Does the DNC deserve our money?/Markos on "Don't Ask Don't Give" DNC boycott

Does the DNC deserve our money?
By Jennifer Vanasco
Copyright by The Chicago Free Press
November 12, 2009
http://www.chicagofreepress.com/node/4075


President Barack Obama was AWOL when it came to the marriage vote in Maine and the partnership vote in Washington.

The DNC was worse, actively working against us by sending out an email to Maine Democrats asking them to campaign for New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine—instead of asking them to man phones in their home state, working for marriage equality.

Despite a supposed commitment to gay civil rights expressed in the DNC platform and by the Obama campaign and administration, there has been relative silence on our issues.

That needs to change.

And thanks to John Aravosis and Joe Sudbay, it’s about to.

Aravosis and Sudbay run the political website Americablog and this week, angry about the Administration’s inaction around Maine, they declared they had enough.

So they are launching a financial boycott of Democratics called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Give.”

The idea is this:

Gays and lesbians should stop giving money to the DNC and President Obama until ENDA passes and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and DOMA are overturned.

“It’s really more of a ‘pause,’” than a boycott,” Aravosis and Sudbay say on Americablog.com.

“Boycotts sounds so final, and angry. Whereas this campaign is temporary, and is only meant to help some friends—President Obama and the Democratic party—who have lost their way. We are hopeful that via this campaign, our friends will keep their promises.”

This is exactly the right thing to do.

Americablog lists almost 40 grievances, large and small, against the President, the leader of the Democratic Party. Together, the grievances paint a portrait of a man who is not just refusing to show leadership on our issues—he seems unaware of why our issues are important.

And the DNC, despite including us in their platform, seems to be hardly aware that, post-campaign, we exist.

The most powerful tools we have to fight this sort of blindness are money and media attention, and this boycott highlights both, because they get less money but more (negative) media attention.

It’s a brilliant strategy.

As Americablog says:

“Democratic leaders see the LGBT community as a guaranteed source of cash, regardless of their broken promises. They think we, and those who support us, have nowhere else to go, that there’s nothing we can do. It’s time to draw our own line in the sand, and use the one thing that matters to the Democratic party: our money.”

For this strategy to work, we all need to join in on the boycott. First, you should get over to Americablog and sign the pledge form—and stick to it.

But even that’s not far enough. The DNC needs to know that this is not laziness. It’s not just that the economy is lousy or that we want to spend more money on Christmas presents.

So give as much as you can to a gay activist group, national or local, of your choice, instead. Send in the receipt for the donation to the DNC with a note explaining that your money went elsewhere and why.

Will this hurt Democrats? Will it make it more likely that much more repressive Republicans get back in power? Americablog addresses these types of questions. Their answer is no—I fear that actually, the answer is yes.

But that’s the point.

The DNC and President Obama need to start taking us seriously. They will only do that if we start affecting their pocketbook.

Gays and lesbians raise a large amount of funds for the DNC. Until our major issues are addressed, it is time we close the gay bank.

Don’t give until the DNC and Obama have met their obligations to us. We have waited long enough..

JENNIFER VANASCO IS AN AWARD-WINNING, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST. EMAIL HER AT JENNIFER.VANASCO@GMAIL.COM; FOLLOW HER AT TWITTER.COM/JENNIFERVANASCO.







Markos on "Don't Ask Don't Give" DNC boycott
Posted by John Aravosis (DC)
Copyright by Americablog.com
Thursday, November 12, 2009
http://gay.americablog.com/2009/11/markos-on-dont-ask-dont-give-dnc.html

Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos explains why he lent his name in support of our "Don't Ask Don't Give" pledge not to donate to the DNC, OFA, and the Obama campaign until they follow through on their promises:

Now the DNC is a bit different, because I have lent my name to Americablog's Don't Ask, Don't Give pledge. This is simple: Democrats made a series of promises, DADT among them, and vowed to make change happen if only we gave them our votes. And we did, in record numbers, and Democrats have huge majorities in Congress and a White House with a national mandate.

I get that some things take time, and the legislative process isn't always as fast as we'd like. But here's the thing -- don't come begging for money when you haven't delivered on your promises.

We did our part. It's now our party's turn to deliver. Until they do, it seems ludicrous for them to ask for money, especially with whines about "Republican obstructionism". The obstructionism is coming within our own party. When it gets its house in order and delivers on their promises, then that'll be different.

p.s. Remember when we had a real DNC chair?

More on the Don't Ask Don't Give pledge here. And as I mentioned earlier, Markos is advising readers to avoid the DCCC as well, and to only give directly to good progressive candidates, not party organs.
Take the Don't ask Don't give pledge at: http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6006/t/5410/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=727