Calling All Edwards Democrats and Reformers!
September 20-21, 2008
So many of us worked so hard to promote John Edwards's vision for One America. Even though our candidate is no longer in the race, his dream lives on within each of us. We can promote Senator Edwards’s vision by staying united and promoting his outstanding platform: http://www.johnedwards.com/issues/ Think of what a force for good we could be!
I have long dreamed of pulling everyone together in an Edwards Democrats/Reformers reunion, and some friends and I began to brainstorm ideas about holding such an Edwards Democrats/Reformers Meet-up/Convention. Through brainstorming, we came to see it as an opportunity to organize our grassroots advocacy for John Edwards’s platform, for using the platform as a yardstick to measure candidates who are seeking our support, and to be a force to be reckoned with for holding candidates' feet to the fire. We could also be a ready army of community servants and could support John and Elizabeth in their visionary projects, such as "Half in Ten" and "Health Care for America Now."
As I propose such a meet-up, a gathering, I am emboldened by John Edwards’ own call to his fellow citizens to participate in making a difference. He called us to join him in New Orleans when he began his campaign and I like to think he was still calling us to action when he suspended his race. Here were some of his comments then.
“I began my presidential campaign here to remind the country that we, as citizens and as a government, have a moral responsibility to each other, and what we do together matters. We must do better, if we want to live up to the great promise of this country that we all love so much.............
And we do this -- we do this for each other in America. We don't turn away from a neighbor in their time of need. Because every one of us knows that what -- but for the grace of God, there goes us. The American people have never stopped doing this, even when their government walked away, and walked away it has from hardworking people, and, yes, from the poor, those who live in poverty in this country.
Their struggle is our struggle. Their dreams are our dreams.
Do not turn away from these great struggles before us. Do not give up on the causes that we have fought for. Do not walk away from what's possible, because it's time for all of us, all of us together, to make the two Americas one.”
http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20080130/
I remember how buoyed I was by the imagery John Edwards evoked when he would speak of “America rising” on his Iowa bus tour of that title, like citizens rising up together to demand change. http://www.johnedwards.com/iowa/video/iowa-america-rising-kickoff/
The other day, as I viewed the NOW videotape http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/429/video.html
of the Dialogue between John Edwards and Dave Broncaccio, filmed at the Tides Foundation Momentum Confernce, I was struck again by how many times John Edwards seemed to be calling his fellow citizens to participate as a community in ending -poverty, here and around the world. If I recall his words correctly, he stated: “What we do together as a national community is enormously important.” And, in the course of the interview, he repeated that word, “together” and he spoke of what it would take to achieve the goals for which he strove, as coming through a new kind of politics, as an energy that would emanate from the grassroots. In that same interview, JRE talked of how leaders were differentiated from politicians and I think that includes us citizen leaders.
This is not an effort to steal Obama's thunder, but, instead, an effort to promote the greatest progressive/reformist/populist platform possible and to insist that our party remain true to its core Democratic principles and values. Something very tangible – —a plan of action - —would come out of it.
Karita Hummer
Edwards Democrat
"My" dream became "OUR Dream
Notice that "my" dream became our dream. Our brainstorming group became solidly committed to making it happen. So now the language changes from the First Person, "I" to second person, "We", certainly the more powerful pronoun..
Would this be reinventing the wheel? We don’t think so...In our view, John Edwards’s platform was unique in its vision and call for bold changes, and he led the Democrats on all the issues this year. Whatever we end up calling our movement—–One Corps, One America or One Corps for One America, etc.–.—we could be a real force to be reckoned with and could partner with other progressive movements such as PDA, DFA, Twenty-first Century Democrats, Change Congress, Stop Big Media, and others to promote the top issues from John's platform that we want to focus on.
There was talk on some of our Edwards supporters’ Google Groups and blogs about having a national convention, perhaps in Denver, Iowa or North Carolina, and we want to work towards that, but right now, we thought we'd take it in "small steps" and have a regional Edwards Democrats Meet-Up/Convention out here on the West Coast. We could use it as a model and test run for other regional meet-ups, culminating in a national event.
All Edwards Democrats and Reformers from around the country would be invited to the West Coast event, of course...We are looking at retreat and convention centers in the Bay Area... Our dream is to involve as many people as possible...there are so many great ideas out there...We are hoping that those of you who couldn’t attend physically could be "piped" in via live blogging, conference calling, or at the very least, with surveys done ahead of time so that your valuable ideas and opinions could be recorded, tallied and incorporated into the action plan we would produce at the end of the weekend retreat.
A small, informal steering committee has been holding conference calls, and we have tentatively decided on the weekend of Sept. 20-21. We thought this would give people enough time to get back to their work for the November election.
Here’s what we’ve sketched out so far:
Saturday
*Platform - We envision having attendees break up into small groups to brainstorm their top issues from the Edwards platform that they’d like the larger group to pursue. The small groups could report back to the larger group as a whole and then we could decide on those issues we want to focus on.
*Interest Groups/Action Plans -Participants could then break into groups based on issues they are interested in and could develop action plans to help push these issues forward. We could have people working on universal health care, ending poverty, halting global warming, a moral foreign policy, etc.
*Process Issues - We thought we could also discuss, in small groups, the process issues, such as corporate media coverage and campaign finance inequities that were obstacles to Edwards’s progressive/populist/reformist platform being heard. We aim to explore strategies for overcoming these and other obstacles. Democratic Party reform is also an important issue that could be addressed, as well as supporting progressive candidates, like EENR bloggers and other activists are currently doing. In other words, we want to focus on the "how" as well as the "what."
Sunday
We are still working on this and would love your ideas...Perhaps we could talk about the community service arm of our movement, and supporting "Half in Ten" and "Health Care Now," etc. We would contact both those organizations ahead of time and find out how they thought we could be helpful as an action arm. During the meeting we can discuss how each of us would want to participate.
We could also finalize the draft of our action plan for moving forward, finding resources and making this a national movement.
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Participant Survey
We Need Your Ideas & Help to Make This Happen!
Please copy/paste and e-mail your responses to:
Karita Hummer: KaritaHummer@yahoo.com OR Kathy Callan: callan7@frontiernet.net
1. Would you come to the meet-up in the San Francisco Bay Area?
_____ Yes ____No ____Maybe
2. What would make you more likely to come?
_____ A scenic location
_____ A location close to airports/public transportation
_____Other: ________________________________
3. Your ideas, please: We have found several sites, many expensive. There is a reasonably-priced camp, however, on the Russian River in Sonoma, but it is two hours from the SF Airport The camp has cabins with 14 bunks; each cabin has its own bathroom (1 sink) The site has a dining room to hold our meet-up and can accommodate almost 100 people...
The cost is roughly $60 pp per day, three ( 3 meals included)....Since this is a grassroots effort, neither Kathy nor I could afford to charge the $7,200 deposit on our cards up-front (they require a guarantee of 60 people). They also require a three-week notice of cancellation. Hmmm....We want to hold the event before the rush of the campaign season, so...
Would such a site interest you?
___Yes ____No
Any ideas? If there is interest in this facility, which seems very reasonable, how could we collect the deposit and get it to the facility without bankrupting any of our members?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Do you have suggestions for any other sites/areas where costs would be reasonable and where we could meet on the weekend of Sept. 20-21 in the Bay Area?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
4. Do you have any ideas for accommodations if we end up having the meet-up in a facility that does not have accommodations?
___________________________________________________________________
5. Please let us know if you are interested in helping in any of these areas:
___ Steering committee (help organize/plan, participate in conf. calls, etc.)
___ Helping spread the word when the time comes via blogs, e-mail, etc.
___ Helping with the technological aspects (live blogging, conf. calling, etc., if we are able to do this)
___ Web management: Helping design registration forms, posting meeting information online, etc.
___ Community organizing help/advice to implement the action plan after the meet-up
___ Other: ___________________________________________________
6. Comments/suggestions on the meeting agendas for Saturday or Sunday, Sept 20th & 21st:
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
7. Comments/suggestions in general:
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
8. Contact info.
Name: ____________________________________
e-mail: ____________________________________
Phones: Cell: ______________________
Home: ___________________________
Mailing Address: _____________________________
_____________________________
JRE’s vision and the investment we made in it, can continue and help keep our elected politicians focused and honest. The eenrblog.com web site and other blog sites, Edwards google groups, and other venues are a testament to our staying power. Let’s keep the vision alive and stay organized behind it.
Karita Hummer
Kathy Callan
An Edwards Democrat is a Democrat with backbone who stalwartly supports the core values of the Democratic Party and who respectfully, efficiently, and effectively leverages action to make needed changes happen.
Questions? Call Kathy or Karita: 530-524-4883 or 408-807-1875
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