I am thrilled to announce that we have about a thousand people now who are committed to a massive effort to take our message to D.C. and present our representatives an offer they can't refuse.
We are no longer just concerned by all the paper evidence of Class War devastation. We are no longer just appalled by the evidence in the people whose homes have been foreclosed in our neighborhoods, those who have lost jobs, those who are underemployed, those who search endlessly for a real job, one with ever-shrinking benefits. We are no longer only organizing locally to address local threats to unions, teachers, other public workers, the AARP, immigrants, and whatever other target of the plutocrats comes up next; we know the devil will take the hindmost, so we must also come together nationally, in our greatest numbers, to bring about federal change. We are not just hurling blame at all the obvious targets. We are not simply reacting to the endless right-wing antics and outrages.
We're beyond that.
We're pursuing a strategy for assured success. We are committed to staying in their grill until we put the brakes on the Class War in the only way possible: confronting them in huge numbers, every day, where decisions are made for the entire nation, until we meet our goals. We recognize that all progressive causes hinge on the Class War, that "economic democracy is a pre-condition of political democracy", as Congressman Dennis Kucinich said in WI recently, that not only will tomorrow NOT be a better time to deal with the Class War, it will be a worse time.
We've got people who are working on policy, putting together a tightly focused yet effective, prioritized set of legislative and regulatory goals and objectives. They are sorting out specific changes in law, regulation, regulatory enforcement, even Constitutional Amendments. They are outlining proposals for Executive Orders. Some are focused on parliamentary implications, strategies, tactics. Some are even thinking about how achievements can be analyzed and measured. When they're done, some of them will work together with others to form a lobbying crew. Some have already brought Bernie Sanders and Anthony Weiner in the loop.
We've got people who are dealing with external communications. Public and media relations. Building contact networks, electronic and print and verbal communication trees. Framing. Honing messages and campaigns. Anti-message-hijacking. Signage. Technology. Promotional products, including wrist bracelets, armbands, buttons, bumper stickers, hats, tee-shirts, etc. are being designed and will shortly be posted on Zazzle and Cafe Press, until a progressive-led print on demand service company be identified to fulfill orders from our own website.
We've got a progressive organization alliance task force set to grow our numbers to hundreds of thousands and then millions, possibly within a couple of months.
We've got a recruitment team working to enroll (and screen) individuals from all those organizations and the general progressive public into various forms of participation.
We've got a social networking team to extend these efforts online.
We've got operational people who are sorting out logistics and developing menus of shelter, food, transportation, sanitation, safety and medical needs and options. Others are identifying progressive-owned D.C. service providers as well as individuals who can and will provide in-kind and discounted products and services to the effort.
We've got a legal assistance group lined up to help demonstrators who may be harassed, arrested or otherwise entangled in legal complications.
We've got event producers lining up spokespeople and stage "talent" to provide direction, inspiration and entertainment over the long hours, days, weeks and months the effort will continues.
Others are working on demonstration site design, stage and backstage facilities and equipment, sound, audio, lighting, etc., and transportation and storage, so the whole thing can be set up and torn down, every single weekend.
Others are focused on the use of technology for internal communications, to communicate and organize to form a highly distributed, flexible, responsive organization.
We've got a municipal relations team for coordination with permitting, police, fire and health departments.
We've got people researching locations and themes and messages for small and medium weekday demonstration
We've got a development group working to raise funds to support a lean operational effort, with over $50,000 raised and counting.
We're projecting 50-150,000 in D.C. on weekdays, 1-3 million on weekends, within 30 days of commencement.
We expect initial legislative results within weeks.
We expect to hi-jack the election cycle that will drown out the Tea Party as the bad little joke it is.
We are swamped and we need more help but it's breathtaking and exhilarating, the most contagious burst of truly productive passion since the 2008 election.
People are actually tired of just watching the Class War destroy everything they and/or their neighbors have worked for. They refuse to stand by while social nets are dismantled thread by thread. They refuse to leave their grown children to fend for themselves in a world of diminishing opportunity and mobility. They refuse to rear there young ones into it without a fight. They know that their own relative comfort, no matter how abundant, is at risk no matter how secure it seems today. They know that "there, but by the grace of God, go I" when they see others struck down. They appreciate the moral dimension of not only economic justice but the personal dignity and worth that come from economic democracy, economic independence. They know the practical impications of distributed wealth driving robust demand to force supply to expand and produce jobs. They know that living wages for all are central to a livable future. They know the importance of Global Warming and sustainability and education and civil rights, and that all of these depend upon the political influence currently bound and gagged by the Class War. They know that even if they are climbing ladders to personal success, the plutocrats are encumbering the globe, that, in a relative sense, they are falling behind. They know that whatever their personal financial status and social station is, unless they are plutocrats themselves, their political influence is fading every day. They know that whatever they have, no matter what, is at risk in a predatory plutocracy. They've set aside the complacency and denial. They've stopped waiting for Superman. They refuse to be victims. They know they are responsible for the outcome of the Class War in their lifetimes. They refuse to deny they have a choice. They refuse to deny they have a chance. They know that a future with broadly shared prosperity and political influence is the greatest gift they can give their loved ones. They choose to commit not just to convenient participation but to assured success, to organize and participate and sacrifice in every way necessary until the goals are met. They choose to trade their roles, even lead roles, in the plutocrats' cage for walk-on parts in The Class War.
We've got about a dozen opinion leaders from this community alone already involved, a number of whom are engaged in strategic planning and progressive community outreach, others poised to pump us up, lead us, cheer us on to finally be the change the we want to see in the world. And more are on the fence, waiting for us to pull them over.
It's a New Day in America!
It's April Fool's Day.