Dean has the national name recognition that not even John Edwards has. Dean is no vanilla Democrat, unlike the likes of Kerry and Edwards, neither of which are in any position to lead the charge: Edwards is thoroughly out of power, Kerry is in the Senate. Dean is the only Democrat who could lead the charge for 2006. DNC Chairs are not usually known to lead a congressional effort, but these are challenging times. Budget deficits have gone amok. The War On Terror seems to be going nowhere. (3 Bomb Blasts Each: London, Delhi, Jordan) The Democrats are absolutely, totally out of power. And Dean can do better than Gingrich did for his party precisely because Dean will not be running for House Majority Leader or for Senate Majority Leader. Dean is it, there is no other.
Howard Dean should lead the effort for the Democrats to regain control of both the House and the Senate and a majority of the Governorships. One leader, one 10 point program. It is key that all Democrats running for Congress in 2006 come around to one agreed upon 10 point program. As to what shape and form that will be can be discussed. But once it has been decided upon, that is the party manifesto.
Money, message and organization.
Dean has come up with this wonderful idea, that 2 million Democrats across the country sign up to automatically give $20 a month to the party, kind of like paying one of your smaller utility bills, or something like that. This has to be implemented full force.
The message is the 10 point program.
And Dean can bring something to the fight noone else can. Lord, thy name is DFA. Yes, Democracy For America. DFA needs to approach the 2006 elections like it were the presidential election. 2006 is the real thing, but it is also the dress rehearsal for 2008. With the Supreme Court having gone conservative for a generation, the Democrats need to be taking and keeping the White House and the Congress for a generation. The founding white men called it balance of power.
2006 is a kickass opportunity for the DFA. We really could expand. 2008 is the year when America the republic becomes America the democracy. 2008 will be more like 1776 than any year in between. This is a gigantic opportunity. This is going to be historic. And DFA needs to kick into gear in 2006. The future is now.
Expansion is about applying the one-person-one-vote-one-voice concept. Everything you need at the grassroots to launch and grow your DFA chapter, you already have it. This is to be a bottom up approach.
Use Blogger to the max. Solo blogs, Linkup blogs, group blogs. Expand your personal network as much as possible within the DFA. Get invited to blogs with like minded themes. Definitely have more than one blog, many more. Every level of your organization should have a blog of its own. That is your 24/7 virtual office, kind of. Use audio, and video as well. This is what they call the new media. 2008 is to be the first new media election in history. Prepare.
DFNYC TV, DFNYC Wiki
Blogging Is Scalable Media
The One Voice Concept
Don't Need To Wait Till 2008
One Blog One LinkUp One Atom
More On Organization
An Email From Headquarters
DFA Organization Framework
DFNYC Research And Advocacy Group
The Three Pillars
Not long ago I wrote my first draft of the 10 point program. (Ferrer Gets Aggressive At A Ferrer Fundraiser) I still think it is a decent framework. But it needs a lot of work put into it.
- Balance the budget.
- Have an exit strategy for Iraq.
- Proactively spread democracy to win the War on Terror.
- Tax cuts for the middle class.
- Raise taxes on the top 1%.
- No pension for George W.
- Enhance quality of public education.
- Health care reform: introduce market forces into the sector so it gets into a position to take a lead on adopting information technology. Universal insurance coverage for all children.
- Focus on universal wireless broadband like they built the interstate highways a few decades back.
- Campaign finance reform, electoral reform.
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