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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_Radicals by Saul Alinsky is probably the most basic go-to guide for leftist organizing from the ground up. It's dated (1971) but remains extremely relevant and a lot of the ideas have been further written and expounded upon by other organizers and activists since then.
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Jan 16, 2017 17:06
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Grondoth posted:Sure, but there's not much to it. Post election there was a meeting for a town club I don't live in, a 50 dollar to come holiday party, some thing that wasn't announced anywhere but they had pictures of on their facebook, and that. There's not much of a story, just a dearth of things to go to. And with the thread being like "I'M NOW AN ELECTED DELEGATE" I felt like I wasn't trying hard enough. This probably doesn't seem like much of a story, but you're a motivated person, and we all looked at the same pages and had difficulty finding a way to get you onto the first rung of the ladder. You don't think you're the only person in that position, do you? Let me put it this way, the reason that campaigns spam out the donation requests is that people are only willing to donate some of the time. Usually, they see the request and ignore it. But sometimes a person will hear a thing on the news and be in a ticked off mood. If they see a thing in their inbox right after, especially if it mentions what they're pissed about, they're likely to donate. So you need to be constantly trying to catch people at that moment. We lost a big election. Millions of people are in that position where they're not just willing to give money, they're willing to start showing up to regular meetings. It's irresponsible to not take advantage of this opportunity.
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Jan 16, 2017 17:08
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tower time posted:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_Radicals by Saul Alinsky is probably the most basic go-to guide for leftist organizing from the ground up. It's dated (1971) but remains extremely relevant and a lot of the ideas have been further written and expounded upon by other organizers and activists since then. That's definitely on the list already! The ones already in my library are: Rules for Radicals Rules for Revolutionaries (the one by the Bernie team) The Biography of Malcolm X Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power Common Sense I'm thinking of picking up: Seize the Time The Rights of Man, The Age of Reason, and especially Agrarian Justice (I like Paine and think he started a lot of the philosophical pushes that still influence the modern liberal and leftist, and in that second one he proposes that the US institute a GMI  )But I want a lot more - my personal interests tend to focus on the 60s radical movements and Thomas Paine so suggestions that are not-that would be appreciated.
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Jan 16, 2017 17:35
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Grey Fox posted:Crossposting from the Dem thread: Participants Congressman Don Beyer, VA District 8 Background: Owns car dealerships in the area, employing about 300 people. Served two terms as Virginia's Lieutenant Governor, and served as President Obama’s Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein from 2009 to 2013. He serves on the Joint Economic Committee, the House Committee on Natural Resources and is Ranking Member on the Oversight Subcommittee to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Claire Guthrie Gastañaga VA ACLU Head (ExecDir?) Background: Before lobbying, Gastañaga, a principal of cg2 consulting, served as chief of staff and special counsel to the speaker of the House and was the first woman to be chief deputy attorney general of Virginia. She graduated in 1974 from the University of Virginia Law School and has argued cases in the United States Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of Virginia, according to the ACLU. Planned Parenthood Person I'm sorry I was in the back at first and her nametag had a lot of glare on it. Closed Captioning looked like it was being done via some original Mac speech-to-text, so I'm looking forward to Pezydent Trumph's inogurashun. Environmental Lawyer Guy He was there and occasionally spoke like an experienced lawyer that is probably tons of fun at parties, I swear. Attempted Short and Sweet Well-organized, well-promoted event. Saw ads weeks in advance online and received professional-looking mailer. He and the panelists introduced themselves and covered their big issues, which took about 40 minutes, I think? Then it was straight Q&A mode for the rest. Event was supposed to be 1.5 hours but ended up being about 2. He told everyone who still had questions (like 15 people) to stay behind and he'd answer. I had to leave when it was over. Aides had zero problem with access to Beyer and were directing traffic directly in front of him ("hang a left when you reach the Congressman") while helping people get seats upstairs. Event was very heavy on ACLU stuff, as Beyer and CGG have previously worked together. He was on the same page with everything she had to say, and she had a LOT to say across a range of issues bigger than even I had in mind, which I was glad to see. She did fantastic and was a straight shooter the entire time. My next step is following up with them, and there were reps from a lot of orgs, including multiple NAACP chapters, Planned Parenthood, immigrants' rights groups, and a couple others. Bummed to not see an actual ACLU table, though. Audience was a good age mix, but seemed like everyone was a part of a financially comfortable family, one way or another. Standing room only, maybe 400 people in the room? Lots of people in this well-off suburb are feeling lost about the future and their own well-being if Trump nukes the ACA and starts eliminating federal jobs. A lot of folks seemed confused about how much the Congressman himself could actually do, and he clarified exactly who had responsibility. Crowd was friendly, with your typical couple of windbags when QA time began. A Very Angry Lady dropped a BLACK LIVES loving MATTER into the middle of a completely different question, an aide politely asked her not to swear, and that was the end of that drama. I don't think the crowd offered much of a response, either. I voted Bernie in the primary and Hillary in the general, and I'd say I was on board with about 90 percent of what Beyer was saying. Beyer refused to endorse Ellison for DNC (see previous Obama admin employment) and I cringed when part of his mostly-good answer to my question (more later) was "I'm a car dealer, I make deals. Trump doesn't make deals." He also, at multiple times, said "I don't want to be partisan, but," so there's the three neoliberal red flags y'all should keep an eye on. Memorable Issue Statements (will add more as they come to me) Firm no vote on illegal Israeli settlements, yes to two-state solution, not a good idea to use nepotism to solve the crisis. Took the audience member's point about the Jewish lead US negotiator being a Bad Look, but didn't expand (obviously). Paid decent lip service to Russia issues but basically said he was the wrong VA guy in Congress to talk about it, deferring to Mark Warner who "can't tell me what he knows, but he doesn't look happy." Kinda-sorta called out specific Dem senators, including Mark Warner, about voting against making prescription drugs more affordable. Brought it up without real prompting, but moved past it fast. As said before, ACLU had way too many things for me to try and cover here. Civil rights, voting rights, mass surveillance, access to health care, criminal justice reform, civil asset forfeiture, etc. Spent time focusing on VA-specific bills in the state house right now, including bathroom bills and gender-defining bills. She seems like the kind of leader you want in a spot like her's. ACLU said it supports BlackLM and feels there are plenty of Blue Lives Matter laws on the books; she feels "Blue Lives" are something the community takes very seriously and hopes will extend the same compassion to BlackLM. Planned Parenthood emphasized its preventative health care services and reminded the crowd that federal dollars legally can't pay for abortions. Made it very, very clear about Medicaid's role in reimbursing patients. Beyer flat-out refused to endorse Keith Ellison for DNC when pressed by audience member, then went on to talk up his good friend Tom Perez. Had some legit nice things to say about Ellison and then threw in some Howard Dean lip-service as a total afterthought. I can see him abstaining from any formal statement but endorsing Perez if his back is against the wall for some reason. Told people in solid-blue counties to GTFO and get involved in other districts that are "less than an hour away" where 100 house seats are up for grabs this year. He said something like a dozen of those seats were in places under R control but voted for Hillary. DISTRICT 13 NEEDS YOUR HELP Said the next DNC leader needs to understand that policies that benefited people in well-off, solid-blue areas like NoVA didn't do enough to help people in poor, rural areas. (part of answer to my question about the advice he'd offer to the new DNC leader given the sorry state of the party at the state and local levels nation-wide) Talked about Millennials like they were like any other voting bloc; seemed to understand the bigger picture and wasn't dividing up generational issues. Accepted Very Angry Lady's invitation to the Women's march on Saturday. Not attending inauguration, citing something along the lines of Trump is a huge douche (said more diplomatically). Said people still need to fight the ACA repeal at every turn, and resigned that their primary option if the GOP succeeds is to vote out anti-health care candidates. Would not comment on the alt-right opening an office in his district, punted to ACLU who said they have just as much right to be there as you have the right to protest on the public sidewalk out front. And finally, and very importantly, he said that while he is totally fine with people calling his office and voicing your concerns, only about 1 in 10 people manage to get though to a live staffer. He said the absolutely best way to get the attention of your congressman is to look him/her straight in the eye at one of these events. In my opinion, if that congressman doesn't allow that to happen, then he/she doesn't deserve the job. I know I didn't cover everything because I have the attention span of a gnat and gazed into the abyss during a few of the questions/statements. If I didn't include something, it's because I didn't remember enough details for it to matter. And since nothing matters, Grey Fox has issued a correction as of 05:25 on Jan 17, 2017 |
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Jan 17, 2017 04:15
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My dad's condition is improving except for the part where he's acting like a giant baby so I might actually start my democrat county office participation proper among the 50-60somethings trying to save Medicare  next week 
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Jan 17, 2017 14:48
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I saw in the news Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter was skipping the inauguration, so I contacted my own congresswoman and the senators asking them to do the same.
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Jan 17, 2017 23:15
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I attended the local party meeting tonight. Dr. Arbitrary attended with me so I had at least one semi-familiar face, and he also brought a box of donuts that I could say was "mine" as a good way to help me stick in people's minds. Thanks to the good doctor! The meeting was pretty well attended. It seemed like a pretty even mix of old hands and newcomers/people who were once active many years ago. The latter group, which of course included me, uniformly cited the election as our impetus. We had a speaker in from a fairly progressive cause, and talked a lot about plans and how to get people plugged into various causes. I think I see a few places for me to get involved, but just by my nature I'm probably going to lurk around the edges for a few months before leaping into anything. I think my report here is a bit more  than I actually showed while I was there, but now I'm getting tired, so, hey. Just going to post this much as a thread success and probably go to bed before long.
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Jan 18, 2017 06:01
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I was just worried that I came across as too pushy! Nothing wrong with lurking for a while until you get a handle on the culture. We all know how we feel about the Bryan Boykos of the world who barge in wanting to change everything. Don't hesitate to become a Precinct Committeeman. There are vacancies so it's not like you'd be filling a slot that someone else could be filling more effectively.
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Jan 18, 2017 06:22
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Here's something that may be of interest to the thread: https://knockeverydoor.org/ A bunch of former Bernie staffers are putting together a massive canvassing operation, with the goal being to not only discuss issues with voters one-on-one, but to also collect information on voters' concerns and use that data to build political networks on a local level.
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Jan 18, 2017 07:42
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HorseRenoir posted:Here's something that may be of interest to the thread: https://knockeverydoor.org/ Wow, I've been thinking of doing something exactly like this and talked about it with my DTC. This is great - definitely gonna have to share it.
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Jan 18, 2017 15:47
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HorseRenoir posted:Here's something that may be of interest to the thread: https://knockeverydoor.org/
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Jan 18, 2017 21:38
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really good interview with bill ayers in the chicago reader: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/bill-ayers-interview/Content?oid=25115256 Would you say that's part of the problem for Democrats and liberals? That they got complacent and treated electoral politics as the only kind of politics and weren't able to organize on their own? I think that's part of it. But I also think that what you call the "New Democrats," the Clinton Democrats, the Democrats of the last four decades—on issues of real importance they just sort of [pass the buck]. You have the Republicans who are overtly white-supremacist in their current iteration. You've got Steve Bannon, a bigot in fact and in policy. What do the Democrats offer up as an alternative? The concept of diversity! Diversity is optics. Diversity is not justice. And, so, those of us who really care about issues of justice, both racial justice and public justice, have to raise these issues and not be deflected by the calls for diversity or a kind of mild multiculturalism. We want justice in the city. We don't want a black face here or there. We want justice, and that means something quite different than the optics of diversity. The Democratic Party pulls one on us when they substitute justice with diversity. I absolutely don't think there's any way to make progress and build unity in this country except by embracing black liberation. What's interesting to me is that the Democratic Party was unable to utter the term "working class" for decades. It can't cross their lips. Then, the day after the election, they discovered something that they call the white working class. What the hell is the white working class? The idea that there's such a thing as the white working class is a white supremacist concept. So when they say, "Oh, we made a mistake—the white working class in Pennsylvania is suffering," what does that mean? That the black working class is living high on the hog? It's nuts!
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Jan 19, 2017 21:44
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Cross-posting from DnD's thread: Disappointed my Congresswoman will be attending, but she is going to the Women's March the day after.
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Jan 20, 2017 00:27
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On a entry call with KnockEveryDoor right now. These guys seem very etnhusiastic and committed - anyone who is going to the Woman's March tomorrow, I am going to be posting materials soon. I'm asking you all to get involved with this program - the feedback they'll be collecting, the volunteers people they'll be attempting to activate, I think if this succeeds it really is going to be important to reforming the party moving forward and I encourage you all to get involved - At the very least, I'm going to be trying to convince my DTC to get involved.
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Jan 21, 2017 02:27
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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ks8y043nbypg9LOwT0AcyHzRK5LfERtcWnbOa9Ye5d4/edit?usp=sharingquote:Recruiting for #KnockEveryDoor
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Jan 21, 2017 02:36
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Now for the full on recap of my DTC meeting this past monday: Location changed from the senior center to a restaurant right in downtown. Everyone got their own tab, and ate or drank as they wished and there was plenty of socializing afterwards. Party business was the usual, but the Chairman stepped down in November to focus on more statewide efforts so a new chair and vice chair were elected. Quite a bit of prep talk about the coming elections later this year and then we broke to socialize. I talked with the new vice chair a bit about what I'd be willing to help out with (supporting elections on the back end, social media outreach since I was the token millenial out of everyone there). I then stuck around and chit chatted with the mayor over a beer, mostly introductions and my interest in joining a committee. Lo and behold tonight I saw the new agenda for Monday nights meeting and I'm being appointed to said committee to develop some land near the local river in the center of town into a new park. aside from some natural trails we got a clean slate to figure out what to do with the place.
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Jan 21, 2017 04:59
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So looks like the Georgia Democratic Party kinda has their poo poo together: https://www.georgiaresists.com/#georgia-resists Hope other state parties are working on stuff like this
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Jan 22, 2017 08:59
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Just went to a Progressive group meetup. Feeling energized and enlightened!
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Jan 22, 2017 09:18
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skull mask mcgee posted:So looks like the Georgia Democratic Party kinda has their poo poo together: https://www.georgiaresists.com/#georgia-resists Holy poo poo, this is far better than anything I would've expected out of them. Gonna spread this to as many people as I can.
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Jan 22, 2017 15:17
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skull mask mcgee posted:So looks like the Georgia Democratic Party kinda has their poo poo together: https://www.georgiaresists.com/#georgia-resists Just checked, and Ohio's also on the ball. Found my local party and everything. https://ohiodems.org/
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Jan 22, 2017 15:46
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I have noticed places are getting better quickly in many areas. Went to church for what is essentially the first time ever, figure the more community connections the better right? They had a visitoring pastor who talked about the abolition movement being a moral movement and how modern day mass incarceration had parallels as a method of dehumanization and subjugation, especially of minorities that were already discriminated against, and how we were spiritually obligated to get involved in either activism or politics. So uh thats pretty cool
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Jan 22, 2017 18:32
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GlyphGryph posted:I have noticed places are getting better quickly in many areas. Where can I find these woke churches? Every time a relative drags me to church, the pastor is always some white guy who's figured out how to pad what should be a five-minute recap of something from the New Testament into a half-hour sermon on something inoffensive like having trust in God.
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Jan 22, 2017 20:14
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This is a new program that's been gaining steam in the last few days to target swing districts. Maybe it might be of some interest here: https://twitter.com/swingleftorg/status/822962986625224704
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Jan 22, 2017 20:29
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Jeez, the closest swing to me (Dallas) is Houston, and the guy still won by 12%. Texas is ridiculously Gerrymandered. Still signed up, though. Thanks.
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Jan 22, 2017 21:11
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I decided to look up my county's Democratic party on social media, see if they were helping to advertise any of the events around here. Their twitter was last used in 2015 to give condolences to Joe Biden for the death of his son, and their facebook was last active 2 days before the 2016 Iowa Caucuses to share an O' Malley post. This county contains the third largest city in Iowa and is a traditional working class Dem stronghold.
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Jan 22, 2017 21:16
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tower time posted:Their twitter was last used in 2015 to give condolences to Joe Biden for the death of his son, and their facebook was last active 2 days before the 2016 Iowa Caucuses to share an O' Malley post. Good luck, brother.
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Jan 22, 2017 21:43
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tower time posted:I decided to look up my county's Democratic party on social media, see if they were helping to advertise any of the events around here. Their twitter was last used in 2015 to give condolences to Joe Biden for the death of his son, and their facebook was last active 2 days before the 2016 Iowa Caucuses to share an O' Malley post. This county contains the third largest city in Iowa and is a traditional working class Dem stronghold. Sounds like you should get in and take over
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Jan 22, 2017 21:52
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tower time posted:I decided to look up my county's Democratic party on social media, see if they were helping to advertise any of the events around here. Their twitter was last used in 2015 to give condolences to Joe Biden for the death of his son, and their facebook was last active 2 days before the 2016 Iowa Caucuses to share an O' Malley post. This county contains the third largest city in Iowa and is a traditional working class Dem stronghold. At least you know it's the real party accounts from the signature local engagement of the DNC and Clinton campaign.
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Jan 22, 2017 22:10
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bump_fn posted:Sounds like you should get in and take over They don't even list their public events/meetings on the website, beyond an informal weekly lunchtime chat with people at a union hall. I go to that every so often, and they seem a hell of a lot more useful than the local party branch.
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Jan 22, 2017 22:21
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Someone on reddit made a pretty good guide on how to campaign for local office: https://www.reddit.com/r/Political_Revolution/comments/5pg7bq/how_to_run_for_local_office_a_small_guide_by/
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Jan 23, 2017 01:58
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At the erie county dem's first public meeting that you didn't have to pay to get in, the place was packed full. Sardine level. They ran out of things for people to sign up to be voter outreach and council members.
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Jan 24, 2017 02:11
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If any of y'all live in Multnomah County in Oregon and have been registered as a Dem for 6 months or more, you can sign up to be a precinct committeeperson in the county Democratic party using the form linked in the last paragraph on this page http://www.multdems.org/becomePCP More than 130 people have signed up since the Dems failed hard in November, it's looking like the Bernie people are heeding his call to occupy the party.
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Jan 24, 2017 04:12
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Turtle Blogger posted:If any of y'all live in Multnomah County in Oregon and have been registered as a Dem for 6 months or more, you can sign up to be a precinct committeeperson in the county Democratic party using the form linked in the last paragraph on this page http://www.multdems.org/becomePCP I can't say it enough times, become a PC. If there are vacancies, it's not like you're stopping someone more qualified to fill the job. Unless you plan on supporting Republican campaigns, it's virtually impossible to be worse than a vacant seat.
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Jan 24, 2017 04:32
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I need to add that the event handed out this survey, and on it was a giant mistake. There were things to fill out what you felt about the state of politics and all that, but they asked you to rank 5 topics in order of least important to most important. Which is just... terrible. You can't ask me to choose between economic development and healthcare reform. Not only are they both linked, they're both important. You're asking people to already lower their expectations right off the gate, the first thing they get from you. The only reason I didn't lose all hope is I started noticing most people saw it the same way I did, as a trap, and put all of them as top priority.
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Jan 24, 2017 19:12
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This is happening around the country today: https://twitter.com/SarahJRubin/status/823953820506058754 https://twitter.com/TX21Indivisible/status/823955027974909952 https://twitter.com/erskineforsyth/status/823955040293572609 https://twitter.com/HelenGymAtLarge/status/823944694421917702 More at: https://twitter.com/hashtag/resisttrumptuesday?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
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Jan 24, 2017 19:43
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Grondoth posted:I need to add that the event handed out this survey, and on it was a giant mistake. There were things to fill out what you felt about the state of politics and all that, but they asked you to rank 5 topics in order of least important to most important. Which is just... terrible. You can't ask me to choose between economic development and healthcare reform. Not only are they both linked, they're both important. You're asking people to already lower their expectations right off the gate, the first thing they get from you. Ugh that seems like garbage. I guess I can see why they might have been stupid enough to do it, like if they are trying to invite in guest speakers and stuff... but its still idiocy of the highest order, because you know that they are going to use it to alienate supporters that have uncommon priorities as like best case scenario. Take over leadership of that poo poo stat, man, if thats the sort of stuff they are doing they need to be saved from themselves.
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Jan 24, 2017 19:47
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It's been a while since I've posted in here. Sorry about that, I'm actually currently sick with some sort of respiratory infection so I've been (mostly) taking things easy. I did, however, go to the Women's March this past Saturday and it was  . Took a few photos, here's the two best ones to come out of it: This was in the middle of the crowd at the corner of 11th & Congress. I actually was attempting to meet up with my county party but never made it to the meeting spot. The place was so packed it took me almost an hour to get onto the street.  Things got way too warm for me so I started marching on the sidewalk instead, got a nice shot of how thick the crowd was. Organizers reported 50,000+ in attendance, supposedly APD thought it was closer to 100,000-strong. Utterly insane. I didn't take a picture but probably my favorite sign, just because it was a bit absurd, was a huge white sign that said, in tiny text in the center, "I am upset." In party news... I'm going to the Wilco Dems Happy Hour this Thursday (if I'm not still sick, that is), which will be at 6:00 - 8:00 PM at Morelia Mexican Grill, 9900 W Parmer Ln, Austin, TX 78717. If you're from an activist group like the DSA I think it'd be great for you to show up to this - now seems like the perfect time to start getting all the local groups coordinating on some joint effort. Plus you get to get drunk and yell about politics to elected officials, so, hey! Wilco Young Dems had their meeting pushed back, so it might be tomorrow, at Third Base, 13301 U.S. 183, Austin, TX 78750, from 6:30 - 8:30 PM. I haven't received any word that it will in fact be happening, so it might just be off for this month. Williamson County For Bernie and Our Revolution is hosting a monthly meeting tomorrow from 7:00 - 8:00 PM at 3104 Pointe Pl, Round Rock, TX 78681. I probably won't attend due to not wanting to get anyone sick.
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Jan 24, 2017 23:05
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my state is gerrymandered to hell and back and my senators are republican, what the gently caress can i do to get dems to stop loving over their constituents? are calls just not working? are they not getting enough? there's literally a huge visible resistance fully prepared to back them in opposing trump and his garbage cabinet but several of them keep playing along.
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Jan 24, 2017 23:46
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yellowyams posted:my state is gerrymandered to hell and back and my senators are republican, what the gently caress can i do to get dems to stop loving over their constituents? are calls just not working? are they not getting enough? there's literally a huge visible resistance fully prepared to back them in opposing trump and his garbage cabinet but several of them keep playing along. Primary their asses out of job and make the rampaging jackass movement a thing.
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Jan 24, 2017 23:48
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yellowyams posted:my state is gerrymandered to hell and back and my senators are republican, what the gently caress can i do to get dems to stop loving over their constituents? are calls just not working? are they not getting enough? there's literally a huge visible resistance fully prepared to back them in opposing trump and his garbage cabinet but several of them keep playing along. Primary challenges are probably the only way. What were the last primary election results like?
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Jan 24, 2017 23:49
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