Good luck

Rikard

michael

Wish us luck! (And help us build it when the time is right)

Best,

Joe

The sign-up takes me to the Rockridge contact site - is that correct?

I look forward to hearing more about your work. I’ll blogwhore it everywhere I go!

Thanks for trying to get this into a format that people can look at and use.

My wife worked for the Obama campaign in its early months, before it became an “official campaign.” The grassroots origins then had the challenge of becoming connected up with a top-down control model. This killed much of the innovation of the campaign, but did allow for the coordination necessary to counter the Clinton machine.

The frustration you and thousands of others is very real. I am attempting now to create a new set of professional activities that has the potential to offer empowerment and a pathway to significance for many more than myself. Time will tell if I’m successful.

The biggest challenge for progressives is getting our act together and supporting each other in a coordinated fashion. While conservatives actively recruit young talent and pay them handsomely (all the while espousing the crap that “we are all on our own”), progressives battle amongst one another for position and compensation. It is an ugly sight.

There is hope for grassroots organizing, though it needs to have a good business sense about it to make the efforts viable. Not a simple thing in the markets of yesteryear that we are currently forced to work within. However, I maintain a glimmer of hope for these occasions. Just in case…

Best,

Joe

I guess that’s why everyone has such a hard time understanding the Obama campaign because people actually DO get involved. The recent Platform meetings were an example I think of this where he challenged everyone to get involved in the discussions around what the platform should look like. I actually held a meeting at which a self-identified Socialist, myslef (Natural Law Party) and a form Republican/Constition Party member among others all came to gether to discuss these issues and write a position paper.

I guess/hope that’s what you are talking about as applied to the political model.

I worry though, that the structure he is using has such a potential for top-down abuse/influence (telling volunteers what/what not to say when contacting others, etc.

Of course, the O campaign is a top-down organization. I’d be interested on your take on how a small truly grass-roots group gets that structure developed in a positive way from the bottom up?

The people I talk to are so frustrated because all of the causes they’d like to tackle are organized this way - and there are so many that it seems like a) too many to deal with; b) the ‘authoritarian’ top-down you discussed turns many people off; c) mostly even if we do participate in this stuff, it’s hard to see if we are having any impact.

I agree about the community garden concept - maybe we should just give up on the national stuff and deal with a community garden here in the apartment complex I live in or something.

But that doesn’t feel right either…

Help! The planet and our country cannot wait. I am a member of the Simplicity Movement - there are several tens of thousands of members but again - the work is mostly individual and has not had much if any effect on society since we are all viewed as a bunch of nutjobs.

Thanks for your response. I appreciate a different (and much more knowledgeable) look at this issue.

Thanks for plugging the Christian Science Monitor article in addition to the mention of The ReUseIt Network. We just celebrated our first year anniversary and are pleased to get mentioned now and then. Much appreciated!