Draft Yourself: Bringing the Grassroots Online

After an election cycle in which the netroots loudly proved its mettle as a mjor influence in national politics, our field is expanding and the demand for innovation and diversification has never been greater. We saw the first steps towards a thriving netroots/grassroots alliance in many places around the country, in Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, etc. Between now and the next election, the biggest challenge ahead is to establish a mutually beneficial cooperation with existing grassroots organizations which have largely been operating independent of netroots activities thusfar. The netroots, for all the progress, is still much more talk than it is tangible movement on the ground, and the established grassroots has clearly been reticent for a variety of reasons to leap headlong into the blogging community. It seems to me that it's much easier for us in the netroots to set about making the online world more receptive and more useful to grassroots activists, so how do we do it?

We start by establishing strengths and weaknesses. The netroots can do all sorts of things, but more than anything, it's a giant message machine. It's an educational tool- a megaphone for otherwise small issues, races and people. It may help steer public debate, but so far it hasn't been the primary business of the netroots to foster local conditions. Rather, the netroots has focused on empowering preexisting grassroots movements. They have the institutional framework and they have the shoe leather. They provide the local connections and the block-by-block insight into voter attitudes. Thus far, it's mostly been those campaigns and those organizations that have come online of their own accord that have benefitted from netroots attention, and understandably so. But at some point the netroots has to really get proactive about dragging the entire Democratic grassroots online. We need their organization at the local level, they need our volume. I'd suggest that we can force ourselves on them in the best possible way. How? Draft yourself.

When I took on the Googlebomb project a few weeks before the election, it wasn't as though I had Chris Bowers calling me to see if I would be interested in doing it. I just had the time and the interest and started doing it until it was my project. The simplest and most straightforward way to bring the grassroots online, in spite of the all-too-prevalent fear of computers and all things related, is to just nominate yourself as official blogger for your local organization. People have already started doing this, but it's something that needs to be done on a much larger scale. There are community organizations everywhere, whether explicitly or implicitly political, that are flying under the netroots radar because nobody's writing anything about them. So if you're already attending, write about it and tell us why it's awesome. If you aren't, find an organization in your community that's doing the work of progressivism and start showing up. Don't do it specifically to report back, do it because you should be involved outside the keyboard, but make sure that you DO come report back. Tell us, in real terms, about the people who are sweating to make this country better.

This is important and exceptionally useful for several reasons:

First, it hopefully gets more people involved in their communities. Obviously, this is great in and of itself, but it also is great for creating an inherent crosspollenization between online and offline. It also leads naturally to better local organization when it comes time to get progressive candidates elected to school board, mayor, state party posts, etc.

Second, it goes miles towards making the netroots more accessible. The many thousands of people working hard every day are going to see the netroots talking about them and about their work, and that's going to be attractive. For one, there's immediately an online discussion taking place to which they can contribute firsthand, expert observations and opinions. Two, it makes people feel important and part of a larger group. I've had this discussion a bunch of times with people, and feeling like you're earning people's attention is a big part of why the netroots is able to suck people in. Becoming even a minor rock star in the blogging world can go a long way. Just ask Tommy Lee how good a life being a mid-level rock star can be.

Third, it's a perpetuating cycle. The more attention that these groups receive online, the more people show up to local meetings, the more people report back, and the more we in the netroots become linked to the grassroots. Grassroots organizations get a primer in how great blogs can be for publicity, money and volunteers, and bloggers get a primer in what can happen when you show up and make decisions in your community.

I fear that one major issue standing in the way of the grassroots embracing the online community in a full-scale way is the idea, not entirely unfounded, that the netroots expect to shape the message of everyone they talk about. If we start bridging this gap by presenting the netroots as an opportunity to be heard, to make your case in the most naturally meritocratic sounding board we've currently got, it's going to be attractive. If we show up trying to crash the gates of everyone we meet, it's going to be quite a bit more contentious than it should be.

I'm the first to admit that I'm not as involved in my community as I should be, so let this stand as a lecture to myself as much as it's a suggestion to anyone else, but building the bridges into the communities from which the votes and the progress will ultimately come is (or should be) what the netroots is for. So go out and find the people doing good work in your community and pitch in. I bet you'll be glad you did, and I look forward to hearing all about it.