Democrats Must Engage the Grass Roots

I was recently appointed to chair the “Grass Roots Committee” for The Montgomery County Democratic Party. Montgomery County has 540 precincts, over 300,000 voters and over 35,000 registered Democrats -- so there are a lot of “grass roots” to consider. I set the goal for myself to write a blog about what goals this “Grass Roots Committee” should seek to accomplish, and what plan of action the committee should recommend to the Executive Committee. I decided that I would write the blog as a letter to the chair of The Montgomery County Democratic Party -- and send this letter to the chair as a means to start a conversation with him and the rest of the Executive Committee about ideas for possible implementation. I thought that I would have a completed blog this week, but I am not nearly finished. My goal now is to finish by next week. This is how the letter begins:


How Do We Inspire Democrats to Leadership?

Dennis,
The "Grass Roots Committee" has as it main goal the task of creating and outlining a plan, that, if implemented, will result in many more Democrats becoming active and effective participants in our Party.

This main goal can be divided into sub-goals. Here are three sub-goals; I would like our committee to make a plan to:

1. Create an e-mail directory of all the Democrats in this county.
   
2. Fill the position of precinct captain in each precinct with an individual who is committed to active participation in the Party.
   
3. Inspire each precinct captain to engage in productive grassroots’ work in his or her precinct at least 3 hours each week, each week of the year.

My thought is that success with the "grass roots" will be determined by the quality and commitment of leadership at the "grass roots" level. Montgomery County Democrats need to develop and empower a core group of "grass roots" leaders and each of these leaders need to make an extraordinarily high level of personal committment to make their leadership effective. Think of what three hours each week, every week, by 540 individuals could accomplish. It would be amazing. This is a big goal, but I think that it is a goal that is actually doable. Certainly we can find a plan that would inspire and engage 540 Democrats in this county to make an extraordinary effort. Finding leaders -- allowing and encouraging leaders to emerge -- is our most important task, and at the heart of a successful "grass roots" program. The key word to finding leaders, it seems to me, is the word, inspire.

What would inspire potential leaders to accept leadership and to commit to an extraordinary level of personal involvement? My thought is that we could inspire Democrats to new levels of leadership and commitment -- if we could implement the right plan. Aspects of a plan that could motivate and inspire, I believe, would include giving Democrats the opportunity to: 1) become involved in personally engaging activities, 2) identify with and participate in a meaningful community of like-minded citizens and 3) contribute to the success of a meaningful purpose. The fact that Montgomery County is a battleground county in a battleground state is one basis for inspiration, one basis for defining meaningful purpose.

This letter will outline one plan of action that I would like the "Grass Roots Committee" to further study and develop.