I don’t have much time to hit up DK these days but when I do I usually find thoughtful, funny and important dialogue about our voters, our government and our political culture. THANK YOU to all you lovely people for creating such a great community vibe here. I want to share my experience and my opinions about the party, as a grassroots Dem, to add to the conversation.
Like many of you, I have personal turmoil over where to spend my volunteer time, money and energy. As a working parent with 3 kids I don’t have much time. So I want to spend it wisely, where it will make an impact.
I realized about five years ago that I wasn’t a Bake Sale PTO mom. I prefer to grab a clipboard and try to get people elected who will fight for working people, fully fund our public schools, maintain our infrastructure and clean up our air and water. I am motivated by thinking about what kind of world I want my future grandkids and great-grandkids to live in. To that end, I started volunteering on a campaign for the first time since college and moved on to joining our local Dems. Because I was willing to work on things like social media, events, newsletters and party conventions/elections I was given a lot to do. I was able to get the lay of the land pretty quickly.
The first things I noticed were the same challenges many have identified with our local and state parties:
- There are very few ‘young’ people. Most volunteers and nearly all party leaders are a lot older than me (I’m 36). Leaving out the voices of Gen X-ers and Millennials when planning events, developing messaging and selecting candidates...well we can see where that’s gotten us.
- There aren’t access points for new people to enter the party. We have diverse voters but we hold the same tired events, post the same vanilla FB posts and assume people don’t ‘want’ to get involved...when we aren’t giving them any way to BE involved.
- The gaping disconnect between local county parties and state/national Dem party structure affects our ability to work together with other Dems, to fully support our candidates and to develop messaging that unites our Dems running for Mayor, State Senator, County Board, Governor etc.
- State Parties don’t support candidates in races they consider losers with any money or campaign support leaving local volunteers like myself wondering why we should try so hard if those at the top don’t see our efforts as worthwhile.
- With the destruction of Unions here in WI and other places, the Party has put zero money and energy into rebuilding the grassroots ranks and troops needed to replace the work Union members did to GOTV and to generate the many fine candidates for office that we’ve found over the years from the Labor movement.
- Longtime leaders in charge of local county parties, CDs and Caucuses are often resistant to change and new ideas. There is the sense and understanding that new voices, new energy and new volunteers are needed but when new people get involved often leaders and volunteers are territorial over giving away tasks they have done forever or accepting change like social media communications and/or new candidates that don’t fit the Town Father mold.
- Many people (mostly men in my experience) involved in the party seem to be there to share their endless opinions, a social group. There aren’t a lot of actionable items, plans or strategies that come out of the meetings I’ve been to at a local, congressional district and state level...but I’ve been treated to so much man-splaining over my years in the party it all sounds like “let me ‘splain politickin’ to you lil lady” at this point. Though I know many women my age who lean left and volunteer in the community, I know they wouldn’t be interested in joining a group where this happens regularly.
So realizing those were the challenges, and knowing that I wanted to be a long-term volunteer who would work to change some of these things I spent a couple of years putting my time in. I went to all the conventions, I served on committees, I helped organize Annual Dinners, became the sole person working on our Communications and also phone banked, knocked doors and connected with Young Dems across the state to share my ideas and experiences. I wanted to put my money where my mouth was and really dig in. And in some ways it was rewarding, I met a lot of great people, I was inspired by the work they put in over decades and I was proud to be a Democrat.
Then came 2016, the primary wars, the fracturing of the Left.
I was angry at those in my social media feeds, in my circles of friends, at strangers on the interwebz who all seemed to be shitting on the work I was doing with the party. I was angry that people who had never pitched in to help or gone to a local Dem meeting were raging all day on Facebook about the evils of The Party. So I saw it as necessary to push harder, to spend as much time as I could trying to get HRC and my down ticket Dems elected. To overcome that sentiment and make voters see we had the best policies, the best candidates and the best vision for the future.
Then came 2017. The Women’s March. The Resistance.
I was encouraged by the numbers we were seeing at our meetings, by other county parties getting their membership numbers up, the activist groups popping up around the state and even by the feeling of national regret that suddenly seemed to pervade our political culture and media.
I felt this was the time to could grow and change our organization locally and on a state level to bring in the voters and turn them into volunteers and candidates. So I made a big push with ideas for new events, new members, etc.
And the doors shut in my face. The opportunities to seize on the energy began to dwindle.
Whether it was older people refusing to authorize spending $20 (TWENTY DOLLARS, when we have thousands on hand) a month on sponsored social media posts or the crickets I would hear when trying to get our Exec Board to make crucial decisions and re-direct our efforts it was clear I was fighting a losing battle.
I chastised myself for not running for Party Chair, convinced I would have been able to do a better job...but without the support needed to be successful that would have been a mistake too, taking me away from my kids for more evening meetings.
I tried to convince myself this is just the way it is — social change is just a slog.
But eventually I realized it didn’t matter how much I took on ...the support for what I was trying to do just wasn’t there locally or from our state party, let alone the DNC.
If the party from the top down isn’t interested in bringing in new voices, new volunteers and new ideas why the hell would I try so hard to do it?
So I discovered a local friend was starting a Drinking Liberally chapter with the goal of having fun, building community, getting people in the same room to share ideas and coalesce around the shared vision we all have for a thriving, inclusive group of people who will take political action. Exactly what I’d been trying to do with the Dems unsuccessfully for a few years.
So I’ve stepped back from the area Dems and started working locally in my community.
In a recent meeting with regional Party organizers, a group of us were asked to join a “Team” to start canvassing and getting better data for 2018. Much of the discussion revolved around a script for door knocking. I had to laugh. It is almost as if they think we have a grassroots army of local Dem volunteers across the state willing to sign up and knock on doors. We don’t. And creating that army should be priority #1. We are halfway through the year.
I wish my experiences and disappointments were unique but I know they aren’t. I’ve talked to many people around the state, and read many diaries here of people who have walked this same path, ending up in the same place I have.
So at this point I feel like many who write here are right, and I was wrong.
Working within the party isn’t effective toward the goal of getting people elected that share my values. Those in leadership aren’t good at getting Dems elected but won’t take action to bring in new ideas or step aside and let someone else take up the fight. Until that happens I don’t think we will begin to see widespread electoral victories at any level of gov’t.