As MoveOn.org's new Campaign Director, I've received a rapid orientation in the power of the netroots by working on our Call for Change Program. I joined the MoveOn team in August and was immediately blown away by the energy people are pouring into reaching out to voters around the country and turning them out to the polls this November.
Our goal has been to make get-out-the-vote calling easy and accessible to everyone with a couple of hours a week to spare, no matter where they live. The theory is simple: use cutting edge technology to make calling easy-this means more participation, which empowers people and helps reach the goal of 5,000,000 calls to voters by Election Day.
The success of the program is amazing. And, as a newcomer, I have been pondering why this is the case. A few things stand out to me. For too long, shifting the political landscape has been the sole turf of the elite strategists and the full time activists. Call for Change turns that dynamic completely on its head. Anyone can call, anytime. The system works so you can call from home when you have 15 minutes or gather with other like-minded folks at parties and all call together on the weekends.
Voters, saturated this season with news and polls and endless political ads, suddenly find themselves on the other end of the phone with a peer that has made the effort to reach out at crunch time. Our members call because they care, and that genuine concern and belief in people-powered politics comes through the phone lines loud and clear.
We're hearing from members-and I have experienced it myself-that as the election draws near, more people are actually excited to have someone to talk to about the state of this country and what they can do to positively effect change. This reaction transcends the boundaries of sometimes arbitrary Congressional districts. Wherever possible, our members call in their own towns or states. But because we focus our efforts on the most competitive races, we sometimes have people calling across the country.
This dynamic has made clear that what's being debated and decided in this election are issues that affect everyone-nationally. The issues our members talk about on the phone - health care, clean energy, fair elections, and ending the war in Iraq - are issues that resonate across state lines and even across party lines. They are the very real things that affect our lives, as citizens. And, all of the sudden, changing that reality seems within grasp.
All of these things contributed to our most recent round of Call for Change parties being even more successful than we could have imagined. Last weekend, 1400 MoveOn members signed up on-line to have friends and strangers over to their homes to watch Robert Greenwald's new film, Iraq for Sale and make get-out-the-vote calls. A stunning 13,000 people made over 200,000 calls in 48 hours. At first, some people were intimidated to pick up the phone, but the stark reality the movie laid out and the support from others calling got them over their fear and by the end, most everyone was a pro. After all, the potential payoff is a Congress willing to rein in an unaccountable administration and begin a process to bring our troops home.
In the movie, filmmaker Robert Greenwald lays bare the real human cost of companies looking to profit through war. And David Mann spoke to members about his own experiences fighting a war for a government willing to put corporate interests over the welfare of its troops. The shared stories of filmmakers and veterans spread through the parties. And as callers, we shared our own stories with voters we reached on the phone, and so it goes.
What gets lost sometimes in an election season full of talking heads is that this is the time when democracy belongs squarely in the hands of all of us. That's been my biggest lesson here-MoveOn is great at using the innovative technology. And what we are using it to do is help everyday citizens with busy lives and busy schedules to talk to each other about the real things that matter to them. As the election gets closer, I feel something really fresh-hope. People are hopeful that change might really be for the taking this year. And, after all the ads are aired, democracy really is just about the people and what they hope for.