What does it mean to be non-partisan?
Nolan Darilek
discussing it on the FB groups, but this list seems more level-headed.
Apologies if it is off-topic, so consider it pre-GA screening from a
crowd that likely won't be reactionary. :)
What does it mean that we're non-partisan? Obviously it means that we
don't endorse Ron Paul and have official marches for him, but what about
educating on those who support us and those who don't?
I've never voted in anything other than a national election before, but
that changes this year. I've also become convinced that the way to
change this system is from the bottom up, and that my national vote
means nothing. So we are non-partisan, but for us to not support those
who support us while urging folks to vote out those who don't would seem
like a *huge* failing on our part.
So does the fact that we're non-partisan mean that we couldn't, for
instance, have a page on the wiki for the upcoming general election? We
list council candidates who support and oppose us. Same for the school
board. It's non-partisan in that it doesn't matter if you're Republican
or Anarchist, but it does matter that you deal fairly and honor your
word. Even so, sometimes the non-partisan thing is stated as "we don't
back any political candidate," and I think we're shooting ourselves in
the foot if we don't educate each other on which council members are
cool and which are pains in the ass, which school board members voted
for IDEA and which didn't, etc. We may not want to officially back them
with press releases or anything, but we should at least be able to score
them or something based on how much of an asshole they are ("A is for...")
Wanted to throw that out there before going ahead with a working group
or whatever. Can this work, or will core values kill it before launch? I
hope not, because bottom-up change is my only hope at this point.
Maryann
I agree with you! I think that we SHOULD be backing candidates - but
we should be backing candidates that support what we support.
Let's talk about this tonight - or at a future GA. We need to get
more involved in local elections - b/c we can actually make a
difference in local elections. Just a few hundred people can change
the outcome!
-Maryann
Brian Overman
will probably make the connection and block just because some
"activists" just love to be divisive. My suggestion would be getting a
petition list of registered voters in OA. Hopefully like thousands.
Make a small list of issues (VERY small simple issues they will agree
with us on). State that the 2000 (or however many) people on this list
will pledge to march together to the booths and vote for you in the
election if you will sign this document saying you will stand up for
these things. This way you are not supporting a candidate...you are
pledging the groups support on this issue and whoever is willing to
sign the document saying they will stand up for us on this issue. Much
like the weird Tea Party group did with the "I promise not to raise
taxes" thing.
But I think to be effective you would really have to stick to one or
two important things that are reasonable. Then we could announce these
candidates have signed the pledge to the press, thereby not officially
endorsing a candidate as an organization but rather making an
announcement of who has signed on to agree to accept the votes being
offered through the petition. I would be willing to put together a
more clear proposal on something like this if you feel it would be
helpful.
Brian Overman
like that. We will march to the voting booths and fire you just like
we marched to banks and moved 1.5 million dollars" and it got uber
sparkled. Since you can't un-vote for someone that presumably means we
would have to vote for their opponent to "fire" them. But I was
worried about that. But it is the only threat we have. And we CAN
really do it. In a city with voting numbers like Austin...2000
cohesive votes will sway the election.