OK, fellas, YOUR election is over, so... what about ours now?-by Alice MarshallI knew there was popular mobilization like no other time in my life, but I did not realize how great it was until I saw this comment at Daily Kos: "Organization is also a bottom-up thing starting with organizing at the precinct and county level. Our precinct meeting last month, which usually draws 5 or 6 people, had 20. We raised $200 on the spot to support the local party. People are itching to get involved-- they just need a small bit of organizing."Whoever heard of 20 people showing up to a PRECINCT meeting? Most of the time there is a Democratic precinct captain and that is it. Now 20 people are showing up to precinct meetings?A friend of mine forwarded this message from the Virginia House Democrats:
• so far we've trained over 60 Democratic candidates for the House of Delegates?• we're currently running candidates in 80 districts (with only 34 incumbents)?• Republicans, with 66 incumbents, have only managed candidates in 73 districts?• so far 7 Republicans are either retiring or seeking another office rather than defend Trump?
My Democratic friend in Minnesota tells me that hundreds of Democrats are coming forward to run in this year's municipal elections. In fact, all across the country we hear news of thousands of people running for municipal office as Democrats, and they won't lack for volunteers. Millions of Democrats are joining their local Democratic committee.The importance of this year's elections cannot be overstated. All across the country voters will be choosing their school boards, county boards, sheriffs, mayors, and a host of other offices. These officials have far more impact on our daily lives than any member of congress, or even the president. Whether or not you have charter schools, how your local jail is run, how your local public transit system is operated, all these kinds of issues are decided at the local level. If you want to stop fracking and protect your ground water, if you want pedestrian friendly development, if you want to prevent the privatization of the commons, these are the elections you need to participate in.And these elections will be watched very closely by editors, news directors, lobbyists, political consultants, and the entire public opinion mafia. A shift to the left will have an immediate impact upon our national discourse. It will influence editors as to which stories are news-worthy and which are not. It will affect who appears on Sunday morning talk shows and what topics are discussed by syndicated columnists.A shift to the left will also have an immediate impact upon candidate recruitment and funding. I don't suppose anything can convince the DCCC to refrain from sabotaging good candidates, but a shift to the left in the 2017 elections will make that more difficult.A dramatic shift to the left will find every politician in Washington re-positioning themselves to the left.A dramatic shift to the left, not just Democratic gains, but gains by progressive candidates will shift votes in Congress. Politicians will understand that voters are not kidding around and expect meaningful progress on our most pressing problems. A dramatic shift to the left will pull the rug out from under the Republicans and stiffen the spine of the Democrats. It will also shatter the talking point that voters are looking for centrism (which is newspeak for corporatism).A shift to the left will also affect editorial judgment. It will persuade editors to run more global warming stories and fewer "let's go to war" stories. It may even, gasp, persuade editors to run labor stories. Voting is the one power we hold in our hands, the one thing lobbyists cannot overwhelm, if we will put it to good use.Ideally, the Democratic National Committee would be pouring money into precinct operations and training THIS year to lay the ground work for retaking the House in 2018. Realistically, that is not going to happen. That is why I wrote The Precinct Captain's Guide To Political Victory, described by one reader as "clearly written, right to the point and will certainly drive political campaigns to victory." My book is not for candidates, campaign managers, nor consultant. My book is for every grassroots political volunteer who wants to win elections and is looking for practical guidance as to how to do so. My book assumes that the reader has little or no experience of electoral politics and little or no institutional support from the local party apparatus. I have personally tried every method I describe here and can guarantee the effectiveness thereof. You can buy it at the DownWithTyranny book store.
