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Daunting Tasks!by Ron McBride We, the people of the United States, makes a profound statement doesn't it. This is why we chose We! the People, as our name for this new webzine. Recently I was asked a couple questions, which lead me to thinking more about the organization and what I do here, and what an executive director in the future might face. Presented below are some of the questions and answers. How in the world can you do this job with all the tremendous hurdles you face, especially in dealing with many of the conflict situations? Many things in life have obstacles. I've been involved in a lot of political struggles in my life. I've been involved in creating institutions, managing others, political campaigns, civil liberties, anti-nuclear activism, the peace movement, and human rights and justice. And, you k now, people have arguments. There are disputes. When the stakes are high, people get excited. I come into this with a clean slate. There have been many disagreements with and inside WeDems. But that's over now and we're moving on. And I'm very excited and challenged by the opportunity to bring people together to be involved in a process of realignment, reconciliation and the dynamic process of finding new members and really making a difference in the years ahead in these critical times. The next few years are going to be tremendously important and it's centrally important that an organization like WeDemocrats.org play a major role in countering the dominant narrative in this country. And I want to be a part of that. How are you going to promote democracy within WeDems? In a democracy the loudest voices seem to win. Democracy is a messy thing. Growing democracy is obviously important and so is good management. Good management, if it is done on a consultative basis without trying to impose solutions on people, can enable people to amplify their voices How would you promote democracy given the challenges? By winning trust from the board, by getting people who haven't spoken to each other to begin to talk to one another, by getting them to distinguish matters that really are important policy matters from matters which are personnel matters or management concerns. Having them distinguish between those two things will help to free up more time for them to have discussions that they need to have so that the important things we have to do are not displaced by internal debates that tend to be so enervating and discouraging. We also want to promote the election process itself. So I think one of the jobs that I have, and it is in my job description, is to promote both the organization as an entity and to promote the institution's goals. That means getting the members to put out the word that this is the place where they won't just be subjected to boring meetings; that they'll be involved in a dynamic and exciting process in which progress is made. Through this kind of active promotion through the members, we plan to get more people into the election process so that the number of votes goes up rather than down in the next cycle. What they do as a result, that's up to them. I don't determine the outcome. My concern is the process. Long-term, however, there are issues having to do with internal staff relations and how people treat each other inside the organization and what I would describe as people adopting almost a tenure-system approach to positions, that is to say that people who come in with the best of intentions as volunteers or staff come to believe they own that small piece of real estate within the organization. That's not true and that perception will change. WeDemocrats is based on the assumption that everybody in America is organized by We the People, and it operates under that same principle. We reject the traditional top down political organization. WeDemocrats is an independent political group, based in the United States that organizes and informs a progressive online activist community. It is a resource for progressive grassroots organizations, working for open, accountable government and the right of all citizens to be involved in shaping our nation's public policies. It is because of the active participation and help of our groups and members that WeDemocrats is able to rise up and stand out against our opponents. WeDems combines grassroots advocacy by its members through various political activities with netroots activism and community outreach, and involving young people in the political process. As we aggressively reach out to progressive groups, we continue to embrace community members and get them actively involved in various activities to help maintain and increase the organization's reach. One of our goals is to find, train, and support fiscally responsible and progressive candidates at all levels of office across the country. We harness the power of our enormous grassroots network to get these candidates elected and to work towards positive change from the precinct up.
~~~~~~~~ Ron McBride is the author of numerous articles on Democracy. He is founder and Chair of WeDemocrats.org. His writings may be found at We! The People http://wedemocrats.org/wtp/wtp.htm, www.WeDemocrats.org and www.MyTown.ca/mcbride/ plus blogs such as http://www.dailykos.com:80/user/WeDemocrats and http://www.mydd.com:80/user/WeDemocrats |
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