Is this letter I wrote to the Young Democrats at my school too harsh?

[noahmijo]

Here's the problem it's not about pressuring people to put in x amount of hours do thing or that.

I understand many of you on here have other important things to attend to like jobs and schoolwork.

Here's the problem though take this for example.

Today Joanne whom all of you know is my girlfriend, was accosted today by some neo-con scumbag who demanded proof behind the sign which John and I designed and which Joanne stayed up half the night making for us.

From what I understand when this guy demanded proof as to the validity of our notion that a draft will be put into play if Bush gets re-selected "Vote Bush Get A Free Trip To Iraq"

One of the OFFICERS simply pointed at Joanne and said "it's her sign"

Now Joanne is NOT an officer and she has a very rough schedule but she tries to do her part to help us out when she can by making signs and tabling now and then. She wasn't fully ready to take on this guy, so of course he got to humiliate her.

This guy stood there questioning her while other officers at the table did nothing. None of them came to her defense, none of them exhibited any knowledge to and none of them came to Joanne's defense.

I believe that officers of this club should be well versed with the facts and should be ready not only to debate at any given moment, but come to defense of someone like Joanne who clearly is just doing whatever little bit of help she can muster here and there, but the point is she is not a front line fighter.

OFFICERS however are, and when they refuse to debate aggressively, when they refuse to do their research and be ready to tackle tough questions, they are not fulfilling their duties as officers.

John and I created fliers in order to respond to the high volume of people who wanted to know Kerry's position on key issues.

John and I aggressively debate anyone who dares to step forward and make us look foolish.

When independents come to our table who are undecided who ask the hard questions like "What about Kerry's so called flip flopping on his position in the war?" I really don't believe that a single officer of this club could properly respond to that question or to a host of other questions.

I have tabled for quite some time now and I notice that more often than not there will be about 5-6 people standing in front of the table looking for info on Kerry or wanting to ask questions and the 5+ people including officers who are present will not greet them or ask them if they have any questions.

They refuse to acknowledge that this club is a business we are a corporation, we must run it like a successful one and that includes understanding that every person that approaches our table is a customer and they are in search of a president to vote for.

It is our job to sell them Kerry.

You cannot do that by not being on top of things, by not knowing how to answer the tough questions, and certainly you cannot do that by leaving one of your own in the dust to fend for themselves in front of a group.

The sign John and I made, the banner Joanne made last night, the fliers John and I made, ALL OF THESE things should have been long before we came along, but they were not.

Regardless of how long some of you may have been members of this club, this club so far as I can tell is being run like a country club instead of an entity that is looking to sell Kerry to the masses.

John and I are aggressive and probably the most aggressive in this bunch, however what you lifelong Democrats don't understand is the Republican mindset.

Have any of you seen how they approach people who come to their tent? they immediately let loose with a barrage of anti Kerry lies, with solid but of course shitty positions on the major issues confronting students while the action at our tent is limited to gossiping and handing out voter reg forms.

The Republicans play on aggression, fear, and strict stances. They do not fuck around and they will destroy anyone who wants to play passive. The reason Kerry doesn't have a 90% rating is because the Democrats refuse to engage voters with hard facts and refuse to answer the hard questions with tough answers.

This is what I personally want to change. This is why John and I pushed for the sign to be made which displays hard and aggressive facts. When I say we need to be aggressive I mean we need to use the facts like weapons and not like foam paddles as I see them being used currently.

The fact of the matter is if all you can do is show up or whatever, fine but come ready to fight. This ESPECIALLY goes for the Officers. I have yet to meet an Officer who is ready to take on a hardcore neo-con who is looking for fresh meat to humiliate.

Plain and simple guys you wanna beat the Republicans? it's gonna take more than parties, free food, and a place to lounge in the shade. You need to get the hell off your asses look up the hard facts, engage voters with tough questions, and be ready for anything because that is what is required when going to war with Republicans which is what this is.

It's a war not for this club, not for me not for you but to get Kerry elected, and if this club wants to continue with its country club like message where no one even bothers to learn the facts and no one is willing to step up and attempt to persuade or engage those who wish to discredit Kerry's position with lies in front of a crowd of fence sitters, well then I hear Nader is looking for volunteers.

______________________________________________________

So far about 10 members have come forward to agree with, one delegate for our state agreed with me, and 0 officers agree with me.

Do the math on that one.

[B Calm]

1. Great letter!

[noahmijo]

2. yea well I'm being accused of being "too negative"

I hate country club Democrats I really do that's all I'm gonna say.

[Q3JR4]

3. 10 members out of how many?

Does your club have a mechanism for removing officers who have failed to live up to expectations?

I say, look into it and use it.

BGLAD's constitution (a University club I'm president of in Boise, Idaho) allows removal of an officer if the voting membership of the club agrees to it.

Some club constitutions allow removal of officers only if the other officers present agree to it.

I'm sure, however, that if you can get a majority of club members to agree with the contention (and you present it to the right officials on campus), you can probably elect a slate of new officers.

Or, better yet, use the new information to bludgen the old officers.