The First Phase
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Party Building
Party building must include everyone who identifies or who can be persuaded to join Democratic causes and help Democratic candidates. Utah ranks DEAD LAST in per pupil spending and teacher salaries are among the lowest in the nation. Kids will not be interested in school unless they have engaging and caring teachers. Republicans in the legislature have led our education system down the drain for the past thirty years. Enough is enough. Because of Republicans, Utah is a "Right to Work" state, which means wages will always be lower then the national average- because Utah workers can't obtain proper union representation. It is not that our current unions are in bad shape- its that new service sector industries aren't being unionized. The Republican Party in Utah is taking middle class families and dragging them further down the economic quintile totem pole.
This blog is about party building. I want us all to chart a course that will be successful in building a Utah Democratic Party that fights for the upliftment of Utahns and our society. We need to go door-to-door, neighbor to neighbor and hold meetings with our blocks and streets and teach them how we can take back control of our government. Grassroots starts NOW. Who�s with me? Lets brainstorm, set a date for an organizing meeting, and ACT.
Bi-weekly neighborhood meetings? Street gatherings at coffee shops? Bookstores? McDonalds? Wal-Mart? My house? The place really doesn�t matter for now- as long as it is near the people we are trying to reach and persuade.
My first idea is that we create a flier for the Utah Democratic Party that is 100% issue based. Education, Health Care, or jobs would be a good idea in attracting new converts without turning away those who lean conservative socially. We even go easy on party symbols and gradually lead them into the idea of Democrats being good. Sickening, but the only way. We each hand deliver these fliers (meeting them at the door) to our neighbors (meaning within a ten block radius) and invite them to a meeting with refreshments and political discussion. We will stick to an agenda and resolve concerns and explain what being a Democrat is all about.
The Big Tent method is the only viable option- especially with social moral issues. We need to be inclusive and build on ideas that we all already agree with- increasing education funding, drug treatment programs, expanding CHIP and Medicaid coverage, local job training programs- which is directly tied to increased unionization of service sector industries. Educate people on what "Right to Work" laws actually do to wages and jobs. We could even invite labor leaders to come talk about issues.
A wide verity of issues will be discussed and the meeting will end with someone explaining that all of the solutions to the problems we talked about lie in becoming a member of the Democratic Party. Like it or not- partisan politics is the best way to impact policy- and we need to make this clear.
If we can organize meetings like this all over the valley and the state- then our party will grow and personal contacts and friendships will be made. Lets her more ideas and discuss dates and times for all of us to meet at state Democratic headquarters. I know that politics isn't on everyone�s mind right now during the holidays and so far from an election. But, every day we lose more and more time and become weaker and weaker come election day. Let�s start the building!
Party building must include everyone who identifies or who can be persuaded to join Democratic causes and help Democratic candidates. Utah ranks DEAD LAST in per pupil spending and teacher salaries are among the lowest in the nation. Kids will not be interested in school unless they have engaging and caring teachers. Republicans in the legislature have led our education system down the drain for the past thirty years. Enough is enough. Because of Republicans, Utah is a "Right to Work" state, which means wages will always be lower then the national average- because Utah workers can't obtain proper union representation. It is not that our current unions are in bad shape- its that new service sector industries aren't being unionized. The Republican Party in Utah is taking middle class families and dragging them further down the economic quintile totem pole.
This blog is about party building. I want us all to chart a course that will be successful in building a Utah Democratic Party that fights for the upliftment of Utahns and our society. We need to go door-to-door, neighbor to neighbor and hold meetings with our blocks and streets and teach them how we can take back control of our government. Grassroots starts NOW. Who�s with me? Lets brainstorm, set a date for an organizing meeting, and ACT.
Bi-weekly neighborhood meetings? Street gatherings at coffee shops? Bookstores? McDonalds? Wal-Mart? My house? The place really doesn�t matter for now- as long as it is near the people we are trying to reach and persuade.
My first idea is that we create a flier for the Utah Democratic Party that is 100% issue based. Education, Health Care, or jobs would be a good idea in attracting new converts without turning away those who lean conservative socially. We even go easy on party symbols and gradually lead them into the idea of Democrats being good. Sickening, but the only way. We each hand deliver these fliers (meeting them at the door) to our neighbors (meaning within a ten block radius) and invite them to a meeting with refreshments and political discussion. We will stick to an agenda and resolve concerns and explain what being a Democrat is all about.
The Big Tent method is the only viable option- especially with social moral issues. We need to be inclusive and build on ideas that we all already agree with- increasing education funding, drug treatment programs, expanding CHIP and Medicaid coverage, local job training programs- which is directly tied to increased unionization of service sector industries. Educate people on what "Right to Work" laws actually do to wages and jobs. We could even invite labor leaders to come talk about issues.
A wide verity of issues will be discussed and the meeting will end with someone explaining that all of the solutions to the problems we talked about lie in becoming a member of the Democratic Party. Like it or not- partisan politics is the best way to impact policy- and we need to make this clear.
If we can organize meetings like this all over the valley and the state- then our party will grow and personal contacts and friendships will be made. Lets her more ideas and discuss dates and times for all of us to meet at state Democratic headquarters. I know that politics isn't on everyone�s mind right now during the holidays and so far from an election. But, every day we lose more and more time and become weaker and weaker come election day. Let�s start the building!
To your point re: social issues. Who said everyone in the Democratic Party held the same social conscience? Republicans!!! We've got Right to Life Governors, dyed in the wool Hawk senators, fiscal hardliner representatives, and judicial straight arrows. And they've been there since time immemorial.
Big Tent is the only way you could pull the right and the left into one meeting place. And only small minds like attack-dog republicans could miss out on the concept of negotiating with main-stream Americans on the differences between social services and social conscience.
Big Tent (and G. W.) just won us an election. Now the republicans are stuck trying to rediscover who moved the tent. This is the right time to tackle education, employment, wages, immigration, welfare, and medical care -- all issues totally consienciously ignored by the past six years. A great time to define truly valid issues and solutions. People are more inclined to build now than ever -- even if they are dyed in the wool republicans.