We, the people of the United States, makes a profound statement doesn’t it. This is why we chose WE! The People, as our name for this new webzine.
I remember the outrage I felt when I heard the following: [The Constitution of the United States of America = "...just another piece of paper" -- gw bush (02.18.2000)]
The above remarks from our at that time new President to be, struck me as talk of a fool, and the last six years are no exception to my first impression.
Recently was asked a couple questions, which lead me to thinking more about the organization and what I do here, or what an Executive Director in the future might face.
Presented below is the questions and answers.
How in the world can you do this job with all the tremendous hurdles you face, especially in dealing with many of the conflict situations.
That’s not the basis on which I make decisions. You know many things in life have obstacles. I’ve been involved in a lot of political struggles in my life. I’ve been involved in creating institutions, managing others, political campaigns and civil liberties, anti-nuclear, the peace movement, human rights and justice and so, you know, people have arguments. There are disputes. When the stakes are high, people get excited and I come into this with a clean slate. There have been many disagreements with and inside WeDems. But that’s over now and we’re moving on. And I’m very excited and challenged by the opportunity to bring people together to be involved in a process of realignment, reconciliation and the dynamic process of finding new members and really making a difference in the years ahead in these critical times. The next few years are going to be tremendously important and it’s centrally important that an organization like WeDemocrats.org play a major role in countering the dominant narrative in this country. And I want to be a part of that.
How are you going to promote democracy within WeDems. Something that has been written—and I find interesting is that in a democracy the loudest voices seem to win. Democracy is a messy thing. How would you promote democracy given the challenges?
Growing democracy is obviously important and so is good management. Good management is if it is done on a consultative basis without trying to impose solutions on people, can enable people to amplify their voices. By winning trust from the board, by getting people who haven’t spoken to each other to begin to talk to one another, by getting them to distinguish matters that really are important policy matters and matters which are personnel matters or management concerns. Having them distinguish between those two things, it will help to free up more time for them to have discussions that they need to have so that the important things we have to do are not displaced by internal debates that tend to be so enervating and discouraging. Also promoting the election process itself.
So I think one of the jobs that I have, and it is in my job description, is to promote both the organization as an entity but also to promote the institution’s goals and that means getting the members to put out the word that this is the place where they won’t just be subjected to boring meetings, but that they’ll be involved in the dynamic and exciting process in which progress is made. So what I’m going to try to do, is through this kind of active promotion through the members, get more people into the election process so that the number of votes goes up rather than down in the next cycle. What they do as a result, that’s up to them. I don’t determine the outcome. My concern is the process.
Long-term, however, there are issues having to do with internal staff relations and how people treat each other inside the organization and what I would describe as people adopting almost a tenure-system approach to positions, that is to say that people who come in with the best of intentions as volunteers or staff come to believe they own that small piece of real estate within the organization. That’s not true and that will change.
WeDemocrats is based on the preception that everybody in America is organized by We The People, and operates under that same idea. Rejecting the traditional political organizations that organize from the top down.
WeDemocrats an independent political group, based in the United States that organizes and informs an online progressive activist community. A resource for progressive grassroots organizations, working for open, accountable government and the right of all citizens to be involved in shaping our nation's public policies. It is because of the active participation and help of our groups and members that WeDemocrats are able to rise up and stand out against our opponents. WeDems combines grassroot advocacy by its members through various political activities, including (but not limited to) voter registration drives with netroots activism and community outreach, and to involve young people in the political process. As we aggressively reach out to progressive groups, we continue to embrace community members and get them actively involved in various activities to help maintain and increase the organizations reach. find, train, and support fiscally responsible and progressive candidates at all levels of office across the country. We harness the power of our enormous grassroots network to get these candidates elected and to work towards positive change from the precinct up.
Ron McBride
WeDemocrats.org
Founder & Chairman
Publisher of WE! The People online magazine
ron@wedemocrats.org