[Dialogue] What if? ... Some thoughts on what we could do in the current political climate

[Richard Alton]

Great thoughts, Jo
Dick

On Tue, Feb 25, 2025 at 11:21 AM Jo Nelson via Dialogue <
dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

>
> *Context:  Selected quotes taken from a post by Rosemary Cairns of an
> article in The Atlantic. *
>
>
>
> "What Would a Liberal Tea Party Look Like?  Democrats might have a chance
> to replicate the energy of the 2009 grassroots movement—if they actually
> want to."
>
>
>
> “Republicans aren’t the only ones taking flak. Democratic voters’
> frustration with their party’s leaders, who are widely seen as either
> flat-footed or acquiescent, is growing.  ...
>
>
>
> To recover their mojo, Democrats need some sort of organizing principle,
> real or purported. ...
>
>
>
> One challenge of creating a liberal version of the Tea Party is that what
> liberals want right now is so basic. The opposite of what Trump has done in
> his first month in office is good governance—careful, measured
> administration. But that doesn’t make a good bumper sticker, and it doesn’t
> inspire crowds. ...
>
>
>
> Representative Jake Auchincloss, a Massachusetts Democrat, has warned
> against Democrats trying to offer voters a “Diet Coke” version of Trumpian
> populism. “Voters who ordered a Coca-Cola don’t want a Diet Coke,” he told
> the New York Times columnist Ezra Klein recently. “There are two different
> parties. We have to start by understanding who our voters are not and then
> understanding who our voters could be—and go and try to win them over. ...
>
>
>
> Ultimately, Democrats will return to viability only if they’re able to
> learn from and absorb grassroots energy. ...
>
>
>
> Democrats could certainly use an infusion of fresh ideas—and new
> leadership."
>
>
>
>
>
> *My response:*
>
> Maybe a shift is needed to what the Iowa caucuses looked like when I was a
> child in the 1950’s — not about candidates for President, but grassroots
> meetings to create planks for the party platform.  The ideas from the
> precinct caucuses were taken to a county convention, which then took the
> consensus to the state convention, and the consensus from the state was
> taken to the national convention to create the national party platform. (I
> remember one of these precinct caucuses happening in our family front room
> when I was 10. I was serving hot coffee to the participants and spilled it
> on me, which literally burned the meeting into my memory.)
>
>
>
> This is what my father loved about politics – the way that ordinary people
> coming together and sharing their ideas created the foundation for grounded
> choices and decision-making all the way up to the national level.
>
>
>
> Facilitators know how to design these from the grassroots up.   And ICA
> did community town meetings across the US in 1976.  I personally have
> facilitated consultations for governments that started at the local level
> and brought those ideas together at a higher level, looking for the common
> patterns that included all the perspectives.
>
>
>
> What if we locally took action to bring our neighbours together to discuss
> what is important to them, and then shared these concerns with others doing
> the same thing?
>
>
> Jo Nelson
> jo.r.nelson at gmail.com
>
>
>
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>


-- 
Richard H. T. Alton
ICA Global Fund
The Last Chapter
United Methodist Net Zero
T: 773.344.7172
richard.alton at gmail.com
Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2
Won't you be my neighbor?
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