion, I had to wait over half an hour. Volunteers would walk in the door and have no clue who they were supposed to talk to. The guy in charge was often working in the back room somewhere, or else he was busy with someone else, and either way you had no way of knowing who was in charge if you had not come in before.
This is a huge waste of resources and it is also very discouraging to volunteers. People are not going to come back if they feel like they are wasting their time.
During an election campaign, one person needs to be in charge of greeting volunteers as they come in the door and assigning them to tasks. That person needs to be clearly identifiable by wearing a hat or teeshirt. This is just one of many problems I observed while volunteering.
If we progressives want to start winning elections, somehow we are going to have to build a functional grassroots organization (at least in Tallahassee), with or without the help of the Florida Democratic Party.
Any suggestions?
Please post your comments.
TallahasseeJoe
You might assume that the Republicans would just rely on big corporate money to run their campaigns. That's only half the story. The other key to Republican success is getting the Religious Right to the polls through grassroots volunteer effort.These extremists are not the majority in America - they're just well organized and fanatical. And if we progressives don't get it together, "President Bush "absolutely" will use his second term to push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, his top political strategist said Sunday." The Religious Right also wants a constitutional amendment banning abortion with no exceptions. In fact, this is in the Republican Party Platform (p. 84)! The extreme right-wing has paid Bush their dues in volunteer time, and now they want their payoff.
Now you might assume that Democrats, the party of the people, would have the grassroots thing down - WRONG!
I volunteered for the Kerry campaign at the Florida Democratic Party headquarters in Tallahassee, Florida's capitol. Florida of course is a vital swing state and the immediate Tallahassee area is actually blue country - a prime opportunity to "get out the base". You would think that the Democrats would have the Tallahassee operation running like a well-oiled machine. Nope.
Don't get me wrong - Democrats are not lazy. There were plenty of committed, hard-working volunteers coming in - some 10, 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week. BUT THE TALLAHASSEE KERRY CAMPAIGN WAS COMPLETELY DISORGANIZED. So a lot of that hard work went into running around in circles trying to figure out what you were supposed to be doing and how.
On most occassions that I went in to volunteer, I had to wait at least ten minutes to be told what to do. On more than one occassion, I had to wait over half an hour. Volunteers would walk in the door and have no clue who they were supposed to talk to. The guy in charge was often working in the back room somewhere, or else he was busy with someone else, and either way you had no way of knowing who was in charge if you had not come in before.
This is a huge waste of resources and it is also very discouraging to volunteers. People are not going to come back if they feel like they are wasting their time.
During an election campaign, one person needs to be in charge of greeting volunteers as they come in the door and assigning them to tasks. That person needs to be clearly identifiable by wearing a hat or teeshirt. This is just one of many problems I observed while volunteering.
If we progressives want to start winning elections, somehow we are going to have to build a functional grassroots organization (at least in Tallahassee), with or without the help of the Florida Democratic Party.
Any suggestions?
Please post your comments.
posted by TallahasseeJoe @ 7:55 PM
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