The cruel unfairness and dignity destroying, life destroying, and family destroying US social policies are all over Daily Kos today. And as heart-rendering as these diaries/stories are, they speak to the tip of the iceberg of our problems.
And it seems that too many politicians have become citizen friendly solution averse. We get a corporate friendly answer to our collective problems, or so it seems.
We are about to lose what few social safety nets we have left. Millions have lost their jobs and even their homes. How much worse must it get? Will it? YES!
Unless we unite and act now. We absolutely have to have a unified ground game, micro organized and working in every town, county, and state starting NOW.
There is a quick, easy way to do this. I humbly ask for your patience and kindness as I try to share a vision/action plan so we can get organized THIS WEEK!
I am sad to report that One Nation Working Together seems to have fizzled. No call backs, no emails answered and, most importantly, no interactive events calendar. No problem.
We can literally set up an event in our area TODAY if we want to. We can then call/contact all progressive groups in our area and invite them to our meeting for the purpose of becoming One Town/City Working Together.
Please know that I have no personal goal in this effort. I simply want us to unite. No one can make us do that. We each have to decide whether or not to step up and even stand out.
Are there risks?
Perhaps, however, I see greater risks resulting from our reluctance to do so. Personally, I'd rather take my lumps, if there are lumps in my karma, standing up out of love and concern for others than from inaction due to fear for myself.
You are my last vestige of hope.
I know we can change the course we, and even much of the world, are on.
We can work together to make this the country what we teach our children it is and that inspired Christina Taylor Green to attend Gabby Giffords local get together.
To begin, we need one person in each city/town willing to stand up, set up an event, and work the phones to invite members of other progressives to attend.
I believe our best first contact is the head of our local NAACP, Local Unions, progressive groups, etc. In my Red State, I won't be contacting the DNC. Been there, they are not progressives. I hope you have a better office.
The beauty of USUncut is that it is faceless/officeless. Without a headquarters, it can't be overtly attacked. It's a movement, not an organization per se. We are that movement.
Imagine if we could rally people in our areas like Wisconsin just did?
If a few in each State will stand up to get the ball rolling, the details will fall into place.
But do any of us doubt we must start now? This week?
Vision:
UNITED, WE EACH HAVE MORE POWER
I think it's brilliant and long overdue. I just hope it's not too late. All causes must join together in a unified manner because
UNITED EACH ORGANIZATION WILL HAVE MORE POWER
What we have been doing isn't working. Look at the horrid state of our country right now. If we can organize under one banner, SEPARATE from party affiliation, we can Make Change happen, over time. There's no quick fix, but disaster looms if we don't.
This is why I am driven to promote USuncut instead of trying to take the time and cover the costs of reinventing this wheel.
(I originally worked w/One Nation Working Together. They went away. I tried really, really hard to enroll NAACP and, for many good reasons, they can't spear head an "All Join" progressive movement. I respect that, but I sure hope they will join us if we set up USuncut branches throughout the country)
Here are just a few benefits I see to expand our individual sphere of power and effectiveness.
1. CENTRAL UMBRELLA: I propose we all be open to the possibilities of having a central umbrella to work under so that we can bring all constituencies under one roof for the following potential:
2. CHOOSE BETTER CANDIDATES: If we can be huge enough, we can choose who runs for office. I am tired of only monied and/or famed people to choose from for candidates.
3. VOTER REGISTRATION/GOTV: A coordinated effort, starting now. We can start talking to people about policies and principles to win the hearts and minds of our local citizenry.
4. CALLS TO ACTION: A database can be set up to alert all organizations/members in calls to action, for an issue that needs to be addressed. Let your imagination soar, that's just how powerful this can be.
5. POLICY VOTES: A database can be set up to receive each individual members vote on a policy, putting the pollsters in a run for their money. Congress isn't getting a really clear indication of the will of the people. Well, not as clear as having millions go on line and submit their vote on a bill or on an issue.
6. MEDIA OUTREACH: Coordinate the message.
7. CITIZEN JOURNALISM: A database to organize our citizen journalism. Imagine being able to call in a team to help investigate why that company is dumping radioactive waste 40 miles from your home. Who made that possible? Just mentioned as an example. We are losing journalism. 80 Reporters were just laid off from the largest paper in my area. 80!!! Or being able to organize a group to report on your local town hall meetings, State Legislature, etc. If we don't, we will be shut out of this process even more than we presently are. But we must act as teams and have a place to report our findings.
8. COORDINATED MESSAGING: We all know we can use some improvement in this area. A system can easily be set up to do this. We are as clever as the BBDO's (a famous ad agency in New York). We can brainstorm and develop clever, clear messaging.
PLEASE, add any vision you may have for this potential.
And, please, sign on for your area.
Just drop the name of your State in the intro to your comment to help me organize, k?