Washblog

The collected minutes of the four sessions -- three pre-caucus meetings (including breakouts for a wide range of platform-writing actions), and the Saturday caucuses -- can be downloaded from this page of the website of the 43rd LD Dems.  The specific platform revisions, section by section and point by point, can be viewed here, and the resulting draft platform is available for download here.

Overall, one might suggest that attendance/participation was low; we had only about 100 people in attendance on Saturday.  OTOH, if you consider the three previous days to have been the work of a "platform committee", we had a far more open and far more participatory process than ever before.  And, I dare say, more open and participatory than other LDs.

We emerged with a draft platform that is (IMHO) well thought out and relatively coherent.  We don't have the problem of, say, reconciling 20 variations on the wording of an Iraq War plank.

As displayed in the caucus minutes, we also came out with a single set of resolutions ... so again there's no need to reconcile 20 slightly different ways to say "impeach Dubya".  I didn't agree with all of the resolutions (to be honest, I believe most resolutions are ineffectual wastes of time and energy, and pay them very little mind), but that's the way it goes.

You're only young once, but you can be immature forever -- Larry Andersen
Blogging at Peace Tree Farm

I mentioned the following impression in last week's diary about the Scott Ritter talk (which engendered 0 comments):

People ask how to withdraw from Iraq, [Ritter] said. Send the troops home!--that's how. U.S. presence is the problem, not the solution. There is no way to "fix" the mess. We will see horrible things unfold after we leave and it's our fault, we must face it.

This makes me recall the recent Caucus prep by the 43rd district Dems. A "Withdrawl Resolution" was being drafted and re-drafted. The members were desperately trying to word it in such a way that retained some shred of integrity for the U.S. government. We should withdraw and "call for peace talks"...no, the U.S. has lost any credibility as a peace broker...we should call for peace talks to be facilitated by the U.N...should offer an incentive "dividend" when peace talks are begun...no, when peace agreement is reached...should pay reparations to innocent civilians who were harmed...should help rebuild infrastructure....

It's fantasy, isn't it? None of those things will happen with the Bush administration in charge. And if they did propose any of those things, the deal would be rotten with corruption and dishonesty on both sides. If we achieve "regime change" in the U.S., even by impeachment--it'll be too late for a new Marshall plan. We can't revert to our archetypal (mythical?) role as the Good Guys.

As an aside...I attended several caucus trainings and none of them addressed the subject: What IS a resolution? How's it different from a platform? And HOW does one write a resolution? I didn't know, so I felt really stupid. Most of the training was concerned with filling out the paperwork properly, reading the rules, what topics to bring up, etc.

I did a search on Google and found a site that gave me exactly the info I needed (NOT a Dem site...it was connected to the U.N.) I found out a resolution must be written in the form of a SINGLE sentence, with a "preambulatory" segment  with any number of clauses (reasons why), and an "operative" segment (what to do). It listed many words commonly used to introduce each segment. I used this guide to write my impeachment resolution.

By the way, The Backbone Campaign has written a progressive platform covering many issues--it's a useful guide:
http://backbonecampaign.org/platform/document.cfm?ID=7

Dina

preambles and clauses and this that and the other.  at my 36th ld, all the resolutions were just boring the eyeballs right out of me.  i mean, does anyone with any influence care, or listen?  of course we collectively have power, but do people care if the 36th ld is in favor of IRV or against soy plant subsidies?