Putting Our Money Where Our Mouths Are

I, too, attended Saturday night's PRDC fundraiser dinner. I counted a total of four PTS contributers, with Demophoenix being the most notable. I don't have much to say about Bell's speech that Demophoenix didn't already cover in his previous post. Bell, while being highly critical of Republican corruption, has a positive message and his theme of "budgets are moral documents" will undoubtably strike a chord with voters.

Regretfully, I got active in the local party only just recently and haven't attended many PRDC functions. Despite that one thing has become very clear to me - the local Dems are in desperate need of some fresh recruits. I'd wager that 75% of Saturday night's crowd were 60+. Father Time is going to do more damage to the local Democrats in the coming years than anything The Republicans^TM can cook up. The following observation will garner a collective "Well, no duh..." from local party leaders, but recruiting new members (not just voters, but participating members) should be a top priority. How best to do that isn't clear to me.

We on the left have been critical of the armchair generals on the right who support the war in Iraq, but have absolutely no intention of putting their own butts on the line. The same can be said of the left and our desire to take back our country, state and region. We need to invest our time and our money. Otherwise it isn't going to happen. Democrats in this area are outnumbered 10 to 1. We are probably outspent 1000 to 1, or more. All you liberal lurkers out there are going to have to get involved. Make an effort to come to the monthly meetings. Come to the fundraisers. Send in a check for $10 every now and then. Talk to your lefty friends and try to get them involved, too.

Likewise, prominent Democrats at the state and national level need to put in some time here, too. It would be nice if people from Albuquerque and Santa Fe were coming to Amarillo to hear a Democrat speak instead of the other way around. Chris Bell's presentation was a hell of a good start, but we need somebody who would really stir things up. Someone like Howard Dean. If the Democrats truly are the party for the average Joe, then they should be more than happy to stop by for a chat despite how red this area is.