#DeclareForDemocracy and #DemocracySpring

Democracy Spring is organizing a mass nonviolent action to take place in Washington, D.C., next April, for the purpose of demanding that Congress take immediate action to end the corruption of big money in politics.

I think my #DeclareForDemocracy effort set out in this blog melds with the #DemocracySpring campaign and I would like to discuss this.

Appended at the end of this entry is material copied and pasted from The Campaign webpage of the Democracy Spring website.

Please consider the following elements of the #DemocracySpring campaign.

1. The campaign will "kick off" on April 2nd "just as the advancing presidential primaries bring the national election to center stage," and there will be issued "a simple demand to Congress . . .  to take immediate action to end the corruption of big money in politics and ensure our elections are free, fair, and afford every American an equal voice, regardless of wealth." This will be accompanied by a "call on every member of Congress and candidate for office in America to join citizen equality champions in taking an Equal Voice for All Pledge that commits them to fight for pro-democracy reform."

2. Then "[o]n the road to Washington, Democracy Spring marchers will meet with fellow citizens, talk to the media, and create a firestorm of anticipation by laying out a simple choice to Congress: either pass bills to make the 2016 elections free and fair for for all people as equal citizens, or be prepared to send [marchers] to jail simply for demanding an equal voice."

3. Democracy Spring "will unleash unstoppable momentum for deep reform. It will reveal exactly which side the members of Congress and the candidates for office from President to state legislatures and city halls stand on in this fight to save democracy. With the Equal Voice for All Pledge as a tool we will leverage this momentum and exposure to make crystal clear for voters across America which candidates are committed to reform and which are defending the status quo of corruption."

4. This "will force this issue into the heart of the 2016 election narrative and make the election a referendum on whether our democracy should belong to the People as a whole or to the billionaire class alone."

5. BUT the campaign says:  "Given the current makeup of Congress, immediate reform is extremely unlikely."

Here are some things to consider about the #DemocracySpring campaign and my #DeclareForDemocracy effort.

#DemocracySpring refers to the April 2016 kick off of its campaign as being when the advancing Presidential primaries bring the national election to center stage. The 2016 Presidential election has been in the front of the news for months already. Further, #DemocracySpring seeks Congressional action, that makes Congressional races and elections significant, and it should be an object of #DemocracySpring to try to affect those. Waiting until April to do that would seem very disadvantageous. All in all, it seems obviously the case that #DemocracySpring should be seeking to get as much publicity and mobilization for its campaign as possible from now until April. I suggest that my #DeclareForDemocracy effort would be excellent for doing that.

#DemocracySpring seeks pledges to fight for pro-democracy reform and that Congress pass bills to make the 2016 elections free and fair. As part of this #DemocracySpring wants "to make crystal clear for voters across America which candidates are committed to reform and which are defending the status quo of corruption."  My #DeclareForDemocracy expressly acknowledges that there are a variety of possible reforms that could be considered to fix corruption, and that these can legitimately be subject to debate by Congress. This solicits candidates to set forth what they think should be done and for Congress to debate them. This seems more realistic about what would actually happen if #DemocracySpring was successful in moving the matter forward. #DemocracySpring ought to consider whether getting it to be "crystal clear" about where candidates stand is overly simplistic and whether, instead, inviting ideas to be put forth and for there to be debate by Congress would increase public attention and be a better framing of its campaign.

Also my #DeclareForDemocracy seeks to force candidates to say one way or the other about whether they think Congress is corrupt. That backs the matter up one step to allow for cornering candidates with the question of "how can you represent us in Congress if you can't tell us whether you think Congress is corrupt or not?". #DemocracySpring ought to consider whether it is helpful to get candidates to confront the corruption question first in order to provide for an opening to get at consideration of possible solutions.

The Presidential race, which has been in the front of the news for months, has manifested widespread and powerful disgust, anger and resentment that millions of American citizens currently have regarding Washington DC and our political system. This pervades Democrats, Republicans and independents alike. These politics should be availed of by #DemocracySpring in its campaign. Effective messaging is needed in the #DemocracySpring campaign to reach citizens of all political persuasion. I think such messaging can be accomplished in my #DeclareForDemocracy effort. I look forward to seeing messaging that #DemocracySpring develops.

If you are strong for #DemocracySpring, and you see how my #DeclareForDemocracy effort can help with the #DemocracySpring campaign, please read Getting the people organized and join in to do organized tweeting during Saturday night's Democratic debate.

Democracy Spring lists on its website about 25 public pledger individuals and about 50 endorsing organizations. I would like to find out what specific things those individuals and organizations urge campaign finance reformers to do between now and April to advance the Democracy Spring campaign, and, if I learn about those things, I may be in a position to publicize them. I hope the pledger individuals and endorsing organizations will consider whether my #DeclareForDemocracy effort can help and, if so, urge their followers and supporters to participate in my #DeclareForDemocracy effort.

[Edit 12/18. The above was composed without my having read http://www.democracyspring.org/faq. The FAQ gives helpful additional information and shows an even closer fit of #DeclareForDemocracy with #DemocracySpring.]


[Below is copied and pasted from http://www.democracyspring.org/the_campaign]

From five-million signer petitions, to State House resolutions, to ballot initiatives advancing fair elections, there is a growing movement in the US demanding solutions to our deeply corrupt political system.

But to shift the political climate much faster in favor of reform — during an election year awash in a tsunami of big money — we need to create a watershed moment to show Washington that Americans are determined to claim the democracy we were promised. With little more than our peaceful, dignified determination to stand up (by sitting down), we have the power to create that watershed moment. Together we can defend the basic, beautiful concept that in our democracy everybody deserves an equal voice, not just billionaires and big money interests.

Here’s the plan.

WE MARCH

The campaign will kick off just as the advancing presidential primaries bring the national election to center stage, on April 2, when a pioneering group of marchers from every state in the union will gather with supporters at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia on April 2nd. There, where the dream of American democracy took flight, we will issue a simple demand to Congress: listen to the People and take immediate action to end the corruption of big money in politics and ensure our elections are free, fair, and afford every American an equal voice, regardless of wealth. And we will call on every member of Congress and candidate for office in America to join citizen equality champions in taking an Equal Voice for All Pledge that commits them to fight for pro-democracy reform. Then, in the spirit of Granny D, the Selma to Montgomery marchers, Cesar Chavez and the farmworker pilgrimage, and others who walked for freedom, we will set out on a 10 day, 140-mile march from Philadelphia to the Nation’s Capitol.

On the road to Washington, Democracy Spring marchers will meet with fellow citizens, talk to the media, and create a firestorm of anticipation by laying out a simple choice to Congress: either pass bills to make the 2016 elections free and fair for for all people as equal citizens, or be prepared to send us and thousands of patriotic Americans who join us from all across the country to jail simply for demanding an equal voice.

WE SIT IN

When the march arrives in Washington on April 11th, we hope we will be able to rally to celebrate that Congress has come to its senses and passed at least one of the perfectly-viable reform bills now pending before it. But if they refuse to do anything, we will have no choice but to reclaim the People’s House in mass, dignified but determined, nonviolent sit-ins to force their hand.

Inspired by the American civil rights movement, the women’s suffrage movement, and other successful traditions of nonviolent direct action, students and teachers, grandparents and grandchildren, faith leaders and former elected officials, as well as a number of celebrities and public figures already confirmed, will risk arrest in mass sit-ins at the Capitol and in Congressional offices every day for at least a week. This is our moment of moral clarity: will Congress send thousands of patriotic Americans to jail instead of simply doing it's job to ensure that our elections are free and fair for all people? Millions of people throughout the country watching an unprecedented nonviolent confrontation at the Capitol will find out.

During the sit-in, we will maintain a public convergence center as a gathering point for supporters and the press and will coordinate call-in days, online petitions, Twitter storms, local solidarity actions and more to amplify the power of the mass sit-ins for people across the country and the world.

WE WIN

Given the current makeup of Congress, immediate reform is extremely unlikely. In fact, we expect that the defenders of corruption in Congress will choose to put thousands of Americans in handcuffs instead of passing perfectly-viable, on-the-table pro-democracy reforms supported by the vast majority of the country.

But no matter what happens in the immediate endgame, we win. Because mass nonviolent action at this moment, on this issue, will focus the nation’s attention — as never before — on the urgency of this crisis, the existence of solutions to it, and the strength of the popular demand to enact them.

A Democracy Spring will unleash unstoppable momentum for deep reform. It will reveal exactly which side the members of Congress and the candidates for office from President to state legislatures and city halls stand on in this fight to save democracy. With the Equal Voice for All Pledge as a tool we will leverage this momentum and exposure to make crystal clear for voters across America which candidates are committed to reform and which are defending the status quo of corruption.

Together, we will force this issue into the heart of the 2016 election narrative and make the election a referendum on whether our democracy should belong to the People as a whole or to the billionaire class alone.That’s a referendum we will leverage historic momentum to win, setting the stage to achieve fundamental reform that will give us — finally — the democracy for all we were promised.