“We are who we've been waiting for,” quoted Torie Osborn, a respected leader in the movement and one of the founders of Camp Courage, borrowing a phrase from community organizer borrowing a line from African American, lesbian poet June Jordan's “A Poem For South African Women.”.

In her closing speech at the two-day grassroots organizing camp in Oakland, CA on Sunday, Torie channeled the energy of the movement when she announced that the Courage Campaign would be there to support and empower the grassroots for a November 2010 initiative to repeal Proposition 8 if the state's supreme court didn't overthrow it.

Rick Jacobs, founder and chair of the Courage Campaign, summed it up in a statement to Unite the Fight:

“At Camp Courage Oakland over the weekend, Courage Campaign staff conducted a series of conversations with various marriage equality activists, progressive organizers and grassroots leaders. As Torie Osborn's closing speech demonstrated, the consensus was clear: We are ready to go back to the ballot in 2010, assuming the Supreme Court rules to uphold Prop 8. But before we can make the ultimate decision to support an actual ballot initiative, the Courage Campaign needs to survey our members and consult with our allies in the polling group formed by several organizations a few weeks ago. Based on a vote of our members, we will move forward on a decision along with our partners in the marriage equality movement.”

This is no small announcement.

Even though the organization is still waiting for more information from polling in regards to the technical aspects of submitting an initiative, their commitment to support the grassroots if they choose to go for a 2010 initiative speaks volumes.

Many a debate has waged within the LGBT population in California and abroad about whether an initiative to repeal Prop 8 should happen in 2010 or 2012. Pros and cons for both are numerous, but a lot boils down to one, do we have a enough time to organize a campaign for 2010? Two, can we persuade enough voters to swing the small percentage that gave the Yes on 8 campaign the majority to vote on our side the second time around?

But Torie pointed out that the grassroots, which was denied a role in the No on 8 campaign, is ready for the daunting challenge to take on a 2010 initiative. If the grassroots is ready to go, the Courage Campaign will be there to support them every step of the way.

This underlines the fact that a new campaign would be different, she noted. Instead of being ran top-down like the No on 8 campaign, it would be run from the bottom-up. Indicating the crowd that attended the camp, she added “by the grassroots.”

One could definitely feel the electric energy at the Camp Courage site, with exciting discussions peppered throughout about the inevitability of 2010. In a conversation with Rick Jacobs this weekend, he remarked that it was obvious where things were heading and that if Prop 8 isn't overturned, that the grassroots was ready to go full steam ahead for November 2010.

Another fact that makes this a big announcement is that it comes from the Courage Campaign, the organization responsible for the record breaking “Fidelity: Don't Divorce Us” video.

The organization is an online organizing network that empowers nearly 700,000 grassroots and netroots activists to push for progressive change in California. Engineering online tools and giving voter information to anyone motivated to to make a difference, they provide a way for individuals to make a change in their neighborhood. It's as simple as logging in.

The network enables grassroots to set up their own “Equality Teams” to reach out to the electorate either through canvassing, phonebanking and more in order to change hearts and minds for equality. It's an unprecedented giving away of information that empowers the community to run a campaign on their own. Even if they belong to another organization.

Truly grassroots. And the key difference between victory and defeat.

Overwhelmed by the massive amount of work and strategy needing to take place for 2010, Torie admitted she was in denial about the need for an immediate campaign. But after seeing the passion and drive from hundreds of activists eager to repeal Prop 8, she knew justice couldn't wait.

With tears in her eyes, Torie made the announcement, alongside co-facilitators Mike Bonin and Lisa Powell, that the three of them and the Courage Campaign would be committed to working side-by-side with the grassroots for a 2010 campaign.

They were greeted with thunderous applause.

Rick Jacobs then took to the stage and read from MLK's “A Letter From a Birmingham Jail”:

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

Learning from the mistakes of 2008's No on 8 campaign, the leaders of the Courage Campaign and Camp Courage envision a new campaign for marriage equality that includes everyone – grassroots, big organizations, small organizations, LGBT, allies, young and old and of all races. Keeping to the mantra, “Respect. Empower. Include,” everyone will be responsible for winning their rights back and spreading equality for all. Most importantly, it will be sooner than later.

Are you up for the challenge? Because if not now, when?

Some amazing volunteers put together this video for the Courage Campaign.  Unlike some other ads out there (NOM NOM NOM), individuals appearing in this video are real people, including a carpenter, lawyer, priest, and a soldier discharged under the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy.

Speaking of NOM…they are out today with their latest ad, playing the victim and trying to claim that they lose their rights when gay people want to get married.

As “We the People” explains, marriage equality and religious freedom are not in conflict. The constitution provides for a separation between church and state, meaning that no religious organization can be forced to perform or acknowledge same-sex marriage if they choose not to.

They are sowing fear and distorting the facts in an attempt to try and hold on to an increasingly smaller share of the American public.

NOM is putting Miss California up as their spokeswoman victim.  They probably correctly assume that she is a better mouthpiece than their most prominent board member, best-selling fiction writer Orson Scott Card.  PFAW:

(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

“The NOM has argued that it is not a homophobic organization, but Card’s remarks suggest otherwise. Card, who represents the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the board and received an effusive welcome last week from NOM president Maggie Gallagher, supports criminalizing sex between same-sex adults:

Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books…to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society’s regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens.

“Card has also advocated overthrowing the government if same-sex marriage is permitted:

How long before married people answer the dictators thus: Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn.

Biological imperatives trump laws. American government cannot fight against marriage and hope to endure. If the Constitution is defined in such a way as to destroy the privileged position of marriage, it is that insane Constitution, not marriage, that will die.

Puts those comments about bigotry in context, no?

NOM is afraid of change. Don’t let them take away what makes this country so great.

Let us all stand together for equality and freedom.

Sign the pledge to repeal Prop 8. Please pass the video along to your friends and family.

For a couple of years the fact that California is ungovernable has been plain to see to anybody who really pays attention.  That is why you get calls for a constitutional convention from business groups like the Bay Area Council and from progressive groups like the Courage Campaign.  We need fundamental change in our constitution. We need to fix the initiative system and the restore the underlying balance of power that should exist in a modern representative democracy.

Today we get a slew of articles in the mainstream media, saying, that well, perhaps California is ungovernable. Follow me over the flip.

But California government is arguably more dysfunctional now than it was when Davis, a Democrat, got the boot. The budget deficit has grown so huge that a shutdown of government services looms. Partisan gridlock grips the Legislature, and lawmakers bicker as the state plunges into crisis.

* * *

The state’s latest collision course with insolvency has renewed the question in the Capitol: Has California become ungovernable? (LAT 12/15/08)

When Arnold used the recall system to bulldoze his way into power, he promised to “blow up the boxes.” Not only has not blown them up, he’s discovered that they contain some nice goodies inside.  His cynical use of the vehicle license fee created the massive deficit and he has totally lost the legislature.  While many can dispute Davis’ effectiveness, it becomes increasingly clear that even he did a better job that Arnold.

So was the recall worth it?  Well, it seems there are a few people who got over it:

“I was thinking that we needed to do something before the ship totally sank,” the 35-year-old postal carrier said last week as she ended her shift at Yuba City’s downtown post office. A Republican, Shaffer voted to recall Democrat Davis and replace him with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. For a time, she was pleased with the new GOP governor, who made vague but vivid promises to transform Sacramento and the way it operated.

“Now it just seems either the system got to him or he just gave up and has gone with it,” Shaffer said as evening fell on the northern Sacramento Valley. As for the recall, she said, “I don’t think that it made a difference, because we’re still in the same boat we were in then, only worse.”(LAT 12/15/08)

To say the least. Back then we had a somewhat trivial budget deficit in comparison, and we were able to quickly eliminate it by repealing the “good times” VLF cut. Now, well, I think we all know there is no easy solution.  Arnold’s “car tax” rhetoric pretty much ended any chance for that.

As Dave pointed out, there is a semblance of momentum for some serious change in Sacramento.  With leaders like Steinberg and Bass willing to push reforms that actually aim to fix the government, it might be time to seriously look at how we can do to create some long-term good government solutions.

 

The Initiative Reform Task Force met during the Democratic Party’s November E-Board meeting in Anaheim to propose changes in California’s initiative process.
Chief among them is the immediate creation of a statewide “watch
network” to analyze proposed initiatives as soon as they appear–
BEFORE they are released for signatures.

 

Findings will then be published widely on the internet through both websites and e-mail networks. This requires no action by the legislature.
It requires grassroots activists to join together and become
researchers and bloggers who assemble and disseminate information about
the propositions that are about to enter the pipeline.

 

Findings will then be published widely on the internet through both websites and e-mail networks. This requires no action by the legislature.
It requires grassroots activists to join together and become
researchers and bloggers who assemble and disseminate information about
the propositions that are about to enter the pipeline.

 

First introduced at the beginning of the last century in response to railroad domination of the state legislature, the California initiative process
was conceived as a form of direct democracy through which regular
citizens could influence the political process. In recent years,
however, it increasingly has been taken over by corporations, wealthy
business interests, billionaires, and in this last election, tax-exempt
religious organizations. The outrage following this election cycle provides a unique opportunity to reform this process at last.

 

There is no shortage of ideas for reform. In 2000, Assembly Speaker Hertzberg formed a commission to study and recommend changes, and the Center for Governmental Studies has issued their second edition of Democracy by Initiative. Action is what is needed next.

 

Some of the identified problems within the current system include:

1.
Confusing language and headlines. Summaries that omit key consequences.
Dumbed down slogans used to sell the measures to voters.

2.  Media that does not reach enough of an audience and lack of background knowledge resulting in no evaluation or opinion.

3.  Two-thirds vote needed to amend a constitutional initiative once passed, yet only a majority needed to pass it (even in a low-voter primary).

4.  Too many complex initiatives making it overwhelming for voters to make informed decisions.

5.  Repeating subject matter initiatives, e.g., this year’s Prop 4 defeated for the third time.

6.  Huge
contributions from interest groups that will benefit financially from
passage of the measure. Disclosure insufficient to tell voters of these
connections. Greater detail needed in filing statements. Secretary of
State’s website alone is not enough.

7.  Policy
agenda driven by initiatives rather than the elected state legislature.
Budget hamstrung by initiatives that impede the budgetary process.
Voters told that bonds are “not taxes,” when, in fact, they take money
directly off the top of the general fund used to pay for other state
services.

8.  Signature
gathering by paid gatherers who do not know or care about what the
measure would do and often lie about the content (currently illegal,
but still done).

 

The constitution
of the state of California now is more than 110 pages long–longer than
all other states except for Louisiana. The state’s current financial
crisis is exacerbated by the ballot-box budgeting promoted by
ill-conceived measures sold to voters who often do not receive adequate
information to understand the consequences of the initiative. Enough!
It is time for reform to begin.

 

The
list of problems is by no means complete. Nor is the following list of
possible changes that would require action by the state legislature. This is to be considered an opening conversation to be joined and expanded upon by all interested citizens.

 

Initial recommendations of this Initiative Reform Task Force include:

1.  All
initiatives be voted on only in general elections and NOT in low
turnout primaries. There was some discussion that there be a required
percentage of participating eligible voters, but no consensus was
reached on what this level should be.

2.  All
constitutional amendments to be submitted to the voters in two
successive general elections and require 2/3 passage in each election.

3.  No initiative that allows subversion of the state budget by ballot-box budgeting.

4.  Limit the number of initiatives on each ballot.

5.  After
the signature gathering is concluded and the Secretary of State has
qualified the initiative to appear, institute a waiting period during
which the state legislature may act. The proposed period was three
months, however, it was noted that in some areas the period is one
year.

6.  Citizens’ commission to evaluate proposition labels and summaries done by the Attorney General’s office.

7.  Prohibit
independent expenditure committees and require that supporters have to
spend money directly with the name of the corporation or person on all
disclosure forms.

8.  Paid
signature gatherers must wear a large button or sign that discloses who
is paying them. Prohibiting payment for signature gathering was also
proposed.

9.  Require
that the entire language of the measure be on each signature page, or
that to each citizen be given a copy that must be read PRIOR to signing
the petition.

10.
History of all previous bond issues with dates and recipients to be
prominently disclosed on an initiative involving a bond for the same
entity.

 

The
Initiative Reform Task Force currently includes members from the
Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles and the Santa Monica Mountains,
the Courage Campaign, the Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica Democratic
Clubs, Valley Democrats United, and Westside Progressives. It is
anticipated that it will grow into a statewide network of citizen
activists to proactively monitor and analyze ballot initiatives BEFORE
the signature gathering is completed to provide an early alarm.

 

The Yahoo group we will use:  [email protected]

(From the Courage Campaign’s own Rick Jacobs. – promoted by David Dayen)

About thirty of us gathered in front of the closed Starbucks on the plaza in front of the LA courthouse to assemble our petition materials for the rally and march a few blocks away. MoveOn.org, Courage Campaign (full disclosure: I founded Courage) and Credo Mobile have, over the past week, gathered over 200,000 signatures on a pledge to repeal Prop. 8. Our group that met for the first time this morning, was volunteers who signed up to get more sigatures from the crowd. And boy did they ever!

We made our way to the staging area outside of City Hall where we were greeted by thousands of jubilant folks with home made signs. The backstage set up reminded me in some ways of the May 1, 2006 immigration march on Wilshire Boulevard that had also sprung up from the peoplem, but was managed by organized labor: there was security, a rope line, a little blue tent under which speakers gathered before their turn. Rodney Scott, who puts on LA Pride every year, did a brilliant job with logistics along with a new group of young people called FAIR.  

Just once, it would have been great to have a crowd with that energy and spirit talk to the people on the podium rather than have the elected officials and others talk to them. Theprogram was generally good, but way too long, ninety minutes while people waited in 90 degree heat. One speaker went on for nearly twenty minutes, apparently mistaking a rally for a filibuster.

Mayor Villaraigosa broke away from these horrible fires that have now dumped smoke into all of LA and destroyed numerous houses, to give an impassioned speech in English and Spanish telling us all to go talk to our neighbors and at churches, not to wait for another election. Meet people whom we do not know, break down barriers with familiarity. And he's right. That's the only way to win human rights struggles.

Rev. Eric Lee, President of the Southern Chrisitan Leadership Conference of California, gave a stirring and powerful speech about the need to put God back into church when it comes to this issue of human rights. He said, "I'm a straight black man who went" with me to the Mormon Temple three weeks ago to try to deliver 17,000 letters from Courage Campaign members to the President of the Church. He went because it was the right thing to do. He is a stand up guy, a true friend of the LGBT and progressive communities, a powerful voice for civility and dignity in our march to justice. We all need to get to know him much better.

Many of the other speakers were great, too, including City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and long time LGBT activist Torie Osborn. There were just too many of them.

At last, we marched. The crowd was animated, colorful, respectful and determined.

The most meaningful part of the day, though, was a meeting late this afternoon at the apartment of a young man named Vincent Jones. Vincent, a gay African American, pulled together about a dozen gay, straight, white, black and brown men and women for a serious conversation about how to build real conversation in communities where we lost. I was knocked out by these folks.

Zach Shepard, one of the guys who led the first spontaneous march here in LA two Wednesdays ago said, "In places like San Bernardino County we lost 70-30%, but that means that we have 30% of the voters there who support us. We need to find them, engage them and empower them to start talking to their neighbors." One of the other participants said, "come to church. Meet people. You will be welcomed." And she's right. As Woody Allen says, 90% of life is showing up.

We did not show up before the election; we will now. The power of today's march here in LA came was in the numbers and determination of individuals who are themselves leading a movement. The are not looking "up" for any established organization to tell them what to do. They know we can win next time, provided we organize, communicate and build.

This time, the campaign will be the peoples, a real movement. And this time we will win.