A Better Pie for Everyone

I strongly believe that GLBT (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender)Rights will be the political issue for our generation that the Civil Rights movement was to our parent and grandparents. I also believe down the road it will be the litmus test for politicians: were you on the right side of the issue from the start, or did you pander to your anti-civil rights voters and them jump on the bandwagon once the issue started gaining in popularity?

I've been thinking about this because of what Carlton wrote in his "values" post earlier this week:

Many blacks maintain conservative views on social issues due to their strong connection to the Church.

Let's look at the powder keg behind that one little sentence.

Regardless of what the Democrats actually *do* for African Americans (which is a whole other worthwhile discussion, and one I'm looking forward to Kara and others posting on), African Americans are a key constituency in the Democratic base vote.

Conventional wisdom dictates that a Democrat in a contested election needs to carry their precincts with high African American populations in order to carry the vote.

Conventional wisdom likewise dictates that African Americans are social conservatives, and will not support GLBT issues.

Which means that Democrats with a large number of African American constituents *believe,* rightly or wrongly, that if they support GLBT civil rights, they will lose the African American vote...and lose their election.

In other words, we have a problem.

1. Where else can the GLBT community turn?
We've already written off the Log Cabin Republicans, so all that leaves are the Greens. Could GLBT civil rights be the issue that galvanizes the Green Party and pushes them onto the national political scene as a viable third party? Even my crystal ball can't get a good read on this, but my guess is that while this is a long shot, the issues at play are so important and so powerful, that it is at least a remote possibility. And a scary possibility, because we really want all of the Greens as well as the GLBT community to come home to the Democrats and help us re-invent the party from the inside.

2. If the Democrats support GLBT issues, where will our African American voters turn?
The Republicans have been courting them for years--courting them in the same lip-service way, mind you, that they court women and Arab Americans. Will they fall for it? Or will they just stay home? Keep in mind that the Republicans have at the same time been *actively* campaigning to suppress the African American vote, and we're not just talking about Florida. Hit a man or woman with a stick enough times...and eventually they will stop doing whatever it was they think brought on the stick. Behavior modification 101.

3. How do we reframe the debate?
The solution to me, for the Democrats, the GLBT community, and for African Americans, is to start a dialogue towards demonstrating that this really is the civil rights movement revisited. Part of how Republicans succeed is their divide and conquer strategy of driving wedge issues to fracture the country and alienate natural allies--there is a belief here that there are only so many civil rights and only so much success to go around, and every new group needs to hold onto their own little piece before someone else takes it away. This view obviously ignores the fundamental truth that we sink or swim together, and that so long as one of us is not free, none of us are free.

One of my favorite definitions of feminism has always been that feminists don't want a bigger piece of the pie, we want to make a better pie for everyone. How can we reframe the newest civil rights battle in this way?

And folks, I'm not asking rhetorically: I want to know, and I want to know what you think.

How aware are your peers of GLBT issues?

Is anyone you know talking about Virginiai's House Bill 751?

How do we get support for GLBT struggles from African American Community?

And how do we make it "politically safe" for Democrats to give the GLBT community the support they deserve?

The burden for change and the moral responsibility will weigh most heavily on the shoulders of our generation. Let's get talking and brainstorming.

Protecting the Vote

(I am posting this for Jeff, from his vista in the Cloakroom. ~Shaula)

...a little bit about whats going on on capital hill in case you havent been watching C-SPAN 24/7....

Today there was a suspension bill called H.Res 728 on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the actions of terrorists will never cause the date of any presidential election to be postponed and that no individual or agency should be given the authority to postpone the date of a presidential election.

It was introduced by Rep. Ney, a REPUBLICAN on House Administration.

How did the vote turn out? YEA- 419 NAY-2

Not exactly a partisan contention... it was close to unanimous consent.

Jeff added in his email to me that Republicans who support postponing the election are clearly way out of the mainstream of their own party.

I haven't seen much about this in the news yet but I am interested to see how both parties spin the story.
~Shaula

Doing Right by America

Senator Tom Daschle's floor speech today redefines the terms of the debate:

Doing Right By America

In just over 100 days, the American people will make an historic and fateful decision.

They will decide whether we stay the course we’re on, or move our country in a new and better direction.

As I’ve traveled around South Dakota and the nation, I’ve heard a lot about the hopes and dreams Americans have for their families. I’ve listened to ranchers and farmers, teachers and mothers, police officers and firefighters.

I am always humbled by the honesty of their message. Families in South Dakota and across our nation aren’t asking for special deals or special advantage. All they want is a fair opportunity on a level playing field. They want to know that there’s only one set of rules, and that the game isn’t rigged against them.

Most of all, they want to know that as we make decisions affecting the future of our country, our first priority is Doing Right by America.

Read More of this amazing speech...

Senator Daschle does everything in this speach that Democrats need to do to win:

(Re-)Define the terms of the public debate

(Re-)Claim the moral high ground

Champion the issues of working class Americans

Offer real policy solutions

Speak everyday language

Hold the Republicans publically accountable for their betrayals of the American people

Reading this has made my day.

My only question is, why is this speach coming from Tom Daschle and not John Kerry?

The Political Power of Blogs

The Chicageo Tribune has a story today on the political power of blogs:

Blogs--short for Web logs, which are online journals that usually feature commentaries on daily events and provide links to other Web sites--are emerging as potentially powerful tools for building grass-roots political support.

"Blogs are the new face of politics," Seemann, of Canton, Ohio, said. "We are on the ground level of what will be shaping up as the future of political campaigning."

While scores of political blogs don't go beyond gossip and bickering, many are quite influential, analysts say...

Read More...

The article goes on to discuss the fundraising potential of blogs.

I would like to see the C101 blog raise money for some of our favorite candidates.

What do you think about the article? And, who do you think we should raise money for?