Sending the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles to quell a non-existent "insurrection," they're proving to be as dangerous as we feared. But the Defiance has the next move, on No Kings Day.
"but as my friend and sometime co-author Lara Putnam points out on X, that’s not counting the millions that volunteers spent out of their own pockets on wasted postage." Honestly, that's the least of it -- think of the tens of thousands of hours of wasted time, volunteer time that could have done something useful! Stop letter-writing to people you don't know. Stop texting people you don't know. Organizers, stop pretending these equivalents of unsolicited junk mail to people we don't know has an impact. If you want to have an impact, canvass, especially with actual dialogue with voters. Given the stakes, your time is precious so use it wisely.
Exactly. Total waste of time. What it really is? Orgs have nothing to give volunteers to do so they rely on performative activity for the sake of activity. Feel good tactics that do nothing OR WORSE? Actually lose elections.
Micah- Maybe another framing of this is to say the writing campaigns onboarded amazing volunteer armies who are now educated, good at what they do have created amazing communities and can mobilize quickly. What a great accomplishment and an asset to the party, should they avail themselves of this free battle tested labor. It may be that writing campaigns are productive for certain types of races ( as you acknowledge) and we should maximize its usefulness. Markers For Democracy has found great success in school board races. We should now take advantage of the activist army that now exists ( however it emerged) and let's harness all that energy in strategic ways. Personally, I don't buy into relational organizing, at least the way the Dems have so far implemented it. We need good programs for activist groups. That will necessitate a willingness on the part of the powers that be to interact in a meaningful way with the partner volunteer community. You know those of us who onboarded through the postcarding and letter writing campaigns.
Re Post Cards (and robocalls, and texts etc) I challenge you to put yourself in normie voter shoes. Would you like to receive an unsolicited text or post card? Would you actually change your mind or be motivated by those marketing platforms that by definition INTERUPT your lives? 🤔 Probably not. And you would probably be pissed off. Even worse? Knocking on my door, getting my dogs to bark and waking up the baby.
Seth Godin wrote the ultimate book on marketing where he implored marketers to stop interrupting consumers via ads and, instead, convince them to give you permission to communicate with them.
I’ve had some great conversations on the doors. I get what you’re saying. But some people are happy to chat with a smiling face. There’s a chance to engage when canvassing. There’s no engaging with a text asking for money.
Tnx Micah. Thanks to Miller's command ti hit Home Depots, this whole started when the knuckleheads at DHS kicked off the LA campaign by targeting an HD in thw Westlake area of near downtown LA. Guess nobody knew that Westlake is known locally as Little El Salvador---it is a 90% Latino neighborhood full of young and undocumented.,..as were the other areas targeted. The reaaction, including the "Vandalism" seems perfectly natural to me. Populations that have basically no effective political representation respond with understandable rage rather then round table debates about will help or or not help Trump. Peaceful demos are more effectibe, but when people think they are fighting for their lives, they cannot be willed into existence. The protests are spreading across the country. Next Saturday is going to be quite nteresting,
Trump is winning? I don’t think so. He may have command of a disinformation campaign, but town halls and protests tell a lot about what ordinary Americans think, and it is not favorable to Trump
"but as my friend and sometime co-author Lara Putnam points out on X, that’s not counting the millions that volunteers spent out of their own pockets on wasted postage." Honestly, that's the least of it -- think of the tens of thousands of hours of wasted time, volunteer time that could have done something useful! Stop letter-writing to people you don't know. Stop texting people you don't know. Organizers, stop pretending these equivalents of unsolicited junk mail to people we don't know has an impact. If you want to have an impact, canvass, especially with actual dialogue with voters. Given the stakes, your time is precious so use it wisely.
Exactly. Total waste of time. What it really is? Orgs have nothing to give volunteers to do so they rely on performative activity for the sake of activity. Feel good tactics that do nothing OR WORSE? Actually lose elections.
Micah- Maybe another framing of this is to say the writing campaigns onboarded amazing volunteer armies who are now educated, good at what they do have created amazing communities and can mobilize quickly. What a great accomplishment and an asset to the party, should they avail themselves of this free battle tested labor. It may be that writing campaigns are productive for certain types of races ( as you acknowledge) and we should maximize its usefulness. Markers For Democracy has found great success in school board races. We should now take advantage of the activist army that now exists ( however it emerged) and let's harness all that energy in strategic ways. Personally, I don't buy into relational organizing, at least the way the Dems have so far implemented it. We need good programs for activist groups. That will necessitate a willingness on the part of the powers that be to interact in a meaningful way with the partner volunteer community. You know those of us who onboarded through the postcarding and letter writing campaigns.
Re Post Cards (and robocalls, and texts etc) I challenge you to put yourself in normie voter shoes. Would you like to receive an unsolicited text or post card? Would you actually change your mind or be motivated by those marketing platforms that by definition INTERUPT your lives? 🤔 Probably not. And you would probably be pissed off. Even worse? Knocking on my door, getting my dogs to bark and waking up the baby.
Seth Godin wrote the ultimate book on marketing where he implored marketers to stop interrupting consumers via ads and, instead, convince them to give you permission to communicate with them.
When will political folks get it? 🤔
I’ve had some great conversations on the doors. I get what you’re saying. But some people are happy to chat with a smiling face. There’s a chance to engage when canvassing. There’s no engaging with a text asking for money.
Tnx Micah. Thanks to Miller's command ti hit Home Depots, this whole started when the knuckleheads at DHS kicked off the LA campaign by targeting an HD in thw Westlake area of near downtown LA. Guess nobody knew that Westlake is known locally as Little El Salvador---it is a 90% Latino neighborhood full of young and undocumented.,..as were the other areas targeted. The reaaction, including the "Vandalism" seems perfectly natural to me. Populations that have basically no effective political representation respond with understandable rage rather then round table debates about will help or or not help Trump. Peaceful demos are more effectibe, but when people think they are fighting for their lives, they cannot be willed into existence. The protests are spreading across the country. Next Saturday is going to be quite nteresting,
Make no mistake, Stephen Miller is attempting a modern day Trail of Tears against people of color.
If Marines receive unconstitutional orders, are they obliged to disobey those orders?
Joe Klein last night.
".... , every Mexican flag waved, every chunk of concrete and Molotov tossed is a weapon he can use against democracy.
Right now, profoundly wrong as he is, Trump is winning.".
Until liberals embrace the American flag and patriotism? They will continue to be on the fringes of the normie American voter. And they will lose.
Trump is winning? I don’t think so. He may have command of a disinformation campaign, but town halls and protests tell a lot about what ordinary Americans think, and it is not favorable to Trump