How do we change the world? Together!

The Corporate Mainstream Media is spending the vast majority of it’s political coverage time on Mitt Romney and the Presidential Race to the exclusion most everything else.  If we do not redouble our efforts to gain ground in congress then even if and when the President is re-elected he will face four years of living hell dealing with this Tea Party insurgency Congress!  WE must regain the Congress for the People!

As many as five million Americans are projected to be disenfranchised from voting due to the voter ID fraud being perpetrated on our Republic by the Republican Party.

I recently asked about a dozen college students if they planned to vote in the next election and only a couple said “probably” and the rest asked questions like “Is Obama going to be in that one?” and “I can register when I get there right?”  While this is anecdotal evidence at best it’s indicative of a big problem.  Young adults do not watch much of the evening news or even the MSNBC political shows.  Many of our neighbors don’t get engaged in the election process until the last minute and the last minute will be too late to reach them about the urgency of this election and what the facts are.

98 days. Should we wait until the final week before the election to start reminding people to vote?  With so much at stake and Billionaires and Voter ID laws working against us I would think we could and should up our game and do things differently than we have in the past.  We can’t afford another election to be stolen from us by dirty tricks and dirty money.  We have to start today! We have to share our sense of urgency with everyone in our community informing them of the importance of the election. We have to make November 6th a date nobody ignores and everyone looks forward to.

It is up to us to decide that Enough is Enough! We must do things differently than before. This election is not the same as past elections and the stakes are incredibly high.We must think and act anew.  Be creative and courageous.

>What other tools are you using to reach people besides Facebook?  Twitter? Google Plus? Pinterest? E-mail?(want to learn to use Twitter ask me, I’ll help)

Here’s some basics:
Using Twitter
Important Tips http://youtu.be/NBocwdiJhPI
Twitter Basics Training http://youtu.be/VWV74mndNaY

Are you meeting locally?

Are you meeting with people to work on electing good Democrats to School Boards, City Council, State Assembly and Congress?Find “MeetUPs” by going to http://www.meetup.com and typing in a search like liberals,liberal,democrat,democratic,progressive, in the search box!

What are some good topics to talk about with neighbors at a meetup?

-Who are our local elected Democratic Representatives?
Make a list with contact phone and office location info so you can all contact them on important issues!
-Who is running for office locally? What do they stand for? How do they stand on your issues?
How can we “lobby” them on our issues, Jobs, Environment, Student Tuition and Debt, Healthcare etc?
What can we do to keep our meetings well attended?
-Welcome People who show up with a smile, handshake or hug!Assign a volunteer or two to be the official welcome committee.

Do some activity together.
>Collect canned food for Food Banks
>Register voters at a local farmers market
>Hold a movie screening of Gasland or Sicko or other movie.
>Walk For America!
-Canvas your neighborhoods to remind people to vote.
>Design a Group Tshirt  together.
>Volunteer for a local grass roots Democratic Candidate!
>Have a Progressive Voters Pizza Night!
>Have a Book reading and discussion night.  There are many GREAT books you can buy and read together and in doing so share the wisdom of the best and brightest with all your friends and neighbors!  Here are a few suggestions:
http://liberalscreatingprogress.com/books-for-progress/

Promote your group so it grows!
You don’t have to do all of these things but they are good places to start.
-Use name tags so people call each other by name.
-Have refreshments. Meet at a restaurant or coffee shop.
-Ask everyone who comes to bring one new friend with them next time.
-Make a roster of members with phone numbers and emails and assign a volunteer to contact everyone the day before the next meetup.
-Print up flyers, bumper stickers, Tshirts and give them out to people who participate and who bring friends.
-Announce your meetings in local websites like “Patch” an online local newspaper, or the regular local paper!
-Create a Facebook Page for your Group and use the “Events” to notify people of meetups.

98 Days is not a lot of time to build a grass roots Democratic revival  movement but don’t worry about that! Our challenge requires a long view and we will have set backs along the way.  But we need you! We need all of us to participate in making things better. That is the nature of a Republic.  Oh yes one more thing. When you create your Meetup Group be sure to invite me!