I started this diary series a few months ago, on Street Prophets, when I joined my local democratic club. The hope was to stimulate conversation about getting involved in local politics. Beyond the fold will be a recap of my efforts, and a look toward 2012.
The first thing I learned, over the last few months, is that I love being a local "community organizer." This real world engagement forces me to be creative and challenges me to live up to my faith. Continued beyond the fold.
Cross Posted on Street Prophets. Link to list of past Activism Diaries.
Now, you might say, what faith does an atheist or a non-theist have. And, I would say back at times it only my faith that allows me to do what I do. More on faith after I do a recap of how I expressed my activism over the last few months.
Farmers Market
For the last few months I staffed a Democratic club information table at our farmers Market. In the process I learned about the short comings of The Law Of The Mall. Democratic clubs are partisan, so getting into a Farmers Market controlled by a large corporation is difficult. I elected to forgo my rights in order to be in the game and be able to hand out election signs and information.
Better Vallejo
This New York Times article is a quick introduction to what Better Vallejo is about: Gay Issues in Vallejo Just Won’t Go Away I became a member of this group and spoke out at the public meeting in a way that was expressing my faith. See: Local Activism Diary - Changing The Script by linkage I signed up to volunteer for them. Specifically to staff their table at the Farmers Market.
As to what the future holds for this group, only time will tell. I'm in the position of having to wait for them to ask me to do something for a "Better Vallejo."
Mega Monster
I tried to promote a drama skit satirizing Meg Whitman. But, the project did not get enough traction. As always, it is a balancing act between things to do. So, this idea was dropped. The most important thing I learned while trying to push this idea is that the system is resistant to change.
Websites & New Media
I set up a new website for our Democratic Club, and I'm planning on it being an important organizing tool for our use in the future.
I attended the Net Roots San Francisco mini convention. I attended 4 out of the 6 training sessions, and spent the rest of the time networking and renewing acquaintances. More about this in an upcoming diary.
Democratic Club
At the November meeting of our Democratic Club I was elected President. I was running on a platform of modernization, education, and change. I'm going to continue to maintain the website, and as the major goal for the next two years I'm going to implement MOE and other Web biased tools for use by our local progressive community. Mobilize Organize Elect (MOE) is the voter file and targeting tools provided by the Central Committee. These were my major public campaign promises that got me elected to the position.
Without going into detail, I used our December Christmas Party as a forum for change, by introducing new an statement of direction for the club. I created a printed statement of intent and distributed it prior to the party. It set the tone for the evening, and was well received. It allowed me to focus the groups conversation in positive direction.
Faith
It is only through Faith* that I'm able to do what I'm doing. Faith that there is always a different way to do things. I have faith in George Lakoff's New Enlightenment Philosophy and its ability to "simplify" my understanding of the political dynamic.
Lakoff argues that the differences in opinions between liberals and conservatives follow from the fact that they subscribe with different strength to two different metaphors about the relationship of the state to its citizens. Both, he claims, see governance through metaphors of the family. Conservatives would subscribe more strongly and more often to a model that he calls the "strict father model" and has a family structured around a strong, dominant "father" (government), and assumes that the "children" (citizens) need to be disciplined to be made into responsible "adults" (morality, self-financing). Once the "children" are "adults", though, the "father" should not interfere with their lives: the government should stay out of the business of those in society who have proved their responsibility. In contrast, Lakoff argues that liberals place more support in a model of the family, which he calls the "nurturant parent model", based on "nurturant values", where both "mothers" and "fathers" work to keep the essentially good "children" away from "corrupting influences" (pollution, social injustice, poverty, etc.). Lakoff says that most people have a blend of both metaphors applied at different times, and that political speech works primarily by invoking these metaphors and urging the subscription of one over the other.
Wikipedia: George Lakoff
I also have faith in the wisdom found in these two books: Dispatches from the Religious Left Edited by Frederick Clarkson and Changing the Script by Daniel Schultz. So much so, that in my statement of intent to the Democratic Club I incorporated the key idea of empathy that is the commonality found in Lakoff, Clarkson, and Schultz's writings.
I fully intend to implement one of the key ideas found in Pastor Dan's book at the next meeting. (Clearly, in a way he did not imagine or suggest.)
It was our custom to start our Democratic Club meetings with a Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, but I'm going to "Change the Script." We will now open our meetings with a round robin of the membership, each encouraged to give thanks or make a statement of concern, and we will close with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
It is all about grounding our party, and the ground that I'm planing to re-build our local Democratic Party on is empathy for our community and "The People." As represented by the club membership.
It is time for "We The People," democratic engagement, and empathy to take it's proper place ahead of blind patriotism, manifest destiny, and corporations.