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Internet gives rise to people-driven political movements
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-25 09:41
FORT MYERS, Florida (AP) _ Frustrated by government and empowered by
technology, Americans are filling needs and fighting causes through grass-roots
organizations they built themselves _ some sophisticated, others quaintly ad
hoc.
This is the era of people-driven politics.
From a homemaker-turned-kingmaker in Pittsburgh to dog owners in New York to
a "gym rat" here in southwest Florida, people are using the Internet to do what
politicians can't _ or won't _ do.
This is their story, but it's also an American story because ordinary folks
are doing the extraordinary to find people with similar interests, organize them
and create causes and connections.
"People are just beginning to realize how much power they have," said Chris
Kofinis, a Democratic consultant who specializes in grass-roots organizing via
the Internet.
"At a time when we are craving community and meaning in our lives, people are
using these technologies to find others with the same complaints and organize
them," he said. "They don't have to just sit in a coffee shop and gripe about
politics. They can change politics."
Mary Shull changed her life, if not politics.
A lonely and frustrated liberal, the stay-at-home mother of two joined the
liberal online group MoveOn.org in 2004. Working from home, the Pittsburgh woman
helped round up votes for presidential candidate John Kerry and other Democrats.
On Election Day, Kerry prevailed in Pennsylvania, but failed to unseat President
George W. Bush.
"I was upset with Kerry's loss, but what really devastated me was the loss of
that sense of empowerment in my life, this sense of engagement, that I got with
MoveOn," she said.
Shull, 31, was brimming with ideas for liberal causes, but MoveOn had
virtually shut down after the election and the Democratic Party was catatonic.
So she took matters in her own hands, e-mailing the 1,500 contacts she had made
through MoveOn and asking if they wanted to keep busy.
Their first meeting drew 85 people. They got involved in local races, and
Shull tended to her e-mail list _ each name coded with the person's pet issue.
"This wasn't about a huge agenda. This was people gathering together and
working with each other on things that interested them," she said. "It was just
a way for people to connect with each other."
Politicians took notice. When former Rep. Joe Hoeffel decided he might want
to run for lieutenant governor, he called Shull and asked for her support.
"Ten years ago, somebody like Mary would be as interested as she is in
politics, but her circle of influence would not have extended beyond her home or
block or even voting precinct," said Hoeffel, a Democrat who gave up his House
seat in 2004 for an unsuccessful Senate bid.
"Now, she's got 1,500 other self-motivated and influential people at her
fingertips, and carries as much clout as half the people I've been calling."
MoveOn, founded in 1997 to fend off President Bill Clinton's impeachment,
raised $60 million (euro51 million) for liberal causes in 2004. The group put
its organizing muscle behind Cindy Sheehan last summer and helped make the
"Peace Mom" whose son was killed in Iraq a symbol of the anti-war movement.
Political activist Tom Hayden believes that the anti-war movement in the
1960s, which he helped organize, could have gained steam sooner had the Internet
existed.
"Movements happen so much faster today," he said.
And they come in all shapes and sizes.
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