I am going straight to Daily Kos first thing this morning.
Tommy Blueseed has an interesting look at why the Democrats may be having a hard time getting anything about the war in Iraq accomplished, and ask if maybe the regular people are more educated about things than our elected officials may be.
Original
Dumb and Dumber: House and Senate Democrats
Tue Feb 13, 2007
After the January peace march, I stayed in our nation's capitol to lobby. My experience on Capitol Hill reminded me that people in Washington are no different than the rest of America. As we travel along the Bell Curve we see Congress members run the gamut of poorly informed, averagely informed (corporate media), or greatly informed (blogs, primary sources, and international press).
It's likely a Congress member, or her staff, may dismiss our stands on issues when they differ from the politicized intelligence or Washington group think perpetuated by the Bush administration, consultants and corporate media. From the blogosphere we know that there are far wider sources of information, analysis, and ideas that need to be read in order to form an accurate assessment of a situation. They are not dumb or dumber than us. They're just not as well read as us.
Do we need to change how we communicate with Congress? Will including links to sources that support our positions increase the likelihood that each staffer will take the time to become as informed about our issues as we are?
Below the fold see someone talk about her experience with Democratic Congress members and read about my experience with a staffer. Then help us decide the best way to educate Congress.
Two weeks ago, a United for Peace and Justice held a lobby day training in Bethesda, Maryland, the day after the peace march. Over 800 people had signed up to lobby Congress the next day and the large auditorium at the high school in Bethesda was filled with people. I found myself paying attention to several interesting speakers and nodding off while others preached to the choir. I don't have high expectations from speakers after readying Dailykos. If ten percent of a speaker's content tells me something I haven't read here then I consider them success. Here's a speaker, Phyllis Bennis, who met my criteria for success several times over. Though some of what she was saying didn't really sink in till the following day when I was meeting with my own senator's staff member.
The Dumb
When Bennis began talking about lobbying, one of the first things she told us was that we didn't need to be experts on the war to talk about it with Congress or their staff. Bennis said that as long as we know the basics, we'll know a lot more than the people we'll be talking too. We laughed. I laughed because I thought it absurd that knowing the basics meant that we would likely know more than the people we were meeting with.
And this is not to insult the Congress and their staff, Bennis said. The reason for their lack of knowledge is several fold. Their staff, especially in the House, tend to be young and not terribly experienced, low paid, overworked, and the war is only one of a great many issues that they have to spend time on. Some of these traits also apply to our Congressional Representatives. To illustrate her point, Bennis related a story about meeting with a group of House Congress members and their reaction to a discussion about potential war with Iran. You can watch the last four minutes of her talk where she relates this story in the video here.
In the video Bennis tells how she asked representatives some basic questions about an attack on Iran that some of them had not even asked themselves. This lack of information that most of us Kossacks consider basic was confirmed in my own meetings with Congressional staffers.
The Dumber
I was disappointed that my senator could not meet with our group personally. My disappointment quickly changed to a combination of disbelief and anger as our meeting with the senator's staffer continued. Imagine how you'd feel if your elected representatives and their staff told you they were "surprised by what they saw in Iraq" in December '06. Especially when they describe something you've been reading about for at least the last year and a half.
Would you be surprised to hear that their helicopter flyover of "safe" neighborhoods showed streets filled with trash, automobiles, and other debris in an attempt to keep outsiders from entering? Would you be surprised to hear that Iraqi government officials weren't providing credible answers when meeting with members of Congress?
The dumberest statement of them all was when we were told that Democrats would never vote to cut off funds for the war because it would be seen as not supporting the troops and stir up Bush's base. What about the Democratic base? Have these average representatives and senators even thought about what they can accomplish if they would actually do something to stir up the Democratic base?
I have to admit that Democrats continuing to let Americans and Iraqis die is getting me stirred up. But I'm stirred up in a negative direction towards Democrats who are able to non-bindingly talk but can't bindingly walk. That's wasted energy that could be more positively used fighting the Bush Republicans and the damage they are doing to our country and our world.
Liberal and Literate
After my experience I had to ask myself, why hasn't the majority of Congress and their staff progressed to the point where I'm at on Bush's Iraq War? We're all liberals here on the Democratic side of the aisle. Yes, I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the Democrats that we're all working primarily from the nurturing parent side of politics. If we're working from the same model for political decision-making then why aren't we on the same page?
I know I'm not smarter than these people who are elected to, or work for, Congress. But I can read. And what I've read from before the war led me to oppose it before it started. What I've read since the war has let me conclude that Bush had already lost his Iraq War when he screwed up how the occupation would be handled And what I've read over the last two years strongly makes the case that Iraq will only improve once our occupying forces have strategically withdrawn from their country.
Congressional Democrats are not on the same page with us about ending the Iraq War because they have not been reading the same pages as you and I. For anyone to be surprised about what they saw in Iraq last December would mean that they are at least a year or two behind on their reading list.
What and Why
It's not enough for Congress to rely on politicized intelligence briefings or the corporate media. We now know that way leads to disaster and death. And it's not enough to just tell Congress our stands on an issue like the war. Instead, we've also got to tell them why we've come to take those positions and provide sources so that they can educate themselves and not be surprised the next time they go to Iraq.
It's likely a Congress member, or her staff, may dismiss our stands on issues when they differ from the politicized intelligence or Washington group think perpetuated by consultants and corporate media. From the blogosphere we know that there are far wider sources of information, analysis and ideas that need to be read in order to form an accurate assessment of a situation.
To remedy this dismissal of our position on issues, I recommend including a link or reference to at least one source that supports your position. Include a sentence or two describing how each source leads you to your conclusions. This increases the likelihood that each staffer will take the time to become as informed about your issue as you are. And how much easier for us if they also arrive at the same course of action.
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