People-Powered

Fifteen days from today, on June 5, the people of Wisconsin will vote. Six representatives of the people are facing recall: Governor Scott Walker, Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and four Senators, including grassroots heroine Lori Compas in District 13.

As John Nichols said in a recent article, “The unprecedented spending on behalf of Walker and his allies has made these recall elections an example of what campaigning has come to look like in the Citizens United era: Democrats can’t hope to match the staggering level of corporate cash raised by the GOP, so they will have to accelerate grassroots organizing and get-out-the-vote drives.

Wisconsin will test the prospect that people power might yet beat money power.” (My emphasis)

Many people, including me, wonder what we can do in these last days to most effectively fight back against all that corporate cash. After all, we don’t have millions of dollars to spend on slick commercials, so how do we get the word out about the Democratic candidates? Here’s a list I hope you will share with others:

1.     Write a letter to your local paper (Several of mine have been printed, and you’d be surprised how many people mentioned seeing them.)

2.     Spend as many hours as you can volunteering to Get Out the Vote. Go door to door, make phone calls, or bake cookies for volunteers. Sign up opportunities are at http://www.unitedwisconsin.com/ or http://www.wearewisconsin.org/ or http://www.loricompas.org/

3.     Donate money. The National Democratic Party can’t afford to give, billionaires don’t want to . . . http://www.barrettforwisconsin.com or http://www.unitedwisconsin.com/

4.     Make a video and post it to YouTube. Here’s one that Lori Compas and her family did a week ago to combat her opponent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO3FWw_XriE

5.     Make handheld signs and recruit others to wave them by the side of the road at rush hour. Get involved in the Highway to Truth Project by contacting Nate Timm at (608) 220-0139 or info2share@rocketmail.com You can donate $20 per sign to fund or help install handmade signs at busy locations.

6.     Wear a button. Sing. I designed the button in the photo to honor Ron, a man in his 80’s who joins the Solidarity Sing along every day and rings his Bell of Freedom.

7.     Visit the Overpass Light Brigade Facebook page and join them—or make your own LED signs. Here’s the video from last weekend when I stood on an overpass in Madison for several hours with 60 other people—what a great time it was with motorists honking down below. http://vimeo.com/42097105

8.     Paint your car, home, or office windows with your recall message. Here’s a good one: “Walker is a Weasel, Barrett is a Badger!”

9.     Or paint your trash . . . Take a look at the Northwoods Project’s newest campaign: the "Trash Walker" Brigade. This is what I call recycling. http://grassrootstvwi.blogspot.com/