Rethink Your Precincts - The Stakes

For those of you outside Buncombe County, contact your local Democratic Party to determine when and where your precinct meetings will take place.

(For background on this post, click here for original Rethink Your Precincts)

(Click here for last week's Call To Action)

During their years in the Congressional minority, Republicans built a vast infrastructure of think tanks, media outlets, and community groups. It all came to bear on the 1994 elections, and 12 years later, when things got as bad as they did in Congress and the White House, that infrastructure wasn't enough to win the day. The Republicans stunk too badly of corruption and incompetency, and the Democrats, fueled by so many new faces, pulled out a historic win.

And two years from now, would you bet that the Republican Noise Machine will fail again? Will the new blood of 2006 look so refreshing in 2008? Don't count on it. Democrats will have two years in the majority, during which the Republicans' "Mighty Wurlitzer" will spin every piece of legislation across their media.

It's going to take consistent Party support to maintain a Progressive majority on the Asheville City Council. It's going to take steady stewardship to help our county commission continue their journey towards leadership and openness on matters of development and energy. It's going to take a Herculean effort to hold the Democratic majority in Congress.

The progressive community in Buncombe County is bursting at the seams with new energy, with people devoted to seeing the Democratic Party carry the Progressive banner into the next election. The Old Guard of the party, whether they're aware of the efforts of progressives, is reenergized and ready to maintain the status quo.

As I stated last week,

"The way forward for the Democratic Party is to purposefully elevate the new progressive energy unleashed over the last several years while continuing to utilize the centuries of collective wisdom of the Old Guard. However, without the voices of the progressives, the Party stands to fall again into complacency, and there's no indication that the Old Guard intends to invite us to share the responsibility of organizing for 2008 and beyond.

The good news is that there's a way for all of us to get involved, be heard, energize the Party machine, and fundamentally alter the way the Democrats campaign. We do it by showing up at the Democratic Party precinct meetings and joining together for progressive change."

This Saturday your precinct is coming together to choose delegates, elect officers, and do the grassiest, rootiest Democratic Party work there is. Click here for a comprehensive list of precincts, meeting places, and times. Each precinct needs a minimum of five people to show up. If you show up, you can run for a precinct office, try to become a delegate to the county convention, propose resolutions to the party platform, or simply support others who are committing to carry on the work.

For all you armchair activists out there - as far as helping to move the Democratic Party in a direction you like better, there is no better bang for your activist buck than precinct meetings.

But I don't know how to do any of this! - Here is a link to the rules.
But I don't know which precinct I'm in! - Here is a link to find your precinct.
But I don't know where my voting location is! - Here is a link to your location.

If you've ever wondered who does stuff like this, go find out. (Hint: It's you.)

Watch this space for more Rethink Your Precinct. Tomorrow - How you can use your precinct meetings to speak out on civil rights, human rights, and the War in Iraq.