Like many of you, I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of
inaction and/or ineptitude on the part of my local Democratic
organizations. The problems with our local groups were apparent
to me during the 2004 elections when I worked phones for the Kerry
campaign almost daily (sometimes bringing my toddler along with me to
the campaign office to be able to do this), knocked on doors doing
canvassing and voter registration for several outside groups and for
the Kerry folks, and helped out anywhere else that I could.
West Virginia was a serious
battleground state and our county was a very close one -- get out the
vote and voter contact mattered and it shocked me to see how antiquated
and/or nonexistent our Democratic infrastructure was in the area.
More below the fold...
Very few of the party officials here lifted much of a finger, and I was
appalled by their lack of organization and dedication in such an
important election. This was all the more shocking because WV has
a long history of Democratic party dominance that, apparently, was
built on straw and put together with some seriously weak glue.
When union power and dominance here began to fade in the 1980s, the
party apparatus didn't step in to fill the expanding void, they
left the
churches open to manipulation by GOP politics without calling them
on it, and the party leadership (in my county and neighboring areas,
anyway) has aged itself past the point of being able to do the
necessary work -- with no plan in place to recruit younger membership
to begin to pick up the ball. (In all fairness, the state
Democratic Party has
made some strides since the 2004 elections. Let's hope they keep
it up!)
I decided after the 2004 election that I would not let this
stand. Rather than just being disgusted and throwing up my hands
in defeat, getting involved seemed like a better solution. If I
wanted to see changes, it was my responsibility to help to make them
happen -- so I joined our local Democratic Women's group and have been
attending meetings and trying to influence a more pro-active agenda for
the group BEFORE the 2006 elections. I came up with a plan of
something that we could do to help our cause in a number of ways -- and
I think this would translate to other areas of the country as well, so I
wanted to share it here on DKos for everyone to think about and perhaps
implement.
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
Quite a while ago, I stumbled across a link to
Any Soldier -- it's a website that
was created by a veteran who served in Afghanistan, and who was
appalled by the lack of access that soldiers serving their country
there had to basic things like deoderant, socks, snacks, and other
comforts that make life easier for someone serving overseas in a fairly
desolate environment (in some cases). This particular
soldier worried about the morale of some of the troops, especially, who
were not receiving any care packages, letters or anything else from
home. For those of you who don't have relatives or friends who
have served overseas in a difficult posting, mail from home is a
lifeline -- these soldiers join for a variety of reasons which can
range from economic hardship to being able to pay for college to
patriotism, but none of them choose where they get to serve or whether
or not they fight in a particular battle. No matter the
administration or its choices, a soldier serves his or her country, and
most of them do this admirably, under incredibly miserable
circumstances and through difficult emotional and physical
challenges, just trying to stay alive long enough to get back home to
their families. To be doing this job with no support from your
own family would be heartbreaking.
As an aside, several friends of mine from college were West Point
graduates who served in the first Gulf War. One of my best friend
commanded his first unit right out of the academy, and he phoned my
right before they deployed to ask if I could coordinate a
letter-writing campaign between myself and some of my friends at
college and some of his soldiers. These soldiers had family that
were less-than-faithful about writing to them, and their morale prior
to shipping out to the Gulf was dismal. My friend worried that
this morale would worsen while they were forward deployed because these
folks felt like no one really cared about how there were
doing. I got people from my house at Smith College to write
to a lot of these folks throughout the conflict so they would know that
they were not forgotten and that their service was appreciated by
someone. It left a mark on me through the years, because
the letters I received in return along with the letters my friends
received, were so gracious and grateful for the little bit of time that
it took us to sit down and say hello and thanks.
In the current conflict, a lot of folks -- me included -- are
conflicted regarding the war in Iraq. It's a mess. The
President has mismanaged the whole of it from start to finish and the
fact that
Donald
Rumsfeld is still in charge at DOD makes me more angry than I have
been in a very long time. Plus, we have mucked up what
little progress we managed to make in a lot of the areas in
Afghanistan,
and left
Osama
Bin Laden running around for years after Tora Bora. Since
Bush's poll numbers started dropping on the Iraq War, however, there
has been a concurrent drop in support levels for the troops serving in
his mismanaged wars -- support that these folks still deserve, despite
the growing anger and disgust for those at the top of the dung heap
that serves as the present Administration.
WHAT DOES
THIS HAVE TO DO WITH MY LOCAL DEM GROUP?
The above information was the foundation for my action plan with my
local Democratic Women's group (and, subsequently, we have also gotten
the local Democratic Men's group involved as well). What we have
begun is OPERATION: SUPPORT OUR SOLDIERS for our local area. What we are
doing is this: I put together a list of the most-requested items
from the soldier listings at
Any
Soldier: things like sunscreen, lip balm, kids toys, packaged
cookies and beef jerky and other food and snack items, toothpaste and
toothbrushes, and all sorts of other items. Initially, we have
passed the list among our membership and will be putting together the
first few boxes of items next month to be mailed out the second week of
October. Members have gone around to local businesses to ask for
donations of items and we have gotten some wonderful responses --
including a supply of toilet paper (which is actually a much-requested
item! How sad is that?!?) from a paper company in
town. These packages will go out to needy soldiers who have
listings on
Any Soldier, and we
will continue our drive for items as long as we can viably do so.
WELL,
THAT'S NICE AND ALL, BUT HOW DOES THIS BENEFIT YOUR GROUP?
Here is the beauty of this idea for my local area. West Virginia
has one of the highest per capita service records of any state in the
nation, and has had this honor since the inception of the state during
the Civil War. People here serve their nation in the military,
are related to people in uniform, marry them, and generally support our
soldiers through thick and thin. This idea gives our local
Democrats an opportunity to support those troops, too, in a tangible
way that can make a huge difference in their daily lives.
Moreover, it gives local Democrats an avenue to refute the whole GOP
baloney that only Republicans support the troops. That is a huge
bunch of hogwash, and no one on our side of the fence shoudl ever let
someone from the GOP get away with saying it. Period. We
may disagree over policy decisions or even whether the use of force is
necessary or not in a given situation, but there is no reason at all to
let the whole "Democrats are weak on defense and they don't support the
troops" Hannity and/or Limbaugh bullshit to ever stand. By
actually supporting the troops through our actions and not just
mouthing the words, our local Democrats are showing that to be the lie
that it is.
Further, this is an opportunity for our local Democrats to get some
great media attention and some publicity for our group around the
community. Which gives us a great platform for recruiting new
membership, for gaining goodwill among residents and businesses, alike,
which will pay us back over the long haul. AND we can look like
we actually DO something useful. We are going to try and have
media present for our first box packing day to publicize that we are
taking donations for future mailings, and we will try to continue to
build on this publicity during future donation events as well.
Think about it: pictures and news reports of cute little old
ladies who are pillars of their community, along with some younger
members, all with Democrats shirts on, packing boxes to send to our
soldiers. The soldiers get the wonderful support they deserve and
we get the benefit of further publicity to continue to get further
donations to send to them -- and the goodwill feeling that we are
really supporting our troops because we ARE. In West Virginia,
and I'm certain this is true for a lot of the rest of the country, this
sort of work will be so beneficial for our group over the long term,
not just for the short term, and that can build its way toward the next
election cycle as much as working for individual candidates can do.
I'M
ANTI-WAR. HOW CAN THIS POSSIBLY APPLY TO ME? I'M NOT
SUPPORTING ANYONE WHO CARRIES A GUN.
Look, I think the Iraq War has been a fiasco. I opposed it before
it ever started, and I am appalled by the Administration's
mismanagement of this conflict, and am even more terrified of its
long-term implications for our national security and our foreign
policy. That said, I should say up front that members of my
family have served this nation in the military since the Revolutionary
War and before. I have friends and family currently
serving. My father served during Vietnam as a volunteer, and many
other family members served as volunteers and as draftees during that
conflict. A LOT of my relatives served during WWII and Korea and
are still living, and I grew up hearing all of their stories and
consider military service to be a high calling in terms of patriotism
and service to this nation. I do, however, have a deep
understanding of the peace movement, having participated in various
protests during my college years against the mis-use of the military
for reasons that I felt were not justified (Grenada comes to mind!) and
for other reasons.
Members of my family, friends and members of my community who have
served in the military have done this for various reasons:
patriotism (especially those of the WWII generation), because they
couldn't find a different job (WV has always tottered on the brink of
financial ruin and the job situation here is always precarious, at
best, in a lot of communities), for health insurance for a family
member (since WalMart certainly doesn't offer it to everyone), for
money for college, for something to do that would keep them out of
trouble and instill some personal responsibility and discipline (in the
case of one juvenile delinquent member of the family), because the
on-the-job training was useful for future employment (esepcially in
electronics and communications work), because it was a family
tradition, etc., etc. Almost all my family members who have
served are Democrats, and vote that way -- but they didn't vote for
Kerry in large numbers because they still carry that Jane Fonda Vietnam
chip on their shoulders, and that is a GOP propaganda snippet that we
MUST refute before the next election cycle or we may be toast in rural
America for good. (Before you dismiss this as uneducated hooey, I
ran into just this sort of sentiment from a majority of my undecided
calls for the Kerry campaign last year. Yesterday I drove behind
a fellow whose pick-up truck had a bumper sticker that read "When the
Jews forgive Hitler, Vietnam Vets will forgive Jane Fonda." It
may be an idiotic sentiment, but it is one that we have to change or we
will never regain our footing in Appalachia, I can tell you that
much. Democrats MUST get off their butts and regain some sort of
in-road with these people or we can just kiss rural America good-bye in
terms of voting.)
All this to say that you can support the individual soldiers who are
serving not because they think the world is some sort of video game
where they can run around killing, maiming and abusing people -- but
realistically where most soldiers want to serve their nation, earn a
good paycheck with some good benefits for their family (or at least
better than they can get elsewhere in their hometown), and just stay
alive until they can get back home. I don't care who is in office
or how much you hate them, as a soldier you don't get to choose your
mission or your commander in chief -- you just go where you are told to
go and do the best job you can with the orders you are given and pray
you stay alive. Period. If we can't have some compassion
for these folks and try to make their already stressful and exhausting
and sometimes terrifying lives just a little better, then what kind of
human beings are we? No soldier that i have ever known has wanted
to have to kill anyone. Most of them are haunted by what they do
as military personnel. The ones who seem like they enjoy it are
either sadistic bastards who will end up getting prosecuted later on
for being soulless sociopaths or they are lying through their teeth to
maintain some hold on a swagger and some sanity. I've held
friends and family members while they cried about what they had to do
in uniform to save themselves or their brothers-in-arms, even 40 or
more years after the battles, so don't think for a moment that the
abusive idiots in the Abu Ghraib photos are remotely representative of
most soldiers. Most of them are just like you, except they wake
up at every tiny little sound hoping not to be ambushed by someone who
wants them dead. It's a tough job, and you can help them out by
simply being kind. How hard is that?
WHAT
ACTION CAN MY GROUP TAKE?
Here's a copy of the press release that I did for our group. We
passed it out to our members and sent a copy to our local newspaper and
television stations. Feel free to use any part of this that
you want for your group to do a press release.
- For Immediate
Release -
The Harrison
County Democratic Womens' and Democratic Mens' Organizations are
launching "Operation: Support Our Soldiers." This support
drive is designed to collect and distribute items needed by our troops
currently in the field, in Iraq, in Afghanistan and worldwide.
The groups will be collecting needed items (see attached checklist of
most requested items) to send to soldiers listed on the website
http://anysoldier.com and also to soldiers and units from West Virginia
identified by our membership. In addition, the Harrison County
Democratic Womens' and Mens' Organizations would like to assist local
families in need whose family members are currently serving in our
nation's military, and are asking that any families who have any
specific needs contact us to provide information on how we can help you
here at home, or to give us information on what needs your family
member's unit may have.
At a time when polls and news reports are
showing that support for our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan is
dropping, the Harrison County Democratic Women and Men want to be
certain that our soldiers don't suffer from lack of support from home -
after all, soldiers never choose the war in which they fight, but they
fight for our nation nonetheless, and we feel that we should all be
very appreciative of their sacrifices. Please help us by
contributing items, postage or in any way you can for Operation:
Support Our Soldiers.
|
Here is the list of items that I came up with for distribution
purposes. Again, feel free to use this for your local group:
LIST
OF NEEDED ITEMS
FOODSTUFFS:
___ Pre-packaged cookies
___ Individually wrapped candies
___ Peanuts
___ Beef Jerky
___ Crackers
___ Drink mixes (especially those that make individual water bottles of
drink)
___ Gummi Bears
___ Pretzels
___ Ground coffee
___ Microwave foods, especially popcorn
___ Pre-packaged dried fruits
___ Pre-packaged fruit or granola bars
___ Gatorade mix
___ Canned meats
___ Ramen noodles
___ Gum of any kind
___ Oatmeal in single serving packets
___ Sunflower seeds
TOILETRIES:
___ Combs & brushes
___ Deoderant
___ Black or brown hair bands or scrunchies
___ Shampoo and conditioner
___ Any type of lotion
___ Women's personal hygiene supplies
___ Shaving cream (men's and women's)
___ Baby powder
___ Q-tips
___ Foot powder
___ Toilet paper
___ Hand sanitizer
TOILETRIES, CONT'D:
___ Sunblock
___ Cough drops
___ Soap & liquid body soap/wash, bath loofahs & scrunchies
___ Toothbrushes & toothpaste
___ Wet Ones
___ Chapstick with sunscreen
OTHER ITEMS:
___ Music CDs
___ DVD movies, especially funny ones
___ Magazines (NO dirty magazines - those are prohibited by military
regs)
___ Brown, short-sleeved t-shirts in all sizes (especially L and XL)
___ AA and AAA batteries
___ Books (paperback - fiction or nonfiction)
___ Soccer balls (deflated for mailing)
___ Air fresheners
___ Small models and toys for local kids
___ Phone Cards
___ Paper and pens, envelopes
___ Laundry powder & fabric softener sheets
___ White or black cotton socks
___ Insect Repellant
___ School supplies (paper, pens, etc. - some units sponsor local
schools and need some help)
CHILDREN"S MEDICINES: (These have been requested by military doctors.)
___ Tylenol (children's and infant's)
___ Motrin/ibuprofin (children's and infant's)
___ Vitamins (children's and infant's)
___ Small stuffed animals
___ Coloring books and crayons/markers
___ Candy (especially wrapped, individual lollipops)
|
Here is the FAQ sheet that i came up with for our group for this.
Again, feel free to use this for your own Democratic group:
OPERATION:
SUPPORT OUR SOLDIERS
FAQ
- Why are the Harrison County Democratic Womens' and Mens'
Organizations sponsoring this?
We feel that support for our soldiers transcends today's nasty
political atmosphere. These troops are out there fighting for our
nation in very tough situations, often without a lot of mail or
packages from home. It is tough enough to be dealing with hostile
fire, far away from home, but to do it without the little comforts -
snacks, letters, a fun movie - that seems wrong to all of us. We
found a website online, http://anysoldier.com, which was begun by
a soldier after his first tour in Afghanistan - he noticed that some of
the folks in his unit got little to no mail, and that the PX on their
base was lacking in some basic supplies. He started the website,
which is continued by his family today since he is back in Afghanistan,
to help out the folks in his unit - and it has grown to be a means that
soldiers from a lot of units overseas can ask for help. We think
we owe it to our soldiers to help where we can.
- Doesn't the government take care of everything these soldiers need?
Well, that's like asking if your employer provides you with everything
you need. The short answer is no. Sure, you get an office
and a desk and some supplies, but they don't bathe you, or give you all
your snacks and downtime fun things to do or any number of other
things. What we are trying to do is help some of these folks have
life a little easier while they are in a combat zone. We think
they deserve it, with the sacrifice they are making.
- What can I do to help?
We have made a list of the most frequently requested items from the
anysoldier website. Take a peek at these items and pick up some
of them to send to a unit in need. If you don't have time
to shop, we are going to set up a fund to take contributions so we'll
be able to do the shopping for you. Please contact us and we'll
give you details on this.
- I don't have a lot of money, but I would still like to help.
What can I do?
For starters, you can call and request a free mailing kit at :
1-800-610-8734 and requesting CAREKIT04. The kit contains five each of
Priority Mail Box-4, Priority Mail Box-7 and Mili-Pac Tyvek envelopes /
one roll of Priority Mail tape / and ten customs forms with
envelopes. We can use all the free mailers we can get to mail
this stuff out. Also, we will hopefully be helping out some local
families with repairs and such, if you have building or trades skills
and would like to help, we'd be happy to use your hands.
Depending on how much community support we get, we may also need help
packing boxes, so please call and we'll see if we can put you to work
volunteering for our troops!
|
We're using several locations as donation drop points, including a
local American Legion post and the homes of several of our
members. If this gets bigger, we're going to have to ask for some
space at a local business in order to handle the mailings monthly -- or
we'll just have to do more frequent mailings.
WHY POST
ALL THIS STUFF HERE ON DKOS?
Seemed like the best way to reach a lot of Democrats across the country
with an idea that appears to be working well for our community.
I'm hoping something like this would translate well for DKos readers in
small communities in rural areas where military service is high, in
larger areas near military bases where service is obviously front and
center, in areas where Democrats are constantly assailed by moronic
non-serving blowhards like Limbaugh who only talk a lot but don't put
their action where their mouth is in terms of supporting the
troops. I think this is a win-win idea for local Democratic
groups and, for my mind at least, it gets them up and going on
something and getting them used to DOING well before the 2006 election
hits its stride. More doing, less sitting and bitching -- that's
my new motto. Hopefully, more Kossacks can put this idea to good
use where they live as well.