The Democratic Left [View All]

Yesterday afternoon, I was home alone, resting and recuperating from a busy weekend, as old men must. The phone range twice – each time a call from Good Friends about an emergency meeting being held at 7 pm in the UU Church in Binghamton. Both friends said things to the effect of, “oh, it's an important meeting, but you don't need to come” – which meant I went.

The issue of “hydro-fracking” is serving to unite the Democratic Left in upstate New York. The first person that I spoke with before the meeting started is one of the leading activists within our county's Democratic Party. He is rising to a higher level of leadership in the county group, not because he is a fixture at the annual summer picnic, where a couple representatives from Albany come to give wonderful sermons before passing the collection plate. But because he, as a retired university professor, invests his time organizing at the grass roots' level.

There were other area college and university faculty members at the meeting. And there were a number of folks who were (or had been) employed in mental health or other related fields of social work. Aging hippies and housewives; a construction worker, and several journalists. And a lot of other people that I did not meet or talk to, as most of the evening was spent in “working groups.”

One of the important topics being discussed – and worked on – is “home rule.” That simply means getting people from our circle elected to local office, and then working our way up. The local democratic activist, for example, was the person who approached my son to run for a town board position.

My friend and fellow democratic activist were in the minority at last night's meeting. While there were other members of the Democratic Party there, more people were independents, Greens, socialists, etc. As I've noted previously, in order for my son to stand a chance in his upcoming election, he has to run on three slates – not just as a Democrat. For in upstate New York, there are many people who view all things political in an entirely “democrat vs republican” context, making it difficult for them to ever pull that lever for a democratic candidate. But they can, in their own minds, justify a random third-party vote, every now and then.

Hence, for my son to win – and it will be very difficult – he'll need not just the local Democrats to get out and vote for him. He'll need the support of all of the Democratic Left. And he will need a segment of the local republican voters who know, trust, and respect him as an individual.

That is an important way to deal with hydro-fracking today, and whatever issues come up tomorrow. For we live in a state where Governor Cuomo – definitely an establishment Democrat – is on the fence, at very best, about protecting the environment.

I will be continuing to post a series of essays on these topics. Despite the fact that there is very little response to my series on hydro-fracking and grass roots activism, I do think they are important. My goal is to help lay out a road map of sorts, of how members of the Democratic Party who inhabit the Democratic Left can work at the grass roots level. I note that at times, various members on this forum talk about “who reads the Democratic Underground.” I know that various journalists and staff members of elected officials do, from time to time. If they just read about people investing time and energy debating and arguing on the internet, that's one thing. If they read about people organizing and being active on the grass roots level, that's quite another thing. Make sense?