We not only have TWO NEW groups in Michigan, whose inaugural meetups are reviewed below, we also have ONE UPCOMING MEETUP this Sunday, 9/6, from 3-5 PM in Southfield, at a private residence.
First, let me promote the Motor City Kossacks' meetup this Sunday, September 6, at the home of BFSkinner. (Kosmail BFS or me for the exact address.) As many of you may already know, our friend BFSkinner has been dealing with several serious medical conditions for the past few months, necessitating a number of hospital stays. He has invited us to come hang out and bring dishes to pass, to mark the end of summer and the transition to fall and to support his progress toward better health.
PLEASE NOTE: The potluck dishes we bring MUST be suitable for someone who is a diabetic with Crohn's Disease. Specifically, these are the constraints that BFS has described to me:
The only things I cannot eat are raw onions and lettuce and very spicy foods and raw cabbage. Oh and raw garlic. Basically Arabic food is out [and nuts]. I've noticed I can do all others as long as it's not too spicy and I can do salad as long as it's not lettuce based.
That still leaves a lot of possibilities, so please leave your RSVP in the comment thread below, along with what you think you could contribute to the potluck. I'm looking forward to seeing folks there!
Now, let me provide a little background about our two new Michigan Daily Kos groups before I describe each group's inaugural meetup.
I started the Motor City Kossacks group a couple of years back--right after the 2012 election, in fact, responding to the call by navajo, Meteor Blades, and others in leadership at the site for more local groups promoting activism alongside traditional Democratic Party organizing. We've had some terrific meetups, not surprising because we have some great Kossack activists in our SE corner of the state. We had additional motivation to get involved when Netroots Nation took place in Detroit last July; preparation for that important and galvanizing event drew upon the talent of many local activists with connections to Daily Kos. And since then, there's been no shortage of evidence that Motor City Kossacks in metro Detroit are politically active on and off line, within and without the MDP.
But our region here is only one section of this big and heterogeneous state. Even within the seven counties that constitute the Motor City Kossacks catchment area, there is lots of competition among issues vying for attention. Should it be the water-is-life controversy that I have covered so often? Or the corruption among the MI GOP manifest through the EM law or the EAA, just to name two examples? Or the growing inequality gaps evident in several parts of the region, with wealthier communities isolating themselves more and more from the poorer communities next to them? How about the total failure of the political process in Lansing, demonstrated by the inability of the GOP to come to grips with the reality that we need more revenue--not from the hide of the poor, either--to rebuild our pathetic and dangerous roads? Of course, these don't begin to exhaust all of the problems we are facing in Michigan, and in truth some of these are not solely the fault of the GOP. But our difficulties are seriously compounded because of GOP intransigence, hostility, and greed--so to improve our situation, we must rally our side and give people a reason to believe they can make a positive difference.
IMO, if we are to have a true, comprehensive, accountable democratic process, that means hearing from ALL of the people. And while--so far--many of the people who participate in the Daily Kos groups, meetups, and online activism are already well-connected, it's also true that we can do better with outreach and networking across the state. We must, absolutely must, take back the MI House in 2016--and some of the seats we can switch are in rural and small-town districts.
Hence I was delighted to be invited by navajo to serve as the State Leader for the next stage in our campaign. Have you seen the new Daily Kos mission statement, by the way? It is this:
Daily Kos fights for a progressive America by empowering its community and allies with information and tools to directly impact the political process.
I also like to mention one of Meteor Blades' favorite sayings every chance I get (paraphrased here): We don't need a fifty-state strategy; we need a 150,000-precinct strategy.
Fortunately, other folks active with Daily Kos who live outstate have similar ideas and goals, and so I was able to coordinate with them to set up meetups in mid-August. As you may recall from the diaries promoting them, one of them took place in Honor, the Benzie County seat, on Friday, August 14th. The other happened in Holland, near Grand Rapids yet in a different county (Allegan), on Saturday, August 15th.
After the jump, I'll summarize the conversations we had at these events, and with luck I'll include a photo or two. But before the transition, I'd like to issue an invitation:
We now have TWO NEW MICHIGAN KOS GROUPS: West Michigan Kos, and Northwest MI Kos. Here are the working geographical definitions of each.
You are in WEST Michigan Kos if you live in these counties:
Allegan
Barry
Berrien
Cass
Ionia
Kalamazoo
Kent
Muskegon
Newaygo
Oceana
Ottawa
St. Joseph
Van Buren
You are in NORTHWEST MI Kos if you live in these counties:
Antrim
Benzie
Charlevoix
Emmet
Grand Traverse
Kalkaska
Lake
Leelanau
Manistee
Mason
Osceola
Wexford
I know where SOME of you live, given either your profile descriptions or your comments in threads. (Yes, of course, I keep an eye out for those clues!) In the next few days, I'll be sending invitations to people to join the new Kos groups as defined. But please, please ASK me for an invitation to join if I haven't sent you one and you are interested! The more the merrier.
And yes, of course, I'm also interested in establishing more groups over time. If you live outside of these counties listed above, and outside Metro Detroit, and you want to take part in a local group, please drop me a Kosmail. It's fun and it's easy.
All right, now to the reportage.
Please help us build this weekly Michigan thread so that it includes any information relevant to turning MI Blue again that you would like me to highlight. MI contributors are always welcome!
You can reach me through kosmail at peregrine kate.
Or say hi through email here: peregrinekate@gmail.com
And please follow me on Twitter @peregrinekate
It's important to maintain some consistency with posting times and dates, I fully agree, and yet my personal situation is not conducive to regularity at the moment. Many thanks for your understanding while I completed the edits!
Our Northwest MI Kos meetup was hosted by P E Outlier at the Benzie County Democratic Party HQ. It's a pleasant space, and I confess to a moment of envy that they have a real, permanent office; our county is not yet that well-organized or -funded. (Though it's in the works for the election year.)
Sunflowers brightening up the Benzie County Dem HQ
We had a small but lively group of attendees in Honor. They came from several different counties in the area: Grand Traverse and Leelanau in addition to Benzie. As a big-city girl myself, I was fascinated to hear the concerns of those who are now year-round residents of a part of the state that many in MI (and in Illinois and Indiana) consider to be their personal playground.
Not surprisingly, growing income inequality is a big problem in that part of the state. The tourism industry can't support everyone, and certainly not well enough as it is. Agriculture is also obviously very important, and beset with similar chronic problems regarding low wages and irregular/seasonal work. The shortage of good-paying, stable jobs is something that undermines the long-term prospects of the whole region, along with educational curricula that are not well-matched with providing young people with skills needed in a competitive market.
Also not surprisingly, the people in attendance were very mindful of the enormous threat posed by AGW and associated climate change. Protection of our beautiful state, its land and water both, ranks high on a list of priorities for these activists. Political candidates who hope to succeed in this region must attend to the sincere attachment that people have to natural preservation. Local Democratic Party clubs have set some ambitious goals for renewable energy, and they will be counting on candidates they endorse to support those goals.
The folks who came by were all quite politically active already, and several have clearly been in it for the long haul. I was delighted to realize that two of our attendees were present for the 2014 Netroots Nation in Detroit, where I may have had a conversation with at least one of them. (Very fun to make that connection!) Some at the meetup felt the Democrats in Michigan were not radical enough; there was some strong--but not unanimous--support for a Sanders presidential candidacy.
From this point forward, we will continue to reach out to activists in this part of the state--both to share information and resources, and to learn from people with first-hand knowledge about what's most pressing in that area. Certainly we'll be hearing a lot about the Democratic primary for Michigan's First Congressional District, since both Lon Johnson, late of the MDP and Jerry Cannon, the 2014 candidate, are running again. Based on the conversation we had, I don't think Johnson is prepared for the pushback he is likely to get. Things could get really interesting really fast!
I nabbed a photo belatedly, with the second shift of attendees.
Kossacks at Northwest MI Kos meetup, Honor MI 8/14/15
Our inaugural meetup for West Michigan Kos took place courtesy of Jackaroo and her husband. We had a lovely lunch, provided by our hosts and me, and the potato salad featured here was a definite highlight of the meal.
An exceptionally light and delicious potato salad
Oh, but wait--you want to hear about more important things than food pr0n, I bet!
Here, too, we had a relatively small group, but a well-connected one. Interestingly enough, every one of us there had major involvement with education: several have taught and/or worked at K-12 or post-secondary level institutions, and several also have some serious union background. So we had a lot to talk about regarding the plight of educators in Michigan, and the difficulty that the two core educational unions, the MEA and AFT-MI have had in fighting back. (No, I'm sorry to say, we didn't devise a solution yet.)
The political climate in the region around Grand Rapids is a dynamic one. For some time the west side of the state has been dominated by Republicans, both those in political office as well as those behind the scenes who contribute the money to make them go (think the DeVos family of Amway and Blackwater/Xe notoriety in particular). But the urban centers of Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids are decidedly blue, and this time around there's real hope that Fred Upton, the long-time US Representative from the 6th district, can be brought down in a rematch with his challenger, Paul Clements of Kalamazoo. In 2012, the district voters reelected Upton handily--but Romney beat Obama only by one point. So, there's reason for optimism.
(Please see this recent diary by Jackaroo regarding Clements' candidacy and opportunities to be of help to his campaign.)
The Clements-Upton match absorbed a great deal of our attention, but we also agree that the local (that is, state legislature) races deserve support too. If you are in that part of the state and eager to connect with like-minded activists, please feel free to contact Jackaroo or myself for more information.
First meeting of West Michigan Kos, 8/15/15
I went to both of these meetups wearing two organizational hats, so to speak. One, as a representative of Daily Kos, to promote the use of the site as a communications and networking tool for progressive activism (per the mission statement). Two, as the Precinct Organizing Co-Chair for my county Democratic Party, to encourage horizontal communication among the various clubs and organizations on the local level. Time will tell whether we can make steady progress along both of those fronts. I am optimistic.
I cannot overstate the boost that I get from meeting and talking with people throughout Michigan who want to make a difference! We are all out there, all trying our very best to empower our sisters and brothers throughout the state. Together we can accomplish more than we believe possible now. Or, to revive a very powerful and deeply appealing slogan: Yes, we can. So let's do it!