--- Harrison Owen <hho...@comcast.net> wrote: > I thought that Dean and Co. might listen. They certainly got the power >of the InterNet (which after all is just a big Open Space). But they >flamed out. One thing I am clear about -- real opening of space for >civilconversation is quite unlikely to come from the top (The Candidate >and His staff). If it ever happens it will occur because someone >somewhere just decided to do it -- and then invited the candidates. Who >might that be?
Harrison, again you and I are on the same wavelength! I attended every Dean Meet-Up in Baltimore. After the "flame out" Dean put together something called Democracy for America (DFA) to maintain the passion of the hundreds of thousands of Dean people. An element of the DFA project is to continue to Meet-Up. This is what I said to the 30 people who attended last Wednesday's Baltimore Meet-Up: I promised to set in type, the comments I made at the end of our April 7th meeting, as best I can remember them. Here goes: The ONLY reason that we continue to meet is to honor the spirit of Howard Deans credo i.e., we represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party! Today Howard is attempting to keep us involved by focusing on support to the right candidates. Our task is to decide how to do that. My suggestion, is to continue to Meet-Up (and to bring others with us) on the 1st Wednesday of each month for the purpose of auditioning would be candidates as well as to open the floor for information sharing by the likes of the League of Women Voters, Maryland and Baltimore Democratic Party officials, and others who could help us agree on winning strategies to take the decision making out of the hands of the same old DNC gang that gave us Al Gores defeat and Howard Deans ambush! It is critical to rebuild our numbers even beyond the 200 plus that met prior to Iowas disaster. To do that we need to attract the media to attend the next few meetings and make us news worthy so others will join and re-join. I do not believe it is enough to send emails etc. Speaking of the Internet and emails, the magic and power of the Dean Campaign, at least for me, was not those elements, but rather the face-to-face interaction that tool place at Meet-Up! If we truly want to take back the Democratic Party then I suggest we seize the solid energy and passion that we share. Build on that in growing numbers and become the focal point for determining what Democrats stand for and support. Today we are beggars trying to enter the house of power. I am suggesting that we are the key to the house of power. Thanks to Howard Dean, we have a ready army of support to set the agenda, prescribe the rules, rewrite the standards, and bring the Democratic Party into the 21st Century as winners! Lets continue to meet. ===== Elwin Guild Future Development International Baltimore * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
