Restoring the Foundation of our Parties
We are setting out to regain popular control over the committees that nominate our candidates for elective office.
The Democracy Project is a citizens initiative directed primarily at America's 3,143 counties, cities and parishes. But it is being taken up overseas -- and was recently banned by the United Arab Emirates.
Register here so you can stay, and keep all of us, in the Know.
We are enrolling activists all across America. It is simple to join and simple to take action. It is surprisingly simple to make a big difference.
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin has commenced field activities as Local One. (It takes both a Democratic and a Republican member to form a Local.)
Join here.
We will guide you in volunteering for your county party.
Recruit volunteers into the county party of the volunteers' choice;
help us train and manage the volunteers and nurture them into becoming county committeepeople.
It's the committeepeople who have the power to designate the nominees for public office.
This power belongs in the hands of solid citizens. People like you.
Here you will learn how to get to be a committeeperson with a major say on who gets to run for office. Wouldn't you rather be one out of perhaps 10 or 20 or 100 people in your county who get to decide who is nominated than one vote out of a million on who gets elected?
Why not both?
The Democracy Project is scrupulously bipartisan and pan-ideological, encouraging everyone with common decency, common sense, and common courtesy to become actively involved with the county political committee of his or her choice.
Join here today!
Register here so you can stay, and keep all of us, in the Know.
We are enrolling activists all across America. It is simple to join and simple to take action. It is surprisingly simple to make a big difference.
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin has commenced field activities as Local One. (It takes both a Democratic and a Republican member to form a Local.)
Join here.
We will guide you in volunteering for your county party.
Recruit volunteers into the county party of the volunteers' choice;
help us train and manage the volunteers and nurture them into becoming county committeepeople.
It's the committeepeople who have the power to designate the nominees for public office.
This power belongs in the hands of solid citizens. People like you.
Here you will learn how to get to be a committeeperson with a major say on who gets to run for office. Wouldn't you rather be one out of perhaps 10 or 20 or 100 people in your county who get to decide who is nominated than one vote out of a million on who gets elected?
Why not both?
The Democracy Project is scrupulously bipartisan and pan-ideological, encouraging everyone with common decency, common sense, and common courtesy to become actively involved with the county political committee of his or her choice.
Join here today!
Members
Welcome!
(We invite you to click on the pond to feed the koi to enter a serene state. Then ... read the fascinating interchanges from our pilot project below....)
A glimpse into the Inner Workings of The Democracy Project's Local One, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. A fascinating exchange of views between members Annie Woodward and John Gardner.
Hi John,
As I read your commentary regarding a bi-partisan organization; I am reminded of an organization that was formed in my home state of Alabama. It was called Future Voters of America. It equipped students to become politically savvy in civics and how to participate in the electoral process without offering any particular party affiliation. As I campaigned throughout the 10th County Supervisory District, I became aware of the ignorance that exist among the electors. They have no knowledge of who their elected officials are, where to vote, and nothing regarding primary and general elections. The people have been purposely left in the dark so the same politicians get in office and remain in office for all their years to retirement without any competition. Each time I voted for the 47 years I've wondered how and why certain positions had no challengers ever. Were they that good at serving their constituency? Did others feel less qualified? Did they know the responsibilities of the offices for election? Have you developed a plan for the Democracy Project?
Is this on target with the Democracy Project? Inform me.
Annie
Annie--
No, I haven't really developed a plan for The Democracy Project.
I've more developed a series of experiments.
My first experiment was to embed The Democracy Project in the Democratic and Republican parties of Milwaukee County. I quickly realized that the parties did not exist.
There were two groups of people who claimed they existed: Democratic elected officials, principally the lazies, stupids and sellouts; and three [Republican] Great White Fathers who actually did all the work and made all the decisions out of their respective law office, bank, and "consulting" company.
This state of affairs reaffirms Ralph's basic point: that parties don't actually exist, and that what exists in the name of parties is actually worse than no party, because people believe there is somebody running parties, whereas it's actually nothing but Democratic elected office-holders and Republican Great White Fathers.
(I'm not pretending or asserting that this is the situation in all American counties; but there are darn few outside traditional Democratic urban ethnic strongholds, a few Christian Coalition epicenters, and the occasional rural cooperativist locales where parties still function.)
Personally, I believe that religious congregations, new enterprises, labor unions, and political parties are the four institutional legs on the table of democracy (in that order). The demise of both labor unions and political parties is very, very sad to me. The arrogation of religious congregations to "non-denominational" (read: capitalist Protestant) box churches and communitarian cultists (orthodox Jews and Muslims, my beloved communitarian Anabaptists, and a few others); and the take-over of traditional small business start-ups by truly exploitive franchises "Merry Maids" is the worst, are both somethings I'd like to do something about, but currently have no organizational vehicle to do so.
My Milwaukee Republican friends were outraged at the flat rejection of The Democracy Project by the Milwaukee County Republican Committee, who flatly stated they didn't want more elected leaders at the ward and committee level, because "activists are not representative" and elected party office-holders "never do anything".
The Democrats were worse. They claimed there was no need for elected ward leaders or elected County committee representatives because "they had no power". It was, and is, clear to me that the elected officials do not want this at all. The [officials with whom I interacted] and their like do not want this at all because they have their tiny gaggle of votes, and don't want a larger turnout to disrupt them.
The only one actually willing to do anything was [the party staff member whom we both like and respect], through the Democratic Party National Committee and The Wisconsin Democratic Party. I signed up as a "Neighborhood Leader". There were ultimately two people who actually went out and did what we Democratic Party Neighborhood Leaders were supposed to do: talk to 25 people, report the results, and wait for orders to talk to them again: you and me.
It eventually became clear to me that the Democratic Party of either the National Committee or Wisconsin had absolutely no intention of staffing, funding, or supporting the one-on-one local conversations and recruiting they talked about.
So I tried recruiting some likely people to make The Democracy Project their priority: high school and college students, party activists who have family and friends across party lines (an amazing number of Democrats and Republicans consider members of The Other Party the way Protestants regarded Catholics in the nineteenth century, or the way Christians regarded Jews in medieval Europe; anathema); and the kind of "Independents", who are less inclined to join or start another party than to make one or both major parties more representative.
Dead.
This is too abstract and remote for the kids, especially when they're so inspired by Obama and/or McCain. Sounds too much like a civics lesson. Party activists are initially enthusiastic, then talk to Someone They Know, who says it either won't work or isn't important, or both.
The "Independents" turn out simply to be lazy. The actual Independents turn out to be members of some small party, like the Greens, Right to Life, or Libertarian parties. (The Wisconsin Libertarians are a hilarious combination of Young Americans for Freedom and former Communist Party members with nowhere else to go. They seem to get along very well at their meetings, despite their somewhat different personal attire and ethnoi.)
I won't bore you with the intervening three experiments, but I will fill you in on this, my fifth:
There are three wonderful young women, two of them young first mothers, in my neighborhood who have revived (for the fourth time) The Cold Spring Park Neighborhood Association (CSPNA). I have never done anything for this group because I always considered it a Whitepeople's Property Protection Association. But these three are great. They work like beavers on youth employment, athletics, and scholarship projects which, as you know, are among my enthusiasms. The neighborhood social events they organize are genuinely fun (which these affairs almost always are not). They are optimistic, up-beat, and energetic. They are very smart and very pretty (which counts).
So this is what we're doing, Annie:
We're conducing a Neighborhood Survey of all residents to determine the organization's priorities.
One of the nine otherwise predictable categories is "Voter Participation". One of the "Partner Organizations" is PartyAndVote.org, the Milwaukee affiliate of the affiliate of The Democracy Project, its Local One.
We are identifying who, among the neighborhood's two thousand residents, thinks "Voter Participation" is a #1, #2, or #3 priority.
Among those people, we will invite them to conduct a neighborhood (second) canvass for PartyAndVote.org, and see if we can sign up at least eight, and maybe so many as twelve, in each ward, including candidates to run for ward leader in each ward.
Annie, I think you and I should run for ward leaders in our respective wards. This would not only rattle the lazy elected officials we share; it would give us credentials to ask others to do what we're willing to do.
What do you think?
John
Ralph: As our most energetic Republican partner, what do you think? (I have eight Republicans in our neighborhood, in two different wards, willing to serve on a PartyAndVote.org bi-partisan committee.)
And now news of the political world from today's Washingtonpost.com's The Trail:
A glimpse into the Inner Workings of The Democracy Project's Local One, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. A fascinating exchange of views between members Annie Woodward and John Gardner.
Hi John,
As I read your commentary regarding a bi-partisan organization; I am reminded of an organization that was formed in my home state of Alabama. It was called Future Voters of America. It equipped students to become politically savvy in civics and how to participate in the electoral process without offering any particular party affiliation. As I campaigned throughout the 10th County Supervisory District, I became aware of the ignorance that exist among the electors. They have no knowledge of who their elected officials are, where to vote, and nothing regarding primary and general elections. The people have been purposely left in the dark so the same politicians get in office and remain in office for all their years to retirement without any competition. Each time I voted for the 47 years I've wondered how and why certain positions had no challengers ever. Were they that good at serving their constituency? Did others feel less qualified? Did they know the responsibilities of the offices for election? Have you developed a plan for the Democracy Project?
Is this on target with the Democracy Project? Inform me.
Annie
Annie--
No, I haven't really developed a plan for The Democracy Project.
I've more developed a series of experiments.
My first experiment was to embed The Democracy Project in the Democratic and Republican parties of Milwaukee County. I quickly realized that the parties did not exist.
There were two groups of people who claimed they existed: Democratic elected officials, principally the lazies, stupids and sellouts; and three [Republican] Great White Fathers who actually did all the work and made all the decisions out of their respective law office, bank, and "consulting" company.
This state of affairs reaffirms Ralph's basic point: that parties don't actually exist, and that what exists in the name of parties is actually worse than no party, because people believe there is somebody running parties, whereas it's actually nothing but Democratic elected office-holders and Republican Great White Fathers.
(I'm not pretending or asserting that this is the situation in all American counties; but there are darn few outside traditional Democratic urban ethnic strongholds, a few Christian Coalition epicenters, and the occasional rural cooperativist locales where parties still function.)
Personally, I believe that religious congregations, new enterprises, labor unions, and political parties are the four institutional legs on the table of democracy (in that order). The demise of both labor unions and political parties is very, very sad to me. The arrogation of religious congregations to "non-denominational" (read: capitalist Protestant) box churches and communitarian cultists (orthodox Jews and Muslims, my beloved communitarian Anabaptists, and a few others); and the take-over of traditional small business start-ups by truly exploitive franchises "Merry Maids" is the worst, are both somethings I'd like to do something about, but currently have no organizational vehicle to do so.
My Milwaukee Republican friends were outraged at the flat rejection of The Democracy Project by the Milwaukee County Republican Committee, who flatly stated they didn't want more elected leaders at the ward and committee level, because "activists are not representative" and elected party office-holders "never do anything".
The Democrats were worse. They claimed there was no need for elected ward leaders or elected County committee representatives because "they had no power". It was, and is, clear to me that the elected officials do not want this at all. The [officials with whom I interacted] and their like do not want this at all because they have their tiny gaggle of votes, and don't want a larger turnout to disrupt them.
The only one actually willing to do anything was [the party staff member whom we both like and respect], through the Democratic Party National Committee and The Wisconsin Democratic Party. I signed up as a "Neighborhood Leader". There were ultimately two people who actually went out and did what we Democratic Party Neighborhood Leaders were supposed to do: talk to 25 people, report the results, and wait for orders to talk to them again: you and me.
It eventually became clear to me that the Democratic Party of either the National Committee or Wisconsin had absolutely no intention of staffing, funding, or supporting the one-on-one local conversations and recruiting they talked about.
So I tried recruiting some likely people to make The Democracy Project their priority: high school and college students, party activists who have family and friends across party lines (an amazing number of Democrats and Republicans consider members of The Other Party the way Protestants regarded Catholics in the nineteenth century, or the way Christians regarded Jews in medieval Europe; anathema); and the kind of "Independents", who are less inclined to join or start another party than to make one or both major parties more representative.
Dead.
This is too abstract and remote for the kids, especially when they're so inspired by Obama and/or McCain. Sounds too much like a civics lesson. Party activists are initially enthusiastic, then talk to Someone They Know, who says it either won't work or isn't important, or both.
The "Independents" turn out simply to be lazy. The actual Independents turn out to be members of some small party, like the Greens, Right to Life, or Libertarian parties. (The Wisconsin Libertarians are a hilarious combination of Young Americans for Freedom and former Communist Party members with nowhere else to go. They seem to get along very well at their meetings, despite their somewhat different personal attire and ethnoi.)
I won't bore you with the intervening three experiments, but I will fill you in on this, my fifth:
There are three wonderful young women, two of them young first mothers, in my neighborhood who have revived (for the fourth time) The Cold Spring Park Neighborhood Association (CSPNA). I have never done anything for this group because I always considered it a Whitepeople's Property Protection Association. But these three are great. They work like beavers on youth employment, athletics, and scholarship projects which, as you know, are among my enthusiasms. The neighborhood social events they organize are genuinely fun (which these affairs almost always are not). They are optimistic, up-beat, and energetic. They are very smart and very pretty (which counts).
So this is what we're doing, Annie:
We're conducing a Neighborhood Survey of all residents to determine the organization's priorities.
One of the nine otherwise predictable categories is "Voter Participation". One of the "Partner Organizations" is PartyAndVote.org, the Milwaukee affiliate of the affiliate of The Democracy Project, its Local One.
We are identifying who, among the neighborhood's two thousand residents, thinks "Voter Participation" is a #1, #2, or #3 priority.
Among those people, we will invite them to conduct a neighborhood (second) canvass for PartyAndVote.org, and see if we can sign up at least eight, and maybe so many as twelve, in each ward, including candidates to run for ward leader in each ward.
Annie, I think you and I should run for ward leaders in our respective wards. This would not only rattle the lazy elected officials we share; it would give us credentials to ask others to do what we're willing to do.
What do you think?
John
Ralph: As our most energetic Republican partner, what do you think? (I have eight Republicans in our neighborhood, in two different wards, willing to serve on a PartyAndVote.org bi-partisan committee.)
And now news of the political world from today's Washingtonpost.com's The Trail:
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