The Volunteer Strike: Taking the Iniative back from our political 'leaders

[kster]

February 5, 2006

The Volunteer Strike: Taking the Iniative back from our political 'leaders'
Power to the People!
by Mary Kiraly

http://www.opednews.com

ABOUT THE VOLUNTEER STRIKE

As volunteers, we possess a valuable commodity- our time and our effort. Because this is a political year, our combined contributions provide us with powerful leverage to effect change. Our work is crucial to the success of political candidates and political parties. We man phone banks; raise funds; organize, register, and turn out voters; and serve on election day as judges, poll workers, election observers, and precinct officials. We have more power to change the system RIGHT NOW than we have ever imagined.

Why Strike?

We are gearing up for another very important election. As Volunteers, we are being asked to work harder and donate more than we have in the past. We are being told that we need to be better organized, to have a clearer message, and to reach out to more citizens.

But no one is telling us what will happen if this November we witness a repeat of the voting irregularities that have occurred in the past two elections. We know that we have a voting system that is in crisis. Our political leaders are refusing to address this issue. Our national elected officials are failing to act.

All across the United States, activists, just like us, are challenging their state’s election system. We have a responsibility to the voters that we organize, register, and encourage to vote. When voters go to the polls, they have a right to expect that they will have their ballots recorded and counted as they intended.

SNIP......So we are going to change the debate. We are no longer willing to go to our elected officials and Party leaders, “cap in hand,” pleading with them to speak out, and to reform our election system. It is their responsibility, inherent in elected office, to provide American citizens with a secure, accurate, accessible system of voting.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mary_kir_060205_the_volunteer_strike.htm

[Amaryllis]

1. So what do you think, Kster? I know a lot of people who feel this way, but

they are all Dems.

[kster]

2. I only hope one of

these ideas catch on, I heard a guy today that said that he was a Conservative Republican on the Ed Schultz show that was furious that this admin is not being held accountable for the spying, I hope they are starting to see the light on the other side and figure out that this Cabal could not have won the election.


Maybe these guys/gals will start taking some names and numbers.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x331082

[GuvWurld]

3. I like this because it encourages activists to think more strategically

There are so many campaigns for so many issues and I might support them all, ideologically, but view them as poor choices strategically because the time would be better spent on election reform. This campaign is sending a message to activists about how they prioritize their time and energy. The suggestion is to withdraw our complicity from a broken system, to shatter the assumption of the Consent of the Governed. Where have y'all heard that before?

I like this idea a lot and will make these petitions available on Saturday at the community forum on non-violent revolution. See www.HumboldtRevolution.org

[GuvWurld]

4. I liked it enough to post about in my blog

http://guvwurld.blogspot.com/2006/02/volunteer-strike.html

[emlev]

8. And while on the "picket lines"...

striking volunteers could do a lot of work on election reform, etc.

[GuvWurld]

5. This message really needs to go to MoveOn

and True Majority and any other oversized and under-influencing orgs out there.

[Wilms]

6. K&R n/t

[Kurovski]

7. One more vote to give these ideas a broader audience,

less than two hours to do it in.

[GuvWurld]

9. I have made my own version of the Volunteer Strike pledge

I really see this as an individual pledge, not a petition. And since the original was not formatted well and couldn't fit on a single page, I took the liberty of making my own version. I believe I have been faithful to the original idea though I used language more typical of the GuvWurld blog. Check it out here:

http://tinyurl.com/e4nex (.pdf)