> 1. Draw up a simple ten-point program *with universal health care at
> the top of the agenda.* Hammer on the issue of universal health care
> until the party's name becomes identified with the issue in the minds
> of people.
> 2. Find a cool and charismatic Black or Latino leader who can get
> Blacks, Latinos, Arabs, left-wing working-class whites, etc. excited.
> 3. Don't just campaign during election years -- make the party the
> leading organizer of mass actions and political forums on the left
> between the election years. Absorb the politics of protest within the
> party, and turn sporadic protest activists into party organizers -- in
> short, re-connect the streets with ballot boxes.
> 4. Concentrate the party resources on cities and states -- preferably
> with bigger proportions of colored populations than others -- where
> the party is likely to fare well, either because the party base is
> exceptionally strong or because the Democratic Party is in the most
> advanced state of decay.
I think that the health care issue is very important (and one that Kerry, BTW, is emphasizing, without of course explaining what he would do about it except for providing the same health care Congress gets to everyone).
But I'm not so sure about your other points.
2. Would it only be a "cool and charismatic Black or Latino leader" who could get all of these groups excited? How about an Arab or left-wing working-class white leader? My view about this sort of thing is that having a small group select a leader in the hope that she/he will be "charismatic" enough to appeal to a lot of groups one wants to stitch together doesn't work very well -- that's partly how the GP got into trouble with Nader. They thought he would appeal to all kinds of folks, but he didn't. 3. "Don't just campaign during election years" -- absolutely. "Absorb the politics of protest within the party, and turn sporadic protest activists into party organizers" -- I'm suspicious about this. Sounds too manipulative to me. How is this "absorption" supposed to happen? How do you "turn" a protest activist into a party organizer"? 4. Concentrating resources is a good idea when you don't have much. But why assume that you have to concentrate on places with bigger colored populations? Your prospective movement isn't going to get very far unless it can appeal to whites, also, and if you don't have a message that can attract support from all races you will run into trouble sooner or later. (I'm assuming that you are trying to create a movement/political party that is not consciously directed only at persons of color.)
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ A gentleman haranguing on the perfection of our law, and that it was equally open to the poor and the rich, was answered by another, 'So is the London Tavern.' -- "Tom Paine's Jests..." (1794); also attr. to John Horne Tooke (1736-1812) by Hazlitt