And, no, this isn’t a Monty Python sketch. My complaint is real, and it involves the DNC. It’s come to my attention that they are laying off 200 state-level organizers and don’t plan to organize in every state in 2010.
Where are their heads?
This comes to me from ActBlue via a letter sent out by Erin Hill, Political Director. The letter says:
...less than a month after Barack Obama's election, we lost that momentum. The DNC announced it would be laying off 200 state-level organizers. In January the DNC clarified that it would not organize in every state in 2010, effectively writing an epitaph for the 50-state strategy.
At ActBlue, we believe that building a durable Democratic majority requires working with Democrats across the United States. Help us be there for Democrats in every state by making a $15 recurring contribution today.
While I support ActBlue’s drive to put Democrats in the government, overall, my complaint is this: WHY IS THE DNC DROPPING ITS FIFTY-STATE STRATEGY?
Let me put that a little more strongly: This is lunacy!
After all the work we’ve done to get here, they are going to cavalierly throw it all away? It should not be ActBlue’s responsibility to fill in for the deficiencies of the DNC. Perhaps we need to mount a campaign to dump the current DNC chair (whoever he is) and get Howard Dean back. It seemed like he at least didn’t have his head buried in a place I don’t want to mention.
I’m not yet sure what to do about this. Frankly, the Democratic Party has been wandering in the woods for a few decades, trying out this and running down that. It shouldn’t be this hard. There are a few guideposts that tell you whether you are on the Democratic road or off in the weeds:
- You are standing up for Constitutional principles, the fundamentals of what it means to be “an American”.
- You are supporting policies that help everyone in the United States, not just your favorite special interest groups.
- You are thinking about the future and acting today to make it better.
- You think that the United States should be a light to the world and act to make sure that it lives up to that promise.
You know, things like that!
Who is in charge of the Democratic Party? Do they know where they’re going?
I’m not sure. And I won’t be sure until I see someone come on the stage who says, once again, we are a fifty-state party with offices in every state. We are here to stay. We stand up for the best of what the United States can be and we are going doing everything in our power to make sure that it gets there.