Recent Articles
|
 The
Continuous Political Process.
The last three months we posted an article
leading up to the Iowa Caucuses, and the scrutiny
that we give the candidates to start the
presidential selection process. We began with six
excellent candidates, and now two remain. Although
the focus has shifted to primary and caucus contests
in other states, the political process is never "out
of season" in Iowa. We had the County Conventions on
15 March, to be followed on 26 April with the five
Congressional District Conventions, 14 June with the
State Convention in Des Moines, and 25 August with
the National Convention in Denver. Delegates
supporting their candidate, and platform issues
affecting every moment of our lives are being
thoroughly considered at each step. If you are part
of these conventions, thank you for your
participation in democracy. Being active in the
process allows you to have some say in how our world
develops.
The conventions are very important to the process,
but they are only part of the whole political scene.
The County Central Committee meets monthly (usually
the second Tuesday night) to transact the on-going
business of the Democratic Party. Sub-committees
with specific tasks meet more often. Some of the
events that occur are fund-raising breakfasts,
sales, dinners, and right now, preparations for
opening our election-year office. When the office
opens, so do many other essential tasks, such as
phone banks, door-knocking, voter registration, mass
mailings, yard signs, and hundreds of other ways in
which volunteers are needed and utilized. There are
many people who you run into that complain about
government, or taxes, or "cronyism", or hypocrisy,
yet they don't vote, or they vote for people who
actually harm the issues they care about. Being
active in our party allows us to strive for a
government answerable to ALL it's citizens. We find
"participatory democracy" quite rewarding in that
aspect.
By being active in the Dubuque County Democratic
Party, we have a personal stake in choosing and
supporting elected officials who will hold high
standards of representation, and act for the benefit
of all of us. A politician once said that he saw his
duty as "Comforting the afflicted, and afflicting
the comfortable." The last seven years of
presidential "leadership" have turned that saying
around, and the "comfortable" have done exceedingly
well, while the other 80 percent of us have
struggled. If you yearn to achieve a government
which taxes fairly, protects the environment,
defends human rights, produces jobs with good wages,
maintains the roads and schools, solves the health
care and fuel crises, provides equal opportunity,
and regains the respect of the world, then we need
your help. Join our quest. Check our constantly
updated calendar below this space (in particular at
this time is our annual HALL OF FAME DINNER on
FRIDAY 25 APRIL). Contact any of our officers. Leave
a message on our answering machine (557-1007).
Attend a breakfast, or volunteer in our office, or
march with us in a parade, or help our candidates.
or write a letter to the editor, or serve on a
committee, or...
Everyone can help, whether the task be complicated
or mundane, and all are needed. See you soon? e are all so proud of our
Dubuque County Democrats: the volunteers, the caucus
captains, the college students (and high
school students), and all the energetic participants. Thank
you, all, for seeing that democracy took a great step
forward. Whew. Now on the regular work for the Dubuque
County Democrats.
Terry Stewart
Chair, Dubuque County Democratic Party |
Recent
history: why are the
Iowa Caucuses Important?
Thursday evening, January 3rd, 2008 is
fast approaching. Candidates and their campaigns are in high
gear, pursuing supporters to stand up for them. The
Democratic Party is securing hundreds of caucus sites around
the state, and preparing for a turnout of tens of thousands
of hardy Iowans to go out into the cold mid-winter night and
take a stand for the candidate who best represents their
concerns. Iowa has started the presidential selection
process for more than 30 years. That experience has given
Iowans both the excitement of opening the "selection
season", and the sobering realization that no one else has
the unique opportunity and responsibility of making this
choice. I have heard people say in some general elections
"We have to choose the lesser of two evils!"; or "All
politicians are corrupt, and there's no difference in the
parties." or "Why vote? It won't make any difference!"
In Iowa, none of that has to be true. We
can check the candidates out, up close and personal. We get
to meet them face to face, look them in the eye, ask them
tough questions, compare them to their peers, We get months
to weigh as many factors as we consider important, and make
a thoroughly educated choice regarding the best candidate
for president. And this year, we are amazingly blessed with
half a dozen good Democrats, any one of whom will be a
TREMENDOUS improvement over the current administration.
What's not to like? Giving close scrutiny to these fine
candidates is a privilege that everyone should welcome.
If you have participated in the Iowa
Caucuses before, welcome back. If you are considering it for
the first time, congratulations on recognizing what a golden
opportunity you have to make a difference. Think of it: You
have a hand in choosing the next leader of our nation, and
therefore, how we will engage the rest of the world. Go to
caucus, and help us begin to get our country back on the
road to restoring the rule of law, fighting for our
families, protecting our environment, respecting and being
respected by other cultures, embracing the ideals that we
all know are part of the fabric of our history, and the
pillars of our future. Those might sound like lofty words,
but when we understand the impact our choice makes on the
process, and the results that will be rendered by the 2008
presidential election, words are inadequate to express the
importance of the caucuses.
To find out where you will be caucusing,
look for your precinct caucus site on this website soon, or
watch for the sites to be printed in the Dubuque Leader and
Telegraph Herald, or call the auditor's office or a
candidate's office. Then plan to attend on Thursday, January
3rd to help choose the next president. You can also help
choose the Democratic Party precinct leaders, and submit
issues for inclusion in the platform. It's in your hands.
Choose wisely. And thanks for caring.
Terry Stewart
Chair, Dubuque County Democratic Party
|
