Something happened during the recent National Spelling Bee. A word that's lingered in obscurity for a century - a word we all really need today- wiggled back into the public discourse, thanks to Isabel Jacobson, a 14 year old spelling champion from Madison, Wisconsin. She mentioned that her favorite difficult word was kakistocracy.
Someone noticed, sent an email that made the rounds, and a friend of mine had an idea. We all agreed: this needs to be a bumper sticker!
Of course, there's more below the fold...
We hope as people start to see it on bumpers, a few will look it up, and heads will start to nod in agreement. It should incite some lively parking lot conversations, too! Around 70% of the people will agree: we live in a kakistocracy.
But there's more to this story than just a bumper sticker.
A little background, maestro. This idea was not born in a vacuum. It's really the story of a little county in Maine and a few people who got together and decided to Do Something. Without a rebellion (in fact we were invited) we basically took over a fledgling county party. Together we've taken a 3 Dem, 6 Rep legislative delegation and turned it into 6 Dems, 3 R's. In a swing county we've won big for statewide candidates, national candidates, ballot initiatives, etc. We're gearing up now to help unseat Susan Collins in '08. In many ways it is a DKos model. Local volunteers, local phoning, local GOTV, local fundraising. Come to the Rural Progressives session at YearlyKos to hear more.
Grassroots- The answer to Kakistocracy!
The other thing we've done is social. We've started our own chapter of Drinking Liberally, only in Maine we call it potluck. Every Saturday night we share food, conversation (ok, largely trash talking) and board games. Last Saturday was a classic. Two people who had been away for the winter came and two former members who have moved were there. Daphne is now a community organizer based in another Maine town and Elsie is working in a Congressman's office in DC. They got their start as volunteers when they were at a small college in the area.
What I'm talking about is the value of creating community, creating space and being intentional. Which means when someone has an idea for a bumper sticker, we have the vehicle. In short order, we took the idea and designed it, ordered it (cause we have a little $$) and put it up on our website and on ActBlue for your ordering convenience.
So, take a look, order some stickers, spread them around and with any luck maybe we can get this on... say Colbert? Stewart?