One Place for All To See
I’m starting a crowd funding campaign to put up a billboard in some middle-American location that declares what Democrats in power could mean. Why? Democrats are bad at centralized or coherent messaging. This is a private effort to provide that. A billboard makes it something physical, something real, something committed to. I will be asking Democratic candidates to endorse it, making it semi-official. The more individual voters who have supported it the more candidates will feel they need to join the bandwagon. Please go to the web page DemBillboard.com.
You can pledge as little as $1. Lots of supporters. It needs lots of supporters.
But please pledge all you can. There are some people with real muscle for this kind of thing who have expressed interest in this but want to see it reach that initial goal first.
(Pledges can be named or anonymous. At this point they are just pledges, not charged. That comes later if we meet certain goals. Then they are processed through CrowdBlue, a Democratic and progressive organization promoting such candidates and causes.)
I’ve written here on DCReport numerous times about Democrats not having very clear or powerful messaging. This project is an attempt to address that need. You can see the information on it at the project page but here it is as well.
The Democratic Voters’ Billboard declares a list of top things for Democrats to do if they regain power. The party has no central place for voters to get some idea of what Democrats in power could do. The billboard provides that, and makes it something physical. One billboard in one prominent location in a city in the middle of the country.
In part it serves to urge Democratic leaders what to focus on. The more people like yourself who support and endorse it the more influence it has on the party. The other part is it can become semi-official if candidates or party leaders endorse it. If a lot of candidates and leaders endorse it then it becomes a declaration from the party. If the party wanted to fully take ownership of the billboard then it would become an official declaration from the party.
The Democratic party’s unfocused communication needs this. Plus Democratic voters wanting to light a fire under party leadership can use this as one way to do that.
About The List:
- The billboard would have several lines of bullet points permanently printed. Below that would be one digital scrolling line that can add further points and details.
- It is not intended to be a complete or detailed list. There is very limited space. Some points indicate a general theme, such as “Speed transition to renewable energy” which implies an overall concern for the environment and focus on climate change.
- As far as possible they are measurable goals, not just vague wishes. For instance, “Democrats would be concerned about the environment” is a vague wish whereas, “Democrats would speed transition to renewable energy” is something that in the years that follow could be looked back on and measured to see if they really did something.
- They are about the goals, not the hurdles on the way. Undoing Trump’s damage or reducing money in politics are hurdles on the way to goals. Goals like, addressing climate change, or expanding affordable healthcare coverage. Focus on the goals and the hurdles will be dealt with.
- As far as possible they are not about promises of government money to solve all sorts of problems. There’s never enough money and the promises amount to wishful thinking. Rather the list is about definite goals (like get Putin out of Ukraine) and about empowering people (like expand collective bargaining to raise wages).
For info contact [email protected]. And see more of my work here.
Items for the scrolling digital line:
– Ensure women’s health choices
– Fund research to be ready for the next pandemic
– Break up monopolies, and employment monopolies too
– Tax wealthier paychecks to strengthen social security
– Get closer to Medicare-for-all or ACA-for-all
More items to come
