Start one of these in your area: Committee of Correspondence

[DebJ]

Announcing the beginning of the York County Committee of Correspondence! If some other areas of the country will do the same, we could network on DU and become even more effective!

For any who may be unfamiliar with the Committees of Correspondence in the 1770's, Sam Adams was a prime starter of these organizations. They collected information, discussed it, and then forwarded it at high-speed (for those days, on horseback) from city to city around the country. This was an absolutely critical function in the creation of this country. We need Committees of Correspondence again, functioning at grassroots levels...an alternative to cable TV and right-wing newspapers.

I have received enthusiastic replies to my proposal from local people who were involved in the election, and am hoping to have a first meeting this month (in spite of the holidays, I can't wait). I selected December 16, Bill of Rights Day, for a first meeting, if people can attend.

Below is a portion of my email to the CoChair of the York County Democratic Party. The Dem Party in York has been, to use the Chairman's term, "moribund" for quite some time. (i.e., Dead as a doornail.) At a local post-election grassroots meeting (which includes interested persons of any or no party), over 100 people showed up, still extremely fired up and concerned about our country. Just seeing all those people in the room, as many people as attended pre-election, was wonderful. One of my frustrations in pre-election activities was lack of information dissemination on real issues. I want to fix this, now.

(snip)
It takes a LONG while to grow a network. I don't want to wait; I don't want to suffer attrition. There is too much energy begging to be used, and that energy WILL turn to bitterness if not utilized proactively. I think this was rather clearly illustrated (at our Grassroots meeting in November).

Here is my proposal. I want to propose a York County Committee of Correspondence with an (initial) invitation to all Democratic committee persons in York County. This club will be a separate and distinct entity functioning outside of formal committee person duties, but bonded by our common interests. We will meet once a month. The first event will be simply to get to know each other. We can each introduce ourselves, explain how we got involved, what our prior political involvements have been, etc. We can meet at a local restaurant for coffee/soda and pie or dinner or whatever. I am sure that Demi at Round the Clock will be happy to work out something with me. Whether only one person or 60 show up, I don't care. It is a beginning.

The reason that I wish to call this the Committee of Correspondence is that I am quite fond of the Revolutionary War period, and of the function served by the Committees of Correspondence during that time period. I see an urgent need for that same function to be performed once again. Actually, I don't like the word 'club', for it implies exclusivity, like "Country Club"...sounds Republican to me, ha! I prefer simply the York County Committee of Correspondence. Over time, after formal committee person duties begin, we could extend membership to anyone who wants to join....we could end up enlisting Libs and Greens and others for our causes, hopefully Repubs also. We gotta be unitas, not dividahs, in the long haul. But initially, I want to bond together as many committed committee persons as we can.

At a first social meeting, I would propose the following concepts for subsequent monthly meetings. First, we select several issues that we will follow and discuss. The number of issues selected depends in part upon the number of people who will be regularly present at the meetings, but I would think a hard core of three would be all we could start with. For examples, I would offer: privatization of social security, and NCLB's impossible goals: 100% of all children (including mentally retarded and otherwise handicapped) must be at age level by 2012 or Fed funds cut from the state (that is my understanding). (How can a child with an IQ of 60 ever read at 10th grade level, ever?) After selecting the issues, individuals would be assigned to get the hard facts and present them at the next meeting. After educating ourselves with the hard core facts, we can discuss the best ways of informing our fellow citizens. Perhaps we could do a short blurb of a newsletter, with Platts, Santorum, and Specter's phone numbers and email addresses prominently displayed. We could decide to set ourselves a goal of meeting "x" number of people per month: Democrats/Libs/Greens/Others and even some Repubs, in our voting districts, introducing ourselves as simply fellow citizens who want to give feedback to our 'representatives' so they can actually 'represent' us. Now, I can do this by myself, and set myself a goal of knocking on 20 doors a month. Will I do it? Will I do it if five other people buy into this as well and we are going to discuss how things went next month? Like dieting, support groups offer moral support and encouragement, as well as tips on what works and what doesn't.

The concept is this: pick a few hard core issues, and stick with them tightly. Monitor what is going on in Congress. We should each get to know Betsy at Platt's office very well, etc. Communicate facts and updates to each other. Work out the best way to communicate this effectively to our fellow voters in our voting districts. Get everyone to be phoning and emailing our reps. Wake them UP! While we should stay alert to all the little subissues, and be able to refer people to places to get answers or get them the answers ourselves, mostly we need to stay on clear and simple paths and unite our voting districts, create a sense of community. We need to be very peaceful, calm, informed, and let THE OTHER VOTERS begin to flame while we stand quietly, watching, smiling, and registering people to vote.

Frankly, this will be a challenge. I really have yet to find out what is going to come up, say, in the House of Reps this week. Haven't had much time to try it yet.

If committee people can, within this exchange with their neighbors, begin to form some liasons, then individual voting district committee people could get Block Captains and begin to work local issues....and it seems logical to me that the more local the issue, the more likely voters can see and feel the impact of their participation....make them see they DO make a difference locally, then work your way on up the line. Isn't this how Bush got in the White House, starting in 1992?

The proposal, in summary:
1)Invite all committee people to a social gathering at a local eatery.
2)First meeting: introduce ourselves, get to know each other, see how many will participate in keeping the group up to date on an issue, select issues.
3)Second meeting: exchange info on issues and ideas on circulating info; set goals for reaching out and touching someone!
4)Play it by ear. Hope it grows. Keep stoking the fires!

Thanks Judy. Hope you can help me get this started. We can't let the embers go black. Movements grow exponentially; the more you start with, the fast you can grow them. We can't afford ANY attrition.

Please let me know asap if you can either forward this idea to committee people, or allow me to use the list of names. As I did this in a rush, I can clean up the invite/proposal a bit before forwarding, if advisable.

Thanks.
Debbie

Hey, so whadya waiting for? The Revolution Starts....NOW!

[Joy Anne]

1. the rest of Platts-land?

Should tie in as well?

[DebJ]

2. that would be nice! He has an office just about 1.5 miles from

my house and my employer. Gotta start paying him some visits!