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WHY WE SHOULD DO IT -
TO WIN WE NEED EFFICIENCY, TRANSPARENCY, ACCESSIBILITY.
Efficient event planning and calendaring = more work gets done to beat the opposition, AND,
more potential volunteer participation as volunteers see more of their precious time used
productively in the community. For event planning and calendaring to be efficient, processes have
to transparent and accessible, and what follows are a set of suggested guidelines to insure
transparency and accessibility.
Volunteers need to be able to self organize on the web. Ideally the site would be the Google of
political campaigns. The site should be open to everyone, easy to use, and present a consistent
user interface. Funding support could come from collecting fees from the winners?
The Democrat party should provide event planning calendar software for ALL candidates’
grassroots organizing.
HOW WE SHOULD DO IT -
ONLY 6 Sets of Questions should be answered:
1. WHAT are we going to do?
A. Doorbelling, phone bank, rah rah, mailings, …
B. Citizens should be able to query by their precinct or zip code to see WHAT is going on around
them.
2. WHERE is the what to do?
A. The corner of Main and 6th, the law office of someone, the statue of …
B. Citizens should be able to query by their precinct or zip code to see how many WHEREs are
going on around them.
3. WHO are we working with.
A. Citizens should not be NOT dependent on any coordinator to do something, they should be able
to self organize.
4. WHEN are we doing what?
A. Every Friday night, Just Sat the 6th …
5. HOW are we going to do it?
A. post the instructions on the web, so no one is dependent on any coordinator.
6. CAMPAIGN
A. Kerry or Dean or Gephardt, Sims or Gregoire or Talmaldge, Save the whales or trees or
termites, or, whatever issue.
B. It has to be easy for volunteers to find the campaign they want to work on.
WHY WE HAVE TO DO IT - THE REAL REALITY
Some of the Most Common Obstacles to Effective Organization, and Long Term Individual
Involvement, in the Political Community:
1. Progressives, Liberals and Moderates are like cats, and too many campaign organizations are
Command and Control structures, a model which works for people who march to the same tune, not
cats. Ultimately, Command and Control structures turn off volunteers, wrecking the political
community.
2. Josh / Toby / CJ / Rove / McAulliffe / Carville Wannabes:
A. Wannabees are typically more interested in the glamour and the glory of campaigns than the
organizational grunt work, hence they do not perform the grunt work very well. The resultant
disorganization frustrates volunteers and wrecks the community.
B. Wannabes who try to attain glamour and glory by manipulating resource access. Organizations
need to be open. NOTHING we are doing is the Manhattan Project, get over yourselves. Secrecy
turns off volunteers and wrecks the community.
3. Volunteers get sick of not being able to do WHAT they like, of not being able to work WHEN it is
best for their time, of not being able to be WHERE they are comfortable, of not being able to work
with people WHO they like, and of not knowing HOW to do what, when, where, with who, these
volunteers turn into non-volunteers, then they don’t participate in the political community, which
wrecks community.
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Grassroots Organizing By The Community,
For The Community
NOT for the "leaders".
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