Reading the diary on the Rec list by DrSteveB over at Dailykos today inspired me to write this rare diary for me.
Over the last year or so, I have been giving a lot of thought to the problem that despite the fact that we are the Party of the People, we have a ways to go when it comes to promoting our ideas to the general public. The Republicans, in particular the religious right, have a well-oiled machine in place to help them promote their views and candidates.
Our biggest problem is a lack of organization. Another problem, especially for the netroots, is that our influence doesn’t spread much beyond the blogosphere. There are vast swaths of the population who have never heard our ideas. So how do we bring these people around?
One thing that seems to hurt us is the fact that most people out there aren’t very well-informed about many of the important issues we wish to promote. So I am proposing that we set up a series of educational campaigns aimed at the wider public. I think I have found a way for us to do it without having to spend a lot of money, or asking people to give up their jobs—but we do need to be willing to coordinate our activities, and donate a small portion of our time to the effort.
Anatomy of a Public Education Campaign
My idea consists of setting up, for each month of the year, a campaign on a particular progressive issue, and then getting as many people as possible to work, during that month, on spreading information about it around. For example, January could be the month we promote progressive ideas on wage and labor issues, and September could be health care month. Through the small scale efforts of ordinary people, we could effectively reach thousands of people.
The main goal of any public education campaign should be to counter right wing propaganda, spread factual information about the issues, and to effectively reach as many people as possible—especially those who are most likely to benefit from our ideas. You’re going to be a lot more successful promoting wage and labor issues in a working class neighborhood than you will in a rich, gated community.
Another thing to consider is the exposure level we subject people to on a local level—the more frequently people see or hear a particular view, the more legitimacy they tend to perceive it to have. Think of the way advertisers promote their brands—because people see ads for Coke products everywhere, they are more likely to say Coke is better soda pop than the cheaper, less widely known store brands, and will pay more for the name brand stuff, even though the store brand may taste exactly the same. So the more intense the campaign, the more successful it is likely to be. Therefore, you might be better off leafleting the same apartment complex three times in month, especially if you are the only person in the area working on a particular issue.
Of course, we will all want to write about our “issue of the month” on our own blogs—and get as many other progressive bloggers as possible out there to do the same. We could put little buttons or banners on our blogs promoting the “issue of the month”.
An important fact to consider for any grassroots campaign is that not everybody can commit a lot of time and money to the cause. Here’s a few ideas:
Leafleting
We could do nationwide leafleting campaigns by asking bloggers and other grass roots campaigners to print, and then distribute educational leaflets on stuff like wage issues, health care, campaign finance reform—any number of topics of importance. The participants in the campaign could print off as few, or as many, copies to distribute as they could reasonably afford and have time to pass out. If you could get people across the country involved, we could potentially reach thousands of people every month who never use the Internet.
Related to the idea of leafleting is e-mail. Simply send a few people on your contact list an educational e-mail on some topic of importance to the progressive cause every week or month.
LTE’s
Another handy trick in our toolbox could involve having people send LTE’s to their local newspapers. Imagine how much exposure we could get for ideas such as national health care if we could get LTE’s on the subject in question printed in dozens of newspapers across the country. Of course, if you could actually get your local newspaper to write an article on the campaign, then so much the better!
Yard signs and Bumper Stickers
Simple solutions for people who don’t have a lot of time to contribute—at the very least, you can put the issue in front of a lot of people, even if you don’t provide a lot of information.
Call-in Radio and TV Shows
Be opportunistic! If a radio or TV show deals with a topic we are promoting, don’t miss the chance to call in and promote our views!
Contact Local Groups
Another idea is to contact local groups about the campaign—more than likely, they would be happy to help. Coordinating your efforts with a group that is already in place will help to magnify the results. In addition, you should try to recruit individuals who seem friendly to the cause to help spread the word.
These are just a few ideas—I’m sure you guys can come up with more (and probably better ones) than I have.
We’ll need to figure out how we will decide which issue should get promoted every month (perhaps a vote?) and try to work out the rest of the bugs. So I want to hear all of your ideas—let’s see what we can get going!
Some time before the presidential primaries, I’ll share my ideas for getting out the vote, and how we can help remove some of the barriers to voting for low income people, minorities, and the elderly.
Crossposted at Dailykos.
