Progressive Democrat Issue 66: THOUGHTS

At a recent Democracy for NYC meeting in Park Slope I met an unlikely DFNYC activist. A member of UAW from Kensington, Brooklyn, and clearly not the typical brownstone progressive, he had a rather disdainful attitude as the rest of us were talking strategies for winning elections and for reforming the corrupt Brooklyn Democratic machine. In his mind, reform Democrat, machine Democrat or, for that matter, Republican doesn’t matter. None of them are of any relevance to communities that are being threatened by closing firehouses, lack of after school programs and available day care, increasing MTA fares and neighborhood safety issues. When others pointed out that electing candidates that are sensitive to these issues is the way to change the situation, he dismissed that.

What he, and probably a large number of Americans, want to see is up-front community activism where politicians prove themselves to the community BEFORE they expect anyone to vote for them.

I think his idea of community involvement (e.g. keeping firehouses open, improving public transit, after school day care, after school programs for older kids, neighborhood watches, etc.) as a part of what a politician or a political group (such as DFNYC) needs to do as part of proving itself to a community is extremely important. In the past I have written about the opposite end of this equation: the need for communities to be politically involved in order to be politically relevant to politicians and I used the Katrina victims as an example of what happens in Bush America if you are irrelevant politically. I discussed this end of the equation in an earlier issue.

But what this blue collar Brooklynite has in mind is an equally important aspect of the community/political equation that I, and many other progressives, forget about in the push to get good people elected to office. Who are the best grassroots candidates? They are the ones who are KNOWN by the community because of community involvement.

There are indeed so many issues of considerable importance to communities that need addressing and around the nation politicians are, far from helping, actually hurting communities by cutting funds for infrastructure, first responders, medicare, etc. I think a politician that takes a solid leadership role on these community issues will be a stronger candidate. And I don't mean lip service, but actual hands-on involvement.

This is, of course, easier for a local candidate--city council, for example. Someone running for Senate can't go neighborhood-by-neighborhood though an entire state. But even there, broader issues can be addressed that will resonate with communities.

There is a disconnect between the need of communities to prove their relevance politically and the need of politicians to prove their relevance to communities. In general, Republicans do not care about this divide because they seldom are grassroots oriented. They get money from big donors and don't care much about communities. The complete arrogant disdain shown by Bush, Cheney and their administration towards Louisiana and Mississippi after hurricane Katrina is the perfect, ultimate example of the lack of concern that Republicans have for our communities. But grassroots candidates HAVE to connect with their community or they won’t survive the political process. But those candidates also need to know who will be helping them get elected. They need to know who will be there to help protect their neck when they stick it out for the community, as Wellington Sharpe, another attendee of the DFNYC meeting and a potential NY Assembly candidate, put it. This disconnect between politicians and communities is one of the major weak points in grassroots politics. We need MORE community involvement in the political process for grassroots politicians to win. But communities also need to see that a politician, or a political organization, is INVOLVED with the community on a meaningful level. Some of this happens, but not enough. The political machines of NYC used to be known for their ability to deliver for the communities. Now they are known for their corruption and blind need to hold onto power. Reform Democratic Clubs are mostly just focused on their unequal fight with the Democratic Political Machine. Groups like DFNYC, for example, have participated in AIDS walkathons and the like, but they are still not well known in most communities. The challenges are for politicians and grassroots organizations to better prove their worth to the community AND for the community to be far more willing to help out those politicians that prove their worth.

Paul Wooten was an excellent candidate for Brooklyn D.A. who has spent a great deal of his legal career helping out the community, often for free. The community did not come out and support his candidacy when he ran, leaving him without money and without hope of winning. This was a case where the community let down a man who had stood by the community again and again. Somehow both ends of this disconnect need to work to make the connections. Politicians need to start the process by getting their asses out there with their sleeves rolled up and fighting for the community. America needs politicians who take a strong leadership role pushing for our first responders, our infrastructure, our security. We need someone to take a leadership role in fighting the corruption of the Republican party. We need politicians to help start after school programs and day care centers. We need politicians who don’t just give us policy statements on these issues, but who are actually are involved in organizing communities and delivering these services to our communities.

That is the message that the blue collar, UAW Brooklynite at the Democracy for NYC was telling us.