Letter from PDA Challenge Organizer, Joe Libertelli:
Dear Fellow Activists:
Under Attack: I have been an environmental, peace, and "access to
justice" organizer for 30 years. By day, I work at a progressive law
school (www.law.udc.edu).
In my "spare" time, I serve as the
Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) (www.pdamerica.org)
volunteer
coordinator for Maryland, where I live with my (working) wife and two
daughters. Like you, I'm deeply concerned about America's future.
Each day there's another assault: the lies before the war, the lies
about the war, the war itself, electoral fraud, the nominations of
Gonzales, Rice, Bolton, Negroponte, and Wolfowitz, the dismantling of
our already weak environmental protections, the specter of an
anti-reproductive choice Supreme Court. If it were not true it would
be unbelievable. The Illusion of Powerlessness: I remind myself
that powerlessness is only an illusion. We have the power - if only
we were well organized. And this is where PDA comes in. Through my
work with PDA I see the early signs of the emergence of a powerful
multi-issue progressive "machine," both inside and outside of the
Democratic Party. I see how PDA's efforts at building the
"movement"
not only parry right wing attacks on the wide range of political and
social issues currently under threat - but build a base for positive
progressive pro-active organizing at the local, state, and national
levels as well.
PDA's Political Niche: I am convinced that PDA's niche - which we
lovingly refer to as "the progressive wing of the progressive wing"
of
the Democratic Party - is vitally important. PDA was the first
national organization to call for the election of Howard Dean as DNC
Chair, for example, yet PDA's stance on the issues is much more like
those of the Greens, of Ralph Nader and of Dennis Kucinich, than
those
of Howard Dean. PDA actively opposes the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
PDA stands for meaningful health care and electoral reform. For all
their wonderful work, you will not hear such positions from Dr. Dean,
the DNC, or even MoveOn.
Speaking Truth: The strength of PDA's approach is that it builds
the
progressive "movement" by speaking real truth to power. PDA does not
hide its progressive values. PDA freely uses its autonomy and
analytic ability to denounce that which is distorted and deceitful.
Even when other Democrats are afraid to challenge the occupation of
Iraq, or stand up for abortion rights (trust me, this one is
coming!),
PDA speaks out, loudly, unabashedly, and increasingly effectively.
PDA was way out front in challenging the 2004 Ohio election fraud, in
helping to inspire Representative John Conyers to hold Congressional
hearings, in generating over 100,000 e-mails to U.S. Senators urging
their opposition to the Ohio election results. And when PDA puts out
a cutting edge e-mail alert, PDA members forward it to others, who
forward it to others, as we use our burgeoning network and build on
the efficacy of our lists and our contacts. Thus, when PDA speaks
truth, we can see our membership numbers increase.
The New Kids are Welcome: From what I've seen in my grassroots work, PDA is uniquely welcomed by liberal Democrats, by the Party leadership, and by a majority of Greens and progressive independents. Despite having similar political views on most issues as Mr. Nader and the Greens, Democrats are not threatened by PDA and so don't oppose us. At the same time, PDA has earned the respect of Greens, independents, and a wide spectrum of progressive activists by working effectively on the issues that are important to all of us. We're working in cooperation and in coalition with our organizational elders.
Inspiring Relationships: On the national level PDA has built
relationships and alliances with civil rights leaders and
Congressional Black and Progressive Caucus leaders (including Rev.
Jesse Jackson, John Conyers, Barbara Lee and Lynne Woolsey), with
Green Party leaders (including Medea Benjamin and David Cobb), with
peace and independent progressive political organizations (including
Peace Action and United for Peace and Justice), and with a burgeoning
grassroots network across the country ... including literally dozens
of new PDA chapters, DFA local and state organizations, and many,
many
other groups.
Organizing Wisely and Well: PDA stands for serious commitment to
ecological restoration, to social justice in all of its many forms,
to
real democracy. We know that literally millions of Americans share
these views. And many millions more will embrace them.... IF we
organize wisely and well.
BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT, BUT BUT, BUT: Can PDA continue to organize "wisely and well"? Ah, there's the rub! While I have tremendous hope, I remain deeply concerned about funding. Because no matter how powerful PDA's unique role and potential are, if PDA is to survive, and the progressive movement to be built inside and outside of the Democratic Party, we still need to pay for phones, for postage, for Internet services, for travel to meetings, for electricity, and for a small and outrageously underpaid staff.
People Power v. Corporate Power: As has been shown by the Dean campaign and MoveOn, e-mail and Internet-based fundraising can pool the financial and political power of hundreds of thousands of individuals. This is what PDA needs: people like you and me making pledges on line and "stepping up" to keep PDA's momentum going. Relatively modest monthly support from many people can accomplish great things. Together, over time, we can build an organization with real financial muscle to go with its already-demonstrated political skill.
This Challenge: In the spirit of "don't mourn, organize," I challenged a friend to match my personal pledge of $1,500 and he has done so. We then took the resulting $3,500 in pledges and challenged other PDA volunteers and activists to match us. The result has been that we now have a total of $16,000 pledged, including the generous offer of foregoing two months salary by PDA Policy Director Alysia Fischer, and the generous contributions of actress Mimi Kennedy and Green Party activist Medea Benjamin. Still, even a small staff cannot long endure absent adequate funds.
Take Action:And this is where YOU come in. If you are already a PDA
sustainer, please pass this message along to friends with your
personal recommendation to join PDA. And if you are not already a
sustainer, we challenge you to make affordable monthly donations to
make our progressive democratic dreams come true. Please, don't
allow
the offered matching funds to go un-earned. We need you! Right
now,
PDA has nearly 200 monthly sustainers. It needs about ten times this
number to be truly self supporting and sustainable. This is an
achievable goal. In fact, if ONE OUT OF TEN PEOPLE who receive this
e-mail sign up as a sustainer, PDA will have met its budgetary goal
for all of 2005 - freeing staff to do what they do best: organize.
(Of course, if one out of ten people who received this e-mail
actually
READ this far, I would be ... pleasantly surprised....) But we can
do
it!
So please, take the plunge, fight the powerlessness, build the
movement, pick up an oar! Go to
https://www.pdamerica.org/donate.php. Donate and, unless you have a
better "answer," please seriously consider personally taking on the
task of building PDA as part of your own personal responsibility.
Your children will love you for it. Thanks for reading!
Sincerely,
Joe Libertelli joe@pdamerica.org Rockville, Maryland
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For more information about Progressive Democrats of America and the
progressive movement within the Democratic Party, visit
www.pdamerica.org or
contact us at info@pdamerica.org or 877-368-
9221.