DerekB’s Recent Comments

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Good essay Josh. I think your point that we need to be a positive, "Yes we can", movement is great. Saying no to a climate bill that will fundamentally change our emissions trajectory from growth to reduction, is not a positive movement building effort. Radicals are free to be radical, but should still be strategic. Do you remember that spontaneous chant at PowerShift 2007 when Speaker Pelosi was speaking? "We want more." That's a radical chant to get behind. "Filibuster the bill" is a chant that the oil and coal companies would pay activists to make. DerekOn Calling all radicals: Unite for Kerry-Boxer posted 3 weeks, 3 days ago 32 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  They are:

  Christian Coalition, the RNC, Focus on Families - they all do canvass.  But the fact is the radical right doesn't have the public on their side when it comes to real issues.  They need funding from corporations and a few rich individuals.On Why green-group canvassing operations need an overhaul posted 3 years, 5 months ago 28 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Nathan, Nathan, Nathan... I shake my head at you.

  Nathan, you're a great activist, but you gotta stop thinking like an liberal activist from Montgomery County.

  Door knocking is the essence of civic engagement, on this point we agree, no?  Ok, so how do we get people to knock on doors? As volunteers or as paid staff.  Well guess what - 1000s of college students aren't giving up their summer to knock on doors as volunteers.  For a door to door operation to be run, people need to be paid, and people get paid by asking for donations.  

  Canvassing is hardly a cash cow operation.  Often it barely breaks even.  But the fact is that people are engaged by someone coming to their door.  Most canvassers get post cards signed, most organizations that canvass also have volunteer activist components.  We need people involved at every level - volunteer activists as well as paid door-to-door outreach and non-volunteer donors.

  And finally, the most important aspect of Summer canvassing is the people it brings into the movement.  I for one, would not be working as an environmental organizer if I hadn't canvassed after my freshman year.  The tens of thousands of people who try canvassing before quitting for an easier job would never have the experience of either going door-to-door or doing environmental work if not for the yellow signs that say summer jobs for the environment.  (And frankly, the most people of color I have seen engaged in enviromentalism was through canvassing - where people want a job regardless of race, and people can be any color of the rainbow behind a door.)

  ps. Nathan you know i'm gonna grill you on this next time I see you!On Why green-group canvassing operations need an overhaul posted 3 years, 5 months ago 28 Responses