John S. Gardner's Page

Most Democrats and Republicans who were intrigued, some actually participant, in The Democracy Project and its Milwaukee Local #1, PartyAndVote.org have lost it.

They are working so hard for John McCain or Barack Obama, that they've lost the democracy part again. They've even lost The Democracyh part.

My first real recruit -- not the family and friends who have, in fact, no more interest in The Democracy Project than they have in my pointing out to them the fascinating tidbit in the New York Times (page fourteen) yesterday about the 300BC ancient Greek astronomical computer -- is a heroine named Annie Woodward.

Annie has been trying for two decades now to engage Milwaukee residents in the theory, practice, and discipline of democracy. She's not crazy, she's not lonely, and she's not even dis… Continue

The people who have told Annie Woodward and me they will join The Democracy Project include three categories of people:

Democrats who are pissed off at the purported Democratic Party. (Most of these believe, as I do, that the Democratic Party does not actually exist, but is a code name given just before elections, and evaporating immediately afterwards.)

Republicans who are pissed off at the actual Republican Party. (Most of these believe that The Republican Party exists, but in a bizarre form… Continue

If the question is, "Who are we trying to organize?", the first twelve answers are usually wrong.

One answer is "Everyone". It's the usual answer for all organizing projects, and it's always wrong. You can't organize everyone. You have to pick and choose.

The best people to organize are the fireballs who are immediately enthusiastic, have the stamina and charisma to bring many others on board (like the legendary United Farm Workers Union recruiter Dolores Huerta), and can help manage the predi… Continue

In 1958 an inarticulate, semi-literate Mexican-American farm worker lost his cool. His cool was already legendary. When the Anglos politely told him he couldn't lead six Mexican children, whose parents had been recruited to work in the Oxnard strawberry fields by local growers employing the hated labor contractors, to the local library.

"They can't read," the librarian politely told him. "And even if they could, we have no books in Spanish."

The man asked her to pull a book from the shelves an… Continue