Pardon
Me, But Your (Grass) Roots are Showing
October
4, 2003
by columnist Lynn Nichols
One
rainy Wednesday night in September, Don and I headed down
to Northampton for a "meeting." When we got to
the Good Thyme Deli, it was after hours so the door was
locked. We knocked tentatively, gave the secret password,
and quick as you can say "Sam sent me" we were
ushered inside.
No,
it wasn't a speakeasy, although I must admit it kind of
felt like one. More than 50 people had gathered on that
night for a Meet Up. What's a meet up, you ask? It's an
affinity group set up by an organization called meetup.com.
There are meet ups for all kinds of groups, including
witches and people who own collies. But this particular
Meet Up was for supporters of Howard Dean.
From
the get go, I have to say that Don and I aren't rabid Dean
supporters, and we're certainly not endorsing him in
Valley Viewpoint. Our trek to the Meet Up was an
exploratory one — to see what this guy who wants so much
to be President of These United States is all about.
The
evening started innocently enough, with name tags and a
sign-in sheet. Then we listened to the "agenda"
for the festivities, heard an update about Dean's
activities in New England and broke into small groups for
a discussion of all things political, with a focus,
obviously, on how Dr. Dean can cure all of our country's
ills.
After
a couple of hours, the meeting broke up. But as we walked
away, we found we weren't as impressed with Dean the
candidate as we were with the process itself. Here is a
man that truly believes in the power of the grassroots.
Besides these Meet Up events (held the first Wednesday of
every month in four locations in the Valley), Dean has
been shunning contributions from special interests in
favor of raising money (and awareness) on the Internet. In
the last quarter alone, which ended last week, the Dean
campaign raised $15 million dollars on the Internet,
mostly from single contributors giving $25, $100, $500.
From a mainstream political standpoint, this is a stunning
achievement. Of course, it won't match up to the millions
that Bush and his cronies will raise to oppose his
democratic challenger. But it's heartening to know that
someone feels strongly enough about the power of the
individual over the corporation that he bases his entire
campaign around it.
I
don't know if I'll vote for Dean in the Massachusetts
primary. There are other candidates whose positions and
political agenda are just as attractive. But I was
energized by the Dean Meet Up — more politically
energized than I've been since my days of working on the
ill-fated McGovern campaign (OK, so I've just dated
myself). Witnessing so many people come together to get
information on a candidate for public office in an age of
political apathy and disgust is a wonderful thing.
Whatever
the result of the upcoming Presidential race, the Dean
campaign is proving that ordinary folks can change the
political landscape. And though it's been said many times
before, it bears repeating — Power to the People!
(Back
to Viewpoints)
|
