Obama detractors often throw in phrases, another Chicago Pol or Chicago Style politics.
The famed political machine of patronage politics isn't nearly what it once was. If Democrats want to win, then we need a modern voter turn out machine. It needs to capture the effectiveness of old ward politics in a mobile techno sort of way. I am going to propose how this can be done. Democrats have the technical resources, but I doubt they have the will to actually do it. I suspect there are many (yes even in the Democratic Party) who would resist a system where people’s votes trump money.
I am tired of hearing how the Democrats in 2010 are doomed; it is the common wisdom. Experience may predict that, but surely in such troubled times new patterns need to emerge. It isn’t because the majority of people support GOP policies. The majority welcome even the small changes that have occurred with the GOP having been put out to pasture. Still the interests of power and money rule the day. We need to change our system of mobilizing voters. The problem: with email lists, Internet petitions, and other “new” voter outreach; there is no tie to the precinct you live in. We all live and have to vote in one precinct, one congressional district, and one state.
The party needs to establish a virtual precinct chair in each precinct. We need a system where registered Democratic voters can come into a web forum for their precinct and their congressional district. The verification tools are available. I will leave it up to skilled IT nerds to argue over how best to implement a secured system based on voter registration and election participation. A local system would allow a coalition to develop for policy debates that directly translates to actual votes in a representative’s district. Once evolved local interest politics could trump money because votes are the only thing that matters after the polls close and the count begins.
I get email appeals all the time, as do you, from causes mostly asking for money. The people want an opportunity to be more involved. We desperately need a better voter information system. One example: Scott Lee Cohenelected as the Illinois Democratic Lt Governor in our February primary. I am sure many would want to be the virtual precinct chair. The Democratic Party should pay a chair, most would be glad to get $500 to help buy a new iphone. The real incentive should be a reward system based on voter turn out, Democratic voter turnout. These precinct chairs would then make sure someone had a ride, had mailed the absentee ballot, and had actually gone to an early voting location. There would be targeted financial rewards for achieving specific levels of participation based on the district’s history.
I think most of us who notice things want a more progressive agenda. There are those who notice and those who do not. The powerful moneyed interests who run things know the game very well. They try to bend the legislative and regulative process behind the scenes. It is so much easier to insert a non-germane amendment, place a secret hold, or slightly change the language to benefit an interest. Not being noticed while bending the game is the art of influence. Forums of local voters would keep a representative just that - a representative for their district.
Election time means money, money means credibility, money is the first requirement of running for office. Money isn’t really the currency of our politics, just as a credit card doesn’t get much if the bar doesn’t accept it or it is over the limit. A new method of informing voters and turning out registered voters in each district will empower people, if it turns out more voters than ad buys. It could leave money politics as useless a tender as a Confederate bill.
The various Democratic organizations and the progressive interest groups, there are too many of both, have the financial and technical resources to do this. It could be up and running by Labor Day. There are a lot of skilled motivated young people looking for work, many needing their first job, other people needing a supplemental job. I think many at the top of the party are too attracted to money and power to do this, but if we want to win in 2010 it needs to be done. Our nation’s very future depends upon it.
I want to see all the pundits astounded that Democrats won in 2010 -- Chicago Style.