I'm asking all my readers to take action this week.

[yesthattom]

I salute the people protesting in NYC this week. However, the question for my readers is quite simple: What are you doing to make sure Bush isn’t re-elected? Showing outrage doesn’t directly get votes for a candidate. Reading blogs feels like you are helping the cause, but doesn’t (beyond educating yourself, which is always a good thing). This is the week to volunteer with ACT, or donate to DNC, or sign up to get training for Election Protection or host a house party or whatever floats your boat.

The sad truth is very simple: Reading blogs does not constitute “political action”. Volunteer for something that takes you out of your house THIS WEEK.

[Poll #342857]
All week I’ll be spotlighting actions you can take. If you want me to spotlight your favorite cause, or have a reason you think you can’t volunteer, post a comment or email me.

Comments

Just to clarify...

[princesswitch.livejournal.com]

I mean the primary for Florida's Senate candidates, as well as the election of local officials. And, of course, I'm voting myself (I'm working in my own district! Yay!) I'm going to sit there with a laptop and look up "problematic" voters and make sure everyone who comes to me gets their vote in. I signed up for this earlier in the year and worked the Presidential primary in March.

It's cute how I've had people come up to me in a grocery store and say, "I checked on that provisional ballot you told me about and it was counted..."

places to give, things to do

[cos]

I wouldn't recommend donating to the DNC, personally. I have no confidence that money will be put to good use, and even if it would be, I'd like the Democrats' victory this year to clearly owe a debt to other groups whose politics I support (and who the Democrats would do well to adopt). If I want to give money to support a ground effort, canvassing and GOTV, I donate to ACT.

Other good places to send money are Democracy for America to support congressional and local candidates and train the next generation of candidates, MoveOn voter fund to run better ads than Kerry or the DNC, and ReDefeatBush to support phone and mail based remove voter registration drives.

Speaking of which, for those of you who live near NYC, sign up for Democracy in the Park and go participate on their next day of action. They do the same kind of remote voter registration that ReDefeatBush.com helps local groups do all over the country.

Wherever you live, sign up today for the DfA meetup near you, this Wednesday evening at 7pm. meetups need at least 5 RSVPs online by two days before the meetup to be confirmed, and lots of people don't bother to RSVP, so if you can go, RSVP today. Then go Wednesday, meet other local democracy activists, and plan something together. Come prepared with at least one idea (carpool to a swing state ACT office to canvass, go to Democracy in the Park, hold a ReDefeatBush house party at your place) to contribute. Share ideas, exchange contact info, and do something with the people you meet there.

Other good meetups to sign up for: Kerry meetup, 4th Thursday of each month; Democracy meetup, 2nd Tuesday of each month.

Re: places to give, things to do

[cos]

(That last meetup is actually Democrat meetup, as in sponsored by the Democratic party, not "Democracy meetup" - sorry for the typo.)

Granny D

[cos]

And now, I want to advocate for my personal favorite: Granny D for Senate from New Hampshire. She's running against incumbent Republican Judd Gregg, and he'll probably win because she just got into the race less than two months ago and there's so little time. But I think she has a chance, and I think she's the most exciting candidate around.

Four years ago, at age 90, she walked 3,200 miles across the country to support campaign finance reform. While I personally don't support the McCain-Feingold bill, I agree with the intent behind what she did, and her personal mission to restore citizen politics. In line with that, she's not taking any money from groups, even progressive 527's, for her campaign - which makes it even harder to catch up with Judd Gregg. So contribute to her campaign via paypal. Every little bit helps.

This is the speech I saw her give at the Progressive Democrats launch event during DNC week, and it was one of the best things I heard all week (and that was the week I heard Dean in person 4 times, Kucinich 3 times, Jesse Jackson, Carl Pope, Obama's convention speech...). Read it, all of you. Give out copies to other progressive activists you know.

Now consider this: New Hampshire is a swing state. Bush won it by 7,000 votes in 2000. Most analysts predict it will go to Kerry this year, but only by a little bit. Turnout will determine who wins NH. And Kerry, unfortunately, is not an exciting candidate to most undecideds and independents, and even many Democrats. In fact, in NH, his reputation is rather spotty. There's an anti-MA sentiment across a lot of the state, and Kerry has long symbolized what New Hampshire people don't like about MA. He's definitely more popular than Bush, by my reckoning, but there are a lot of people who don't like Bush in NH who we can't really count on to get out and vote.

Granny D, on the other hand, is a very exciting candidate, and exactly the kind of person NH natives really respect. She's a native herself, she's quirky and independent and speaks her mind, and the prospect of a 94 year old citizen-politician (she's never run for office before) strikes a chord. Even if she can't win the Senate seat, if she's looking strong, it's sure to turn out at least a few thousand extra voters, almost all of whom, once they're in the voting booth, will pick Kerry over Bush.

So, support this exciting and inspiring candidate, and help swing NH for Kerry.

And just imagine what it would be like if she actually does get into the Senate! It'd be better than Wellstone! And can even the most right wing Republican refuse to at least listen to someone like her? (well, yes, they could, but it'd look bad :)

Granny D

[cos]

The Granny D campaign is small and receptive. If you or anyone you know would like to help, and you live in or near NH, just call up their office at 603-563-8086 and ask what you can do. Or just ask for directions, drive up there (it's in Dublin, between Peterborough and Keene) and say you want to help. They can use you.

Query back to you

[kathdem.livejournal.com]

Tell me honestly - what can I tell folks to change their minds? Most people I meet are either firmly left or firmly right, and if their firmly right I don't see me changing their minds otherwise. Perhaps this is a symptom of where I live right now...

So, what I have been doing up to this point is sending emails to senators and congresspeople when asked. And, I did influence my husband,and got him registered to vote.

I feel iffy about giving money to any political organizations. I feel like I should instead give money to those who have lost funding due to the policies of a government that has forsaken them.

Re: Query back to you

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

The most important thing about winning Republicans is to not insult them. I see a lot of people saying, "Bush is stupid" or "Anyone that supports Bush is stupid." That doesn't win votes. Appeal to their politics: If they want small government, Bush is out-spending any Democrat; if they want Government out of their lives, Bush's Patriot Act has clauses that are really scary and reforms are needed, etc.

I highly recommend you go to www.PartyForAmerica.org and attend a house party with the goal of seeing how it's done and doing one yourself:

I dislike the Bush administration, but feel that nothing I do can make a difference. How is a house party different?
You will meet citizens like yourself, with full, active lives, who engage in simple political action. They telephone friends, bring potato chips, help set up the DVD, talk about the campaign, write letters or donate whatever they can afford.

For many, a house party is their first opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings about politics with 20 other people, and then join them in doing something to affect change.

House parties are inspiring reminders that democracy is about groups of ordinary citizens coming together to discuss, decide and act. In concert with thousands of parties participating in a nationwide house party campaign, you do have the power to stop Bush.

House Parties For America will continue after Nov 2 to build a strong Democratic movement.

Re: Query back to you

[cos]

Most people I meet are either firmly left or firmly right

That, to me, sounds like you haven't gone canvassing with ACT yet, so how about trying that? In my canvassing experience, the people who are already firmly on one side or the other, all put together, make up less than half the total. Most people are either uninterested, uninformed, undecided, or some combination, and you can have very interesting conversations with some of them. Sometimes it's just trying to convince them that voting is a worthwhile thing to do. Canvassing is very rarely about trying to change someone's mind who is already firmly opposed to your politics. It's about finding people who may support you, and helping an organization keep in contact with those people so they'll turn out to vote.

I feel iffy about giving money to any political organizations

Take a look at some of the links I posted above, in my comment about "places to give". You may feel comfortable giving money to some of those organizations. Or, wanna just give me money? :) Seriously, I'm just running down my savings while volunteering for political causes, but I sometimes limit what I spend and wish I didn't have to - like when I make copies of articles about issues that I feel are useful to hand out, I've spent a couple hundred on copies in the past couple of weeks, but that's just enough for me to give stuff out. If someone gave me a few hundred I'd make more copies to give small stacks to other people who want to hand them out. etc.

Speaking of which, here's an article I think is a great one to give to certain kinds of Republicans to help change their minds: Dividend Voodoo, by Warren Buffett
(I've got about 100 copies of that with me right now, that I'm about to take up to NH where Bush is speaking in a few hours. If nobody shows up with a Granny D sign for me to hold, I'll just wander the periphery of the protest and give them out to passersby)

[kimuchi.livejournal.com]

I'm not signing up to do anything: jury duty is enough civic responsibility for me for this week. Also, my current county and my new county are both going to go Dem regardless.

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

Even if your county and state is going Dem, there is still an unregistered voter for every registered voter you know. This is why I like http://partyforamerica.org/. Voting for President this year might not matter so much, but there are many other races to consider. Party For America helps you set up a house party, then encourage you to go door-to-door getting to know your neighbors and invite them to your event. I think the country would be in much better shape if we all got to know our neighbors, it would end the isolation many of us feel and encourage us to act as a community. PartyForAmerica is going to continue after November 2 to encourage people to meet in small groups and discuss issues that affect us all.

[kimuchi.livejournal.com]

House parties are for tidy people, not the likes of me. It's bad enough letting people I -know- see how inept I am with the whole cleaning thing!

There's also something inherently suburban or small-town about the idea that I just have a hard time translating to where I live. Back when I was a kid and went door-to-door canvassing with my mom, we could cover a mile and talk to fewer people than live on one floor of my building, all of whom shared a primary language. Meanwhile, my parents nice small-town home has space for more guests in one room than my entire apartment. Here, even if I could somehow magically select only the American citizens willing to attend an English-language social event, it's unlikely I could fit even a fraction of my neighbors into my apartment (and more likely I'd get soundly fined by the HOA for going door-to-door with an agenda). And being the bay area, all the English-speaking American citizens in my building are probably already voting for Kerry.

[cos]

Are you in SF? (just guessing based on your homepage link)
If so, consider volunteering for Nick Waugh, running for SF board of supervisors. Next week :)

And what Tom said about getting to know our neighbors through politics, yes! Read this speech I linked above. It makes a similar point, among other things.

[kimuchi.livejournal.com]

I'm in San Mateo at the moment, to be moving into the city proper in October.

[missionista.livejournal.com]

You could plug Billionaires for Bush--they're a great group, and have my support.