Are you sick of the endless political games that must be played to influence our "duly chosen and elected" representatives to Congress?
Are you able and willing to get off of your couch and out of your house at least four times over the next two years, in support of either a candidate or an issue?
Are you unemployed or underemployed or retired?
Then what are you waiting for?
Mosey on over to dKosBETA, look us up and ask for an invite!
Or, if you don't think that you have Leadership qualities, and just want to lurk about a bit... that's fine, too.
My rule is: get them to come, once they're here we'll brainwash them... teeheehee... ok, no, we won't brainwash you, but I'm pretty sure that we'll do our darned best to cajole and induce and flatter you into some participation at some point in the not-too-distant future.
If you join, what do you get and what does it cost you?
For starters, you get to be in on the discussion we'll have, as a community, over which campaigns we should support, with our nationwide organization of connected grassroots blogging activists and their own spheres of influence. Who gets the heat that Feets-on-the-streets can generate, by dint of face to face interactions with voters and likely voters in the precincts across the nation where kossacks live.
Hell, if enough of you join us, we'll have a diverse set of precincts across the nation to tabulate real live polling numbers from, just from a weekly walk-n-knock in our own neighborhoods. We could do nationwide polling or regional polling or consecutive-weeks polling in a specific area or on a specific issue to see trendlines forming.
We could use Google Docs to upload this data, all of us from our own homes.
What does participation in Citizen Lobbyist-USA or one of the coming state based (or even down to precinct based) groups cost you?
Some of your online time, to keep up with the current news on issues and candidates and events.
Some of your 'meatspace' time.
Because make no mistake - this group is NOT for someone who is determined to remain a home-bound political junkie (unless you have a physical or other disability which prevents you from leaving home and interacting with others, in which case you can still participate in planning). But I have ideas about nationwide days of Citizen Lobbyist events at congressional office across the nation. We will be telling the politicians,
"Hey, see us here, and everywhere, today? That's because we are everywhere. We might not have the money of the corporations, but we are the Voters, and there a lot more of US than there are of them. You might want to think about that."
Part of the reason the conservatives have made such strides in taking over nearly the entire political system in 40 short years is their absolute commitment to getting feets-on-the-streets and at your doorstep.
You can't build a Party or a Movement from your computer. You need live bodies out in the community to do that.
But you can organize the living shit out of your available people and make them a lean, mean, fightin' machine.
President Obama won by overwhelming numbers in 2008, due in large part to the organization in the small towns and counties across the nation by field co-ordinators and volunteer groups sponsored by online communities like Democracy for America.com and MoveOn.org and PCCC (Progressive Change Campaign Committee).
US Congressional Democrats lost in 2010, due in large part to the lack of enthusiasm and interest on the part of younger voters who showed up for candidate Obama in 2008, but not candiates Russ Feingold and Alan Grayson and a whole host of others in 2010.
Without some information to temper the shite which masquerades as "truth" on some news programs and channels, how are voters ever going to be enthused come 2012?
So, as Citizen Lobbyists, we'll be working two different sides all at the same time. Bringing the grassroots message right into the offices of the US Congress, and taking the progressive message to the Voters in their homes. Lobbying both Congress and We the People. A heck of a job, hunh?
We're living in interesting times, my friends.
According to some sage Chinese philosophers, that's a curse. I say it's an opportunity.
I say it's time to get off the couch, get out of the house, and help me build a co-ordinated, online-meatspace kossack team to show the Democratic Party how grassroots organization can prove effective, if you do it right.
For now, all it takes is a message asking to let me in.
The door is open, all are welcome.
Login to DK4 here
Use this search box on the homepage - don't type anything - just hit the "go" button.
Once the page loads, use this image and instructions:
First choose the Users option (circled #1).
Next, choose "users and groups" (circled #2)
Next, type exactly what you see here (circled #3)
Last, click on this (circled #4):
Sadly, the search function on DK4 is still limited, so you have to take a roundabout to get to this group for now.
Next step, you'll be on my DK4BETA homepage.
See this box, on the right:
Click on the circled Citizen Lobbyist-USA link
Finally, you are there.
Look on the right side for this box:
click the "send new message" link.
Ask for an invite.
Don't be scared off by what may look like a lot of work just to navigate, what reads like an hour is about 15 seconds of clicking and typing. I've clocked it.
So... "come on in, kids, the water's fine!"