Harris Miller visit to Arlington/Alexandria for Democracy

On April 17, 2006 Harris Miller visited a small group of progressive minded citizens from Arlington and Alexandria at Atilla's cafe in Courthouse. Miller was late, having gone to the Atilla's on Columbia Pike. The thirteen people in were attendence, which in comparison to the near fifty who came to see James Webb may be reflective of NOVA's excitement for Miller.

Harris Miller wore a dark suit and red tie. He was accompanied by his wife Deborah and an aide. He began his talk by going over the basics of why he was poised to beat George Allen. He emphasized Allen as a Bush - man who voted with Bush 96% of the time. Miller let us know that he would refocus priorities in Washington and do some original thinking to fix tough problems.

Miller was very happy to answer questions and probably stayed later than he had intended. He received several tough questions on immigration and offshore outsourcing of American jobs. I do not think Miller said anything that can not be found on his website: http://www.miller2006.org/

What is even more interesting, to me, than Miller speech, was the conversation among the 13 attendees. After Miller left we gathered together to compare Webb and Miller and to consider who we should endorse. At the end of the discussion, we concluded that we had not heard enough to be able to fully endorse either man. We left with the resolve that we would make efforts to demand more information and educate our fellow citizens about both candidate as well as when and where they should vote.

The discussion on candidates was centered on two main questions:

1. Is electability important?
2. What are the key issues for the campaign?

While many of us agreed that electability is important, we did not want to make the same mistakes over again. We all agreed that we want a candidate who is passionate and will stand up for progressive issues. We also agreed that there is just nmot enough information on either candidate, at this point, to say who is electable. The question of electability is further complicated by the diversity of the state of Virginia.

As a group, we created a list of issues that we not only believed would be important in the campaigns but also would like to know more on candidates positions:

• Second amemndment policy differences
• Infastructure development
• Transportation
• Immigration
• Iraq
• Terrorism - what is the strategy
• Gays in the Military
• A full position Statement on Education

We all agreed that it would indeed be very bad for Virginia if George Allen were to win. We lamented that we had not yet received a clear or complete position on how education issues, in particular No Child Left Behind, will be addressed.

We concluded the meeting by deciding to emphasize the need for candidates to show unity and to not defame each other. We believe that it is up to us to demand a good race. We are concerned that democratic condidates are not very disciplined and have, in the past, hurt chances of replacing Republican seats because of the damage done during primary campaigns. We can not let infighting split the vote. We want candidates to answer more questions and have good, clean, family discussions.

We, the members of Arlington/Alexandira for Democracy want to get Allen out of office. We also want to support candidats who will support our progressive views. We do not yet have enough information of what issues will be central to the campagn, but we are very aware of the ignorance of our friends, family, and coworkers to the fact that a campaign is even underway! We are resolved to tell people about the race and perhaps more importantly when to vote.

the Primary is June 13th

ARLINGTONIANS!

if you are not sure where to vote or if you are not registered, please visit this site: http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/VoterRegistration/

ALEXANDIRIANS

if you are not sure where to vote or if you are not registed, please visit this site: http://www.alexandriavoter.org/

Write to Power through Take Action Alerts

I have felt a renewed sense of commitment to Writing to Power in the past week. Writing a letter to my local, state, and federal representatives is a historic tradition! It is a time-tested way of making contact with key decision makers as well as agency appointees. You can write a letter and send it by post, you can fax it, or you can email. What ever method you choose you will be making your voice heard.

My first letter to power was in the 5th grade. I, along with my entire 5th grade class, wrote a letter to President Ronald Reagan. I can not remember what I wrote, not in the slightest. But, I still have the 8x10 glossy and short response send by his office.

In this last week I have written three letters to congress. Two were asking members of House and Senate to increase funding for the Head Start program: H.R. 2123 and S. 1107. I sent these letters because I saw an alert to TAKE ACTION at congress.org.

The internet has really allowed a new level of ease for concerned citizens. Whereas before....I am not even sure HOW people ever followed policy BEFORE the internet....I am just too young and green for that. Before I found congress.org., I would frequent Thomas.gov, which is the online legislative library, to try to figure out what bills were coming up before the House and Senate.

Now, I can check congress.org, which will very often give me links to Thomas.gov, if I want to learn more about who is sponsoring the policy, how many times it has been reviewed, where it is in legislative process, and if it has been voted on and, even more importantly, WHO voted for it.

If you are interested in knowing more about what issues are on the table for when Congress comes back into session, go to Congress.org, on the left side of the page you will see a link to Take Action on Issues link under the heading "by the people" or you can just click here: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issuesaction/orgs/

At the time of my visit, there was a link to a Take Action Alert posted on April 14, 2006 by RESULTS telling me that 2 Minutes Can Protect and Expand the Head Start Program!

The Take Action Alert let me know The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will soon be looking at the Head Start reauthorization legislation (S. 1107) and that it will go to the Senate floor soon. They invited me to write my Senators and Representatives.

Sure, there was already text in a box and I could have just entered my name, email, and address and sent the letter off; but, I have a personal story about why Head Start is important to me. I have been engaged in educational policy for 6 years and have read various research studies about the program, some of which seem less than hopefull. However, I understand Head Start as necessary element to school readiness! Children must learn the culture of schooling in order to succeed and that may very well be what Head Start does best. I also have a little cousin who attended Head Start. Not only did his teacher visit him at home when he was sick, but she also helped tutor his mother so she could earn her GED!

I strongly believe that it is important to enter a bit of what is personal into letters to power. Stories stick in peoples' minds. Stories can change perspectives. And, that little bit of personal lets POWER know that I am engaged in this policy, it is real to me and I am not just sending on the voice they have already heard again and again and again.

I did, however, maintain some of the key action points that the pre-scripted letter to power from RESULTS has crafted. I believe that when we write our letters we need to be clear not only WHY we are interested in a policy change but we also need to be clear in telling power what we expect them to do!!

Through the ease of internet activism I have been able to send letters to five members of Congress in under 10 minutes. I sent letters to Senator Warner, Senator Allen, and Representative Moran of Virginia, where I presently live. I also sent letters to Senator Specter and Senator Santorum of Pennsylvania, the state where I was born and raised. I will probably also send letters to Senator McCaine and Senator Kyl just because I also lived in Arizona for a spell.

Witness the magic of internet activism.


Since acting on their Take Action Letter Writing Campaign I have explored RESULTS and am very impressed with the many ways they help make activism easy, I will return to next week to discuss RESULTS and how they may help you to GET HEARD!!

Ease of Internet Activism

For the next few blogs, I intend to explore the ease of internet activism.

It has occurred to me that not everyone is familiar with the opportunities for involvement that are only a mouse-click away. The speed and ease of internet technologies has enabled Americans on the plus, plus side of the digital divide to have more opportunities to have their voices heard and participate in our representative democracy.

MoveOn!

My explorations into internet activism moved began three years ago when I began to get emails forwarded to me by people who belonged to MoveOn.org http://moveon.org/

By February 2003 it was getting more and more difficult to stay immersed in graduate studies. In a few of my seminars we discussed the pending war more than our dissertations. I remember joining a Yahoo group for my hometown where the pro's and con's Iraq war was the main topic. A few of my fellow students had forwarded emails from MoveOn.org that had access to petitions, video, and ad's asking that Bush not go to war.

You can read an excellent history of MoveOn.org at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MoveOn

My familiarity with MoveOn.org and related internet activist portals grew in the time leading up to November 2004. MoveOn.org had stepped up emails to show support for John Kerry, to re-address the SwiftBoat campaign, and to just get out the vote in general.

As you can see from the image in this blog, internet activism easily moves back and forth between cyberspace and the real world. Internet activist organizations inform more people, build coalitions, and give options for not only getting your voice heard but also for hands on involvement.

One issue with the various internet activism portals is keeping poltical action committees straight, they seem to endlessly overlap. For example, I recall finding a link to the Americans for Change through MoveOn.org. Americans for Change is apparently assciated with America Votes http://americavotes.org/, which according to Wikipedia is non-partisan political organization formed in July 2003 and made up of a coalition of 527 grassroots political groups to coordinate their work in the swing states during the 2004 presidential election.

Not Much of a Joiner

I had never been to protest marches and vigils before. When I lived in Phoenix I saw the people who protested against homosexuality or people who protested the film "Rules of Engagement." I had friends who traveled to Florida to protest the WTO, but I was never involved in any of the rallies or protests.

My entrance into internet political activism increased as a skill in sorting through emails, responding to surveys, petitions, and submitting letters to representatives.

I remember watching the speeches for the anniversary of Roe VS. Wade in 2004 and wanting to participate in MARCH FOR WOMEN'S LIVES. Unfortunately, I had a conference and was out of town. It hurt to be so close to the action, but not really being the type of person who is compelled to join large groups of people for any reason (not even a rock concert). I wanted to get more involved in the action and was lucky to have found another outlet: http://www.meetup.com/

In 2005, I began to actually attend a Meet Up. This was my first adventure into what felt like an actual activist community, which I found via the web and my participation in internet activist outlets. I had joined two democratic Meet Ups and visited a few others in the DC metro area. The people who organized the Arlingtonians/Alexandrians for Virginia, began the group after the Howard Dean campaign fizzled.

The organizers have stayed affiliated with Democracy for America, the grassroots campaign initiated by Dean. They also became involved with the state-wide organization Democracy for Virginia. Hosting a Meet Up site was once free, when a charge was instituted; the organizers moved the group to a serviced hosted by Democracy for America Link Ups. http://www.dfalink.com/

Being new to the Metro and wanting to participate in the political process, I think it was a big help for me to feel connected to online community. I also think it was very therapeutic to believe that there were other people interested in democratic processes. Many will agree that these three years of war have contributed to a growing sense that what citizens want might not matter. People protest against war and it does not influence decisions. I actually got the feeling that Pres. Bush and his supporters found it a point of pride to be able to dismiss any voices of dissent.

Do More than Vote: Be Heard

But what did I do, what have I done to help put progressive grassroots politicians into office? What have I done to tell my representatives what I think is in my best interest? Aside from voting...before I joined internet activist communities: nothing! I believed myself to be too swamped in my studies and work to take the time to write a few letters, attend vigils, or go to protests.

Now, I probably send one letter to my representatives or sign a petition every other month. I tend to use Congress. org at http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/to get the contact information for my representatives. I use this site to look over a bill or to read letters other people are sending.

I also go to sites like NARAL Pro-Choice America at http://www.naral.org/ or Planned Parenthood at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ to sign petitions and find drafts to letters that are particular to my pet causes.

If you are busy, or you feel too busy, and you do not identify with the masses attending vigils or protests YOU CAN STILL GET YOUR VOICE HEARD!!

1. Write a Letter
2. Sign a Petition
3. Talk to your Friends and Neighbors about your Letters and Petitions

PROS and CONS of Internet Activism

These are three easy ways to begin. Three ways made easy by internet activism sites.Below, I have outlined a few Pro's and Con's of internet activism.

Pro's

• stay in you home/office/library
• no need to interact with other people, unless so desired
• if you desire interaction you can comment on BLOGs or attend local event
• become a local leader by hosting events related to your cause of choice
  find form letters with key points ready for you to tailor to your liking and send to your representative
• sign up for TAKE ACTION alerts, this is particularly helpful when you have a busy life. This way when a bill is about to pass or for some reason people need to make an effort to get their voices heard to impact the situation you will be on call!
• quick access to petitions
• quick access to read legislation and find out where a bill is on its way to becoming law
  because there are so many initiatives with action alerts and form letters, etc.
• track several issues at once.

Con's

• may need to submit name and address
• more emails for your INBOX
• might lose interest in reading a bill or research issue on your own and begin to take someone else's word on the issue (how bizarre, what an idea!)

(Re)Claiming Focus-Perhaps

Focus is a key issue for any individual, group, or organization.
However, to have focus, an individual, group, or organization must first take time to reflect on what has already occured and what is desired for the future.

I am often amazed at my own lack of focus. In reflection, it seems that the pieces can all fit together as if there has been just one path all along.
But while planning it often seems there are many issues, many needs....I am not sure where I should put my energy next.

From time to time I get a call from a fellow do-gooder and we talk about various projects. This one would do better if they had a space, another would do better if they had books, another would do better if they had a regular membership, and yet another would do better if they had a coherent vision.

Ah, that vision. That focus. How to get it?

For an individual, it seems easy: "What do you want to do?"
But I have found it is really perhaps more a question of "What are you able to find a space to do?"

I would like to blame any lack of focus on the many messages in the news. There are too many things that needs fixing. From what I can tell from attending political meetings and non-profit board meetings, as well as from talks with students and friends, the things in this world that need fixing are just too big to tackle all at once...so why try.....OR even worse, in my opinion, are the people who have latched on to a philosophical or perspective-based point in a complex argument and have decided to leave it there. I blame the news for keeping us feeling like we have enough information to engage in a debate on HOW things should be or HOW we can "fix" our social problems.

Focus, I now think, can be reclaimed by finding a small patch of community and staying there to explore the many faceted dimensions of what it will take to make a difference right there where you are.

I am not suggesting that you stop watching or reading the news, I am only suggesting that you start getting more involved in the news that should be reported on what is happening in your own "back yard"--your own local politics and area do-gooders.