This Month: SCDFA Membership Drive

“Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.”

The month of May is when Sonoma County DFA asks it's members to renew their membership... so I thought I'd make a pitch about who we are, what we do, and why you might want to get involved with us if you haven't done so before.

The World Is Run by Those Who Show Up

We've all got busy lives, and it's easy to feel powerless and disaffected by politics. It's easy to be turned off by the corruption and ugliness and the mind-numbing complexity of government.

As Molly Ivins said, “Politics is not a picture on the wall or a television sitcom that you can decide you don’t much care for.”

We've got a stake in politics, like it or not, and the stake is huge: political choices can mean life or death: war or peace, the quality of our healthcare system, our educational system, and the environment... these are among a host of subjects that impinge directly on our lives.

It's easy to focus on our personal lives and lose sight of the bigger picture that we share with one another... but progressive politics is nothing if not about our common humanity and our mutual obligations to each other and society.

If we feel powerless in the face of larger political forces, that's understandable. As individuals, it's true that we can't do much alone. However, together we can accomplish a lot.

The frustration of reading the morning paper or hearing the latest outrage on the radio can be offset by the satisfaction of working with others to accomplish something deeply meaningful.

And that's what we are offering: the opportunity to do satisfying work to effect meaningful change.

What We've Been Up To

Sonoma County DFA is part of a truly nationwide progressive grassroots political movement that's been growing over the past several years. While DFA was founded by Gov. Howard Dean, and is often seen as a continuation of his ’04 "Dean for America" presidential campaign, in truth DFA has continued to grow as a movement, and currently has hundreds more affiliate groups than "Dean for America" ever had.

There are many good progressive organizations in Sonoma County, and they have their own strengths. One of our is in organizing events, like candidate forums during election years. We've put together events where voters could ask questions of candiates and officeholders like Lynn Woolsey, John Garamendi, Debra Bowen, Carl Wong, and Jared Huffman... and many others.

We were active in helping to defeat Gov. Schwarzenegger's propositions in 2005. We identify and support promising progressive candidates, both in Sonoma county and in nearby areas. For example, Sonoma County DFA endorsed Jerry McNerney early on, in April of 2006 - when the "conventional wisdom" was not only that he didn't have a prayer of defeating incumbent Richard Pombo... but he was considered a longshot to win the Democratic primary! He won both, and our early support made a difference.

This year we intend to be involved in scrutinizing the presidential candidates closely... and if you'd like to participate, join us! Membership in SCDFA gives you the ability to vote on all our candidate endorsements.

Support Progressive Politics

The work we do can be very satisfying, but we recognize that people may not have time to attend monthly meetings. You can keep track of our activities on this website... and get news of our special events by subscribing to our email newsletter.

You can participate on this website whether you're a member or not... but if you support the work we do, even if you can't put your shoulder to the wheel and volunteer your time and energy, we'd hope that you'll consider become a member to help finance our efforts.

Dues are $25, or $40 for a household membership. Seniors/students can join for $15... and we also have work-trades which provide free membership in exchange for your time. You can download a membership form here.

Help us build a more vibrant - and effective - progressive community in Sonoma County