[Mb-civic] SUPER! FW: another thoughtful election analysis

[Michael Butler]

------ Forwarded Message
From: ean at sbcglobal.net
Reply-To: ean at sbcglobal.net
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 19:39:24 -0800
To: ean at sbcglobal.net
Subject: another thoughtful election analysis

Hi. Thisanalysis is from Marilyn Katz, a principal organizer of a major
grassroots organization in Chicago. Her thinking reflectsbut extends my
own -I notemyorganizing has beenmore narrowly focussed on Pacifica,
specific events and this list. It's a real difference and my hat's off to
her,
not for the first time. It made sense toadd an important meeting tomorrow

ofthe L.A.basin'sneighborhood coalition,thenwrite ofPacifica's more
criticalthan evervoice and itsown currentelection,later todayor Sunday.
Ed

----- Original Message ----- From: MarilynMKC at aol.com
To: EPearl at sbcglobal.net
Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 8:04 PM
Subject: Re: Why Kerry Lost


Dear Ed,
I have spent the day commiserating with friends, sparring with Democratic
(and 
Republican) consultants, reading Doug Ireland's and other comments on the
election 
and the loss and have some thoughts that I'd like to share.

1. Kerry was never a great candidate, but more important, he was, as we knew
he 
would be, hobbled by the same Democratic mafia Schrum, the DLC, Greenberg
etc., 
who in fact have lost elections for the Democrats continuously since 1988 (I
do not 
credit them with Clinton's election, in fact, I believe he won despite them
due a variety of 
personal and political factors).

The feistiest of the Democrats themselves, -- Ann Richards, Jan Schakowsky--
likeus, 
knew that the Party would aim its sights on the non-existent middle and
assume/take-
for-granted/ignore the dynamic parts of the base -- women, Latinos, anti-war
folks, 
gays, etc. As much as we tried in the primary to define issues through the
variety of 
candidates, by the end of the spring it was clear that Kerry was destined
for the same-
old, same-old strategy (although he in fact made it worse with his comment
that 
knowing what he knew he would have voted to give Bush power anyway)

While looking at his history (the civil rights movement, Viet Nam, anti-war
activity) one 
knows that Kerry's life embodies a strong "moral compass," that coherent
view, a vision 
of from where one comes and from where one wants to lead a nation, never
came 
through. Whether it was his choosing or the mandate of his handlers,his
candidacy 
was a series of too well crafted (although certainly not pithy enough)
little positions that
seemed to be based solely on tracking polls. As I always say, "you can't be
a pole of 
attraction, if you don't stand for something'.

But there is more.

2. The Dems used an ineffectual strategy of overreliance on the
media.Increasingly 
the party has bought the notion of putting all resources into media. While
there may 
have been a moment when this was a possibly plausible strategy (although
never a 
good one as ground organization and peer to peer organizing is the only way
to 
actualize messages heard in the broadcast system) today it makes little
sense, with 118 
channels that people scan each day. The lack of resources or even any
visibility on the 
ground was unbelievable. The best pols and organizers I know (and by the
way, the 
best advertisers) know that broadcast media is most effective when it is
combined with 
organizational outreach and mobilization to take advantage and reinforce the
messages 
that are transmitted. Effective strategy requires walking onboth feet.

3.Further on this point, the Partyignored( if not outright rejected) the
natural 
organizational bases that existed.Beginning in 2002 around the invasion of
Iraq, 
progressive had built a national network of well more than one million
activists, activists
who not only communicated by internet, but were able to pass resoltuions
against the 
war (in person) in 135 cities and resolutions against the Patriot Act in
195. Further you 
had the million + women who converged in Washington in May.This was (is) a
vibrant 
network that despite reservations about Kerry was ready to join forces with
them. 

I know from Chicago and elsewhere that our attempts to reach out and do any
coordination or share our insights or organizations fell on deaf ears. What
is 
extraordinary is that DESPITE THE KERRY CAMPAIGN, in Chicago and cities and
towns throughout the nation, these forces self-organized and went out with
their politics 
in hand and registered hundreds of thousands, if not millions of new voters,
that gave 
us the 4 million new young voters that voted yesterday, the thousands of new
Black 
voters, Pakistani voters, etc. All this was done by volunteers with only the
slimmest of 
resources or SEIU/ACT resources in many places.And I remain encouraged and
in 
awe of these efforts.

3. The Dems (and even we) had no way to penetrate non-urban areas. It has
long 
struck me on trips to Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Idaho and beyond, that
however small 
the town the two things you will see is the chiropractor and the Assembly of
God (or 
other pentacostal church). This apparatus - the evangelical churches
provided the 
organizational skeleton with which the Republicans reached out to,
registered and 
mobolized the vote.

Yes, they also cleverly used the gay marriage issue to draw outthe voters,
but the 
organizational infrastructure was key to their effectiveness.

On the other hand, the Dems had no visibility let alone infrastructure in
those 
places.And neither do we. My child goes to summer camp in such a town and
every 
year I usemy 'parents weekend' visit to assess what's going on in the
country in which I 
do not live.These are towns where I mistakenly thought "Go Ollie" painted on
the local 
cafe was about a football hero, when it was in fact support for Oliver
North. These are 
towns where there is not only no L.A. Times or New York Times, but
newspapers that 
carry little at all except the sales at the local stores. There are places
where the news 
comes via Sinclair Broadcasting and Rush Limbaugh.

These are towns where the Farmer-Labor clubs and the Grange are gone and all
that is 
left is the VFW and the Church. These are town where there are also eager
young 
people, who when queried, unlike their elders were eager to oppose Bush, but
to whom 
no one was talking and who no one was registering or mobilizing. These are
places 
where there are no labor unions any more...These are places with no jobs, no
future, no 
hope, with drug problems just like the cities, but with no counterhegemonic
force to the 
power of the evangelical/bush perspective.

4. Nor did the Demsadequatelyreach out to the inner cities. Speaking to a
young 
friend who just spent a month in Florida, she described that she and two
other ACT 
volunteers who arrived three weeks ago, were the only ones to go into the
Black 
Community in the city where she was working. Here in a city in a key swing
state, the 
Dems had not bothered to spend the time to speak to or organize the base
voters until 
the day of the vote.

Until there is a party, rooted in and connected to the lives of people,
rather than 
remembering them only once every for years, the party cannot expect people
to 
intensely vote for it. The very fact that50+ million people came out to vote
for Kerry is a 
testament to the hatred of Bush. Pundits talk about voter apathy; I'd say
there was 
party apathy about the voters save at election time.

5. Toward the future. Unless there is a total shutdown of political life by
those who now 
control all of government (which is certainly within possibility), I believe
that there is an 
unprecedented opportunity to build on the unbelievably impressive networks
that have 
emerged over this last period (far more diverse and far more numerous than
at any time 
in my life time.Thesenetworks that built the massive demonstrations against
the war 
and the rollback of civil rights,,organized their city councils on issues,
registered 
hundreds of thousands (if not milllions of voters) are depressedand angry
today but 
vibrant and energized and unbelievably resourcefuland can be the foundation
of a new 
progressive movement -- diverse in its racial, gender, ethnic and geographic
composition as never before.

How that building occurs -- how these disparate groups connect - remains to
be 
determined.....Whether it's the basis of a new party or figures out how to
create a 
revolution in the dem party is another unresolved issue (especially since
the DEMS 
seem determined to be beholden only to those who are the big contributors.
Are there 
democratic leaders who will be allies if not leaders of this more than
incipient 
movement?

I don't know the answer to these questions, but I do know that the first
task is to stay in 
touch, to regroup with those we've been working in our cities and towns and
to try to 
strengthen the bonds between the disprate issues and cities we represent
(without 
splitting over minor (or even major) factional issues.

Anyway, that's my thoughts for tonight.

Marilyn

***

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Action is the antidote to despair.  ----Joan Baez


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