Edited by author 07-01-2003 04:35 PM
Jon,
I agree with your concerns and I'm trying to do my bit. I've signed on to the moveon.org, alternet and Truthout.org mailing lists not to mention the Dem's list too. I voted in the moveon primary and am talking to friends about the issues and all the candidates and putting my two cents in on various blogs when I get a chance.

I'm, also reaching out to more conservative people I know like my cousin who is someone in his community who people look to for political information and opinions. And, I keep trying to find a middle ground of understanding so that he(and others) will at least hear me when I talk about political issues. It's gotten to the point where he even solicits my opinion sometimes now days ;-). In the 70's too many activists dismissed men like him as unreachable. We cannot make that mistake again.

I've also put a few bucks on my credit cards to help support various efforts online and several of the candidates and, when I get an opportunity, I'm trying to get my position/ideas heard everywhere I can, especially online. I throw things at you and other bloggers when I see something I think needs publicity too - sometimes someone even blogs it and it makes my day.

What else can I (and everyone else) do to help ensure that the democratic (small d ;-) process is re-invigorated?
I'm sure you won't have all the answers to my rather retorical question but, if other readers chime in with ideas it might give us all food for thought. I'm sure there's lots of good ideas about what we can do to effect the electoral process instead of just sitting and watching events on TV or talking about them online.

Thanks for raising the issue and providing an opportunity for all of us to think more seriously about what each of us can do. I sure hope lots of people are going to be thinking about this and end up not just thinking about it but doing something concrete in the next few weeks and months. The FCC campaign and the number of people who responded online to submit comments to them was unprecedented and had an impact far beyond what I ever might have expected my two cents to have when I typed up a few comments for submission to them.

We need to remember how much can happen if everyone just does something and keeps on doing their bit. But we also need to understand the importance of using the internet to coordinate organizing efforts while remembering that we need to focus our reach beyond the internet.

It's important to undertand politically not just what WE want to happen but realistically what the possibilities are in this campaign and, most of all how to shape a grass-roots movement so as to position our canditates not as unelectable extremists but as sharing the core values of millions of American voters while exposing the rabid extremism of the current administrations politics or, as Ann Coulter in her new book "Treason" demonstrates, we will see the Democratic party and progressives everywhere painted as treasonist terrorists by those who control the current regime.
Regards,
Bobby Lilly

Edited by author 07-04-2003 09:29 AM
Why would technology favor one candidate or cause over another? What prevents Bush fans from using it as effectively as Dean fans, if indeed it is that potent?

George W. Bush is the most radical right-wing politician we have ever seen in power in this country.

Say what? This hysteria, hyperbole and hyperventilating now in vogue among Democrats makes the Clinton-bashers of the last century seem invective-challenged.

And until those rules [of the political game] change, democracy (small d) does not exist in the United States of America.

Whoa! Call off the Independence Day celebrations! The Republicans have thin Congressional majorities after many decades of Democrat hegemony. The last two national elections were extremely close. More importantly, in light of the genius of federalism, party control of state legislatures and executives is at something like parity and is constantly shifting. The Democrats just held the White House for eight years. The next presidential election will be decided again in a handful of swing states.

Look, I would love to believe that Bush is as conservative, or the Dems as weak, as you suggest. It would be morning in America. Alas, sadly it ain't so. But, hey, if believing that is what gets you out of bed in the a.m., more power to you.