Inverting the pyramid.
Sometimes an article or statement just clicks, and things fall into focus. I was reading this link at DFA and followed it through to the article. I thought yes! this is what we have to do, it is what we have been doing throughout the 50 states.
J. Scott Christianson of the Columbia Daily Tribune has an analysis of how local DFA groups fit into the inverted pyramid of the Democratic Party structure.
..According to Scott, our success depends, literally, in turning the Democratic Party on its head
Here is an amazing critique of the structural integrity of the two parties and the change that Howard Dean at the DNC and the progressive groups like DFA want to bring.
Democratic Allies Helping to Rebuild the Party
By J. SCOTT CHRISTIANSON
Published Tuesday, August 22, 2006
In a 2005 New York Times editorial, Bill Bradley compared the structure of the Republican and Democratic parties to pyramids. The Republican Party’s pyramid starts with a broad, solid base built of organizations and think tanks that generate funding, ideas, policies and talking points. Conservative commentators and networks that spread the message of the party form the next level.
“At the very top of the pyramid, you’ll find the president,” Bradley wrote. “Because the pyramid is stable, all you have to do is put a different top on it, and it works fine.”
And Bradley points out the same thing Howard Dean mentioned in his interview with Matt Bai in a Sunday with the Times interview. First, Bradley’s statement from the link above:
Bradley continued: “To understand how the Democratic Party works, invert the pyramid. Imagine a pyramid balancing precariously on its point, which is the presidential candidate. Democrats who run for president have to build their own pyramids all by themselves. There is no coherent, larger structure that they can rely on.“
And Howard Dean referred to this same problem in his interview with Matt Bai. No link, it was audio and no transcript.
He says the Demcratic party has essentially been “non-functional as party” for about 30 years.
The functions of the party have been taken over by the campaigns. He says he thinks Kerry’s GOTV effort was terrific, but that was “John Kerry’s GOTV effort” and the DNC played a secondary role.
He says the Democratic “party” has not really been driving things, but that it is true on the Republican side.
The author of the Columbia Tribune article listed above then points to the role of groups like DFA in helping to build the party’s structure from the ground up.
Taking a cue from the Republicans, the Democrats are reaching beyond the party itself and the “usual suspects” of Democratic activists to build the pyramid. Several new organizations have sprung up in Mid-Missouri that are aligned with the party but are not part of the party.
Democracy for Missouri – www.democracyformo.com – is one good example. A local chapter of the national Democracy for America, DFM recently held its statewide convention in Columbia. While some Democrats view organizations such as DFM as competing with the party proper, they are really more complementary than competitive.
Groups such as DFA can do things the local party organization can’t or won’t do, such as endorsing a primary challenger instead of the incumbent. Such things need to be done from time to time so that the candidate with the best chance of winning in the general election emerges.
….Into the Blue – www.intotheblue.org – is a Columbia-based organization whose sole purpose is to build progressive and democratic infrastructure in Missouri. Rather than focusing on candidates or particular issues, the emphasis is on creating a solid foundation.
A big advantage of this stronger party on the ground is the local connectivity. It will give a year-round ground game every year. It should allow us to stop being so dependent on consultants and TV ads, connect with the voters…one of the goals of the Dean brothers as stated below. In a way it is a form of campaign finance reform. Howard Dean once said if the congress won’t fix campaign finance reform, we can do it for them.
From a recent training in New Jersey by DFA leaders:
Calculating Victory, a DFA training
“What separates Joe and Ned is the ground game,” Democracy for America chair Jim Dean told the crowd, emphasizing that victory can only come from organizing. “Being consultant-heavy and trying to televise our way to victory is the reason we lost for fifteen years.”
And from a recent meeting with Delaware Dems, Howard Dean had this to say.
Person to person beats big media
Person-to-person politics beats big media campaigns when it comes to winning over voters.
“You can’t win a campaign with just expensive TV ads,” Dean said. “You’ve got to go out and make yourself known … You have to go to people who didn’t vote the way you voted and convince them of your position.”
And that’s why Dean has pressed through criticism to follow through on a “50-state” strategy for building stronger Democratic voting in all states, whether they are currently Red or Blue on the political map.
If you are interested, I transcribed more of the Matt Bai interview with Dean not long ago. He is pretty candid about his goals for the party and clear they will not be done overnight.
Sunday with the Times interview, Matt Bai and Howard Dean
