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Web Research
Can There Be Honor and Purpose in Politics Anymore?
Historical Interpretation in Political Practice
New Network for Young Elected Officials is Organized
Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy
Martin Luther King was a Social Democrat
Strange: When Republicans Fail to be Bipartisan the Press Blames Obama
The American Way: A Short History of Business Handouts
Time to Jettison the Filibuster from Senate Rules
Social Democracy as a Conservative Movement
Hank Paulson Says Financial Executives Cannot be Trusted
Without Economic Planning: Economic Destruction
The Abortion Myth and School Segregation in the South
Lesson for Political Candidates: Control of the Narrative
The Resentment Strategy of Moral Relativists
Unaccountable Vice: Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin
Keeping the Democratic Faith
Political Ads in 1968: The South against the North
Retro vs. Metro: New Democratic Strategy for Electoral Success
Ronald Reagan is Dead Now
The Woods as Commons: The Secret History of the Magna Carta
The Democratic City of the Future
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Elected Officials
At this website we want to encourage and support elected officials as well as to encourage good people to run for public office. We want to help provide the means to do so at this website. If you have thought about running for office, or are presently a public official, please drop a note to let us know. We will see how we can help. And, otherwise, we want to provide here ideas and strategies for political campaigns for electoral candidates, both current and potential candidates. Social Democracy is a powerful concept and significant tradition. As this site develops we intend to forge a language by which to make the concept easy to articulate and understand. If you want to run for office you have to stand for something. Classic liberalism has not proven to be able to provide the inspiration by which to address the most critical problems facing local communities and the nation. Social Democracy provides a much richer and solid heritage upon which to draw. And there are actually-existing Social Democracies from which to learn. The term "official" comes, of course, from the term office which refers to positions within structures of government. All across the country it is these structures by which the people elect representatives to serve in these offices. The concept of office is an important one. It carries certain responsibilities. We will be keeping this in mind as we develop this website. The image at top right is a poster by Ricardo Levins Morales from Northland Poster which features the art of social justice, the tools of grassroots union organizing and labor activism, and the craft of union workers. The name of the above poster is "Laughter Is the Sound of Hope" and the text reads: "Hope is the seed of power. Power is the combined force of a multitude of voices joined together... that began as a mere whisper in the immense darkness and the ferocious cold and only kept alive by small, improbable notes of laughter." To run for office it is best to have a great sense of humor! Here are some beginning web resources. In the future we will be providing lots more specific help. Federal Elections Commission. The duties of the FEC, which is an independent regulatory agency, are to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections. Campaign Finance Guide. The Campaign Legal Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which works in the areas of campaign finance, communications and government ethics. We represent the public interest in administrative and legal proceedings where the nation's campaign finance and related media laws are enforced: at the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and in the courts. Wellstone Action Training. Of 200 candidates trained by Wellstone Action and running in the 2008 election 97 won. Stateline.org. A nonprofit, nonpartisan online news site that practices journalism in the public interest by reporting on emerging trends and issues in state policy and politics. Progressive Majority. This group does national candidate identification, training and support. It has an office in Washington state and supported several house and senate candidates in Washington. National Conference of State Legislatures. Project Vote Smart. Purpose is "to strengthen the most essential component of democracy -- access to information." It provides comprehensive data votes of elected officials on bills, how they score according to various indices, and on candidate positions. This is a crucial resource to know about for any political candidate. Here is an example, my own State Representative, Larry Seaquist. American Association of Political Consultants and Public Affairs Professionals. This is the primary group in the political consultant "industry". Political Advocacy Groups. A directory of "cause lobbyists". Aristotle. "...recognized as the pioneer in political technology. Every occupant of the White House — Democrat and Republican — for more than 25 years, has been an Aristotle customer, as are most U.S. Senators, most members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Democratic and Republican state party organizations. Year round, thousands of Americans involved in the political process — from grassroots organizers to Washington insiders — rely on Aristotle." |