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Day 135

Today was an exhausting day… started off with very little sleep. Woke up super early and was feeling anxious. Then had to rush to do some work before going into the office for a bit, followed by a physical therapy session and an Illinois Poor People’s Campaign statewide call planning meeting.

Got some more work done after that, and now I have to continue working on my amendment proposal argument for this Thursday’s DNC Rules Committee meeting. As I mentioned yesterday, I sponsored two proposals (if you don’t count the third, which was just procedural), both involving the elimination of caucuses. I have compiled a bunch of reasons why we should move to a primary-like format (either government or party run), but to narrow it down to a two minute speech I will focus on the following three:

Reason One: Accessibility

Caucuses are not fully accessible to people with disabilities, parents or people who work evenings.

Reason Two: Accuracy and reporting

Caucuses are riddled with inaccurate counts and the math is way too complicated.

Reason Three: Causes negative public relations issues for party

Caucuses (particularly the Iowa Caucus) open up the party to widespread criticism from potential Democrat voters and the media.

Time to get back to working on fleshing these out!

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Day 134

Worked this morning, but spent the entire afternoon working on / paying attention to the Democratic National Committee. I started by submitting my two main amendment proposals to the Rules Committee, Expanding Democracy by Requiring Government-Run Primaries and Expanding Democracy by Increasing Voter Participation (the deadline was this afternoon). And then at 1pm the DNC Platform Committee meeting began. My initial observations:

  • “This platform meeting is a farce”
  • “The camps pre-determined speakers and you can’t make motions”
  • “The proposal sponsor is only given 2 minutes for their argument (with only 8 mins. total per proposal, including the introduction and opposition)
  • Members’ votes are visible to other members (not a secret ballot)
  • During voting they keep saying, “remember, these ballots are not secret… ,” which appears to be an intimidation tactic
  • Almost every person speaking says “I enthusiastically support Joe Biden for President!” at the beginning (and sometimes throughout) their time (making me think that they are using this as a bargaining tool to ensure a member is given time, or that it is a dogwhistle so Biden supporters know which way to vote)
  • This is definitely coordinated
  • The first amendment was from the Chair, and it contained over 200 amendments (which passed). No one described what they were, and you could only see the text in the portal if you are on the Platform Committee (curious as to how members were able to read 200+ amendments during the first 15 mins. of the meeting)

The low-light of the afternoon was when inclusion of Medicare for All into the Democratic platform was resoundingly rejected (36 yes, 125 no, 3 abstain). I had to go for a walk after that to cool off.

Medicare for All advocate Michael Lighty proposing an amendment to the DNC Platform Committee - July 27, 2020

Things I am concerned about now that I have seen how the meeting was run:

  • I think Bernie’s campaign failed to organize/whip votes in order to stay out of the way of Biden’s camp
  • The people who spoke from Bernie’s camp seemed to be well-knowns… not many “regular people” (they were national surrogates, elected officials, etc.)
  • The campaigns are selecting which proposals are heard (if you submitted a proposal it isn’t guaranteed that it will be covered)
  • I saw more than one instance of the proposal presenter/speaker not being the person who wrote the proposal (the proposal sponsor), making me think there is little chance that I will get to speak even if they like my proposals

But… I am going to work on my argument right now, in case I end up speaking on behalf of my proposal(s) at the Rules Committee meeting this Thursday.

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Day 129

Headed up to Milwaukee soon to visit Phil and have a socially distanced hang with a couple friends of his… fingers crossed that it will go okay! This is the first time I will be spending time with him and other people (in a group) post-reunification. I think the real challenge will be to put the other worries I am having out of my mind tonight, so I am able to have a good time.

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Day 128

Looooooooong day at work. Every tech fail that could happen, happened. Ran errands. Worked out. Worked on DNC stuff. Said “no” to people asking me to do more things.

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Day 127

The weekend was both relaxing and challenging at times… all good challenges in the end though (I think). Couples counseling is hard, but I have been feeling more like my needs are being addressed (in therapy at the very least). Now just to make that happen more naturally IRL…

Got a lot of DNC work done yesterday — worked on a draft of my Rules Committee proposal and started to craft my argument and supporting evidence.

Spoke to my boss today, whose dog is dying and has to be put to sleep tomorrow — very sad. I hate hearing people in pain, especially when I can’t do anything to help. I did a bunch of work work this morning before heading off to physical therapy, and then back home to finish more work and to pop into the Illinois Poor People’s Campaign Quad Chairs meeting to begin plans for our upcoming August 5th statewide call.

I think I am finally done for the day though… goodnight!