Where Do We Go From Here?

 It's hard to know where to go next. Three months of persuasion and Get Out The Vote calls and canvassing and election night is a perfect dud. You never believe your side is the losing side until election night numbers turn against you. Somehow the reminder that we live in a democracy and that the majority just gave you the raspberry do nothing for your hard feelings. Even knowing you are right and the winners are just going to make a big mess doesn't help, does it?

In the words of The Old Philosopher, Eddie Lawrence, "Is that what's troubling you, bunky? well L- L-L-Lift your head up high and take a walk in the sun with that dignity and stick-to-it-iveness and you'll show the world, you'll show them where to get off, you'll never give up, never give up, never give up — that ship"! As a kid those words alway made me feel better and I hope they do the same for you.

More importantly, those of us who are invested in the Democratic Party and in the democratic process must think hard about where we go next. It should be obvious that we didn't comprehend the depth of the fear and anger that led to Donald Trump's election. The rise in our own party of a Socialist challenge to the party regulars should have forewarned us that a Fascist uprising in the party on the right was also a possibility. My thought is that the Democrats need to return to community ideas and community organization as a way to move forward.

The premise behind community organizing is simple; find out what the community wants, ask them how they want to proceed and then help the community get it done. I think the embarrassing problems at The Democratic National Committee that led to the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz show how far from the community organizers ideal we've gotten. Bernie Sanders might not be everyones favorite candidate, but he did have widespread community support. Hillary might have been able to tap that community, but I never saw any indication that she or her campaign ever tried. How then can we organize ourselves to become a Democratic community and use that Democratic Community to quell the Fascist menace of Trump and his followers?

A few ideas, (I bet you have some too):

 1. Regular meetings (simple, but should have fun, community building elements)

 2. Goals set by the community (not imposed by party hierarchy)(this takes hard work)

 3. Communication among members both formal and informal (Newsletter, email/phone, outside
journalism)

 4. Goal attainment should involve more people that just members of the party elite (acting
committees should have rank and file members)

These are just a few of the nuts and bolts things that help communities work and prosper. I think they're important. When we think of ourselves as part of a community, the things we do help the group prosper. If we let ourselves become just once every four years voters, we lose the reason we joined a political organization in the first place. We are left as little atoms in a vast universe of larger forces. Let's get together and become a giant snowball for change.