Something Easy YOU Can Do About The Election

[I first wrote and published this piece on December 4th, 2000 on several progressive and Democratic websites. It was probably the most popular political article I ever wrote. It certainly received the most responses - and those responses gave me a valuable lesson on the practicality of reforming the Democratic Party from within. I've removed the links to the Democratic Party.]

Mon, 04 Dec 2000

American? Liberal? Mad about the Bush junta's coup d'etat? There's something very easy and effective that you can do about it:

Go to [Democratic Party link] and sign up online to be a volunteer for the Democratic Party. They're looking for online activists, and if you're willing to spend some time being non-virtual they'll also steer you to your local party headquarters. Bring your friends!

Some progressives have been saying that there's no point - that the Democrats won't fight hard enough, or aren't liberal enough, or are just overmatched by a mass media that's grossly slanted towards the interests of the rich and powerful.

But if even a small fraction of us volunteered and got active, we could change all that OVERNIGHT. Want to improve the Democratic Party? Join it, and change it from the inside! Otherwise, you're free to complain about your lack of representation until the cows come home - or until the Bush junta and the Christian Coalition take away your right to complain.

If Bush wins this thing, a lot of us are going to be depressed, angry, and afraid. But if enough of us click on the Democratic link and follow through, it'll be the GOP that's in fear! It's all up to you. And it couldn't be any easier. Just point, and click.

[Link redacted]

Pass it on!

Me again, writing in 2003. I thought you might like to hear what the response was to the previous two articles, which were, of course, far less silly than my usual stuff. I actually got a lot of responses - I was quite surprised. I was also surprised, and eventually horrified, to hear what happened to every single person who tried to volunteer: they were told to leave their names and addresses so that they could be asked for funds later, but flat-out told that there was nothing they could do. Some even went in person to their local Democratic headquarters, and were asked for money and then shown the door. The Democratic Party leadership squandered the perfect opportunity to build a nationwide network of passionate, committed activists, a network which could have grown and built all sorts of connections over the following years.

The Republicans have the advantage of money. They always will. The advantage that the Democrats have is people. There are more Democrats than Republicans, and of the unaffiliated population, the majority support traditional Democratic policies, not Republican ones. And yet the Democrats threw it all away. Why? I don't know.

I find it interesting that Howard Dean is now having a huge amount of success by building a network similar to what I urged the Democrats to build four years ago. And yet the Democratic party leadership apparently views Dean as a threat. I'm not a Dean supporter, but I find this all very disturbing.

2017 - And so attempts to #DemEnter in 2000 proved that the Democratic Party apparatus was firmly under the control of the party elite - and they simply wouldn't allow progressives in the door. In the 17 years since they have, if anything, become even more hostile to progressives. And Howard Dean, of course, sold us out.

So why do we need to learn that lesson again?