Throw together a booklet, which sums up (for the most part, indirectly) why something like Citizen's Winning Hands is needed. The booklet would be entitled:
Why Democracy Doesn't Work in the US, and How the Efforts That You Have Made to Fix It Has Wasted Time, Energy, and Money
A Guide for 7th Graders (and older)
============================================
This idea basically came to me in a dream, though it wasn't until I woke up that I realized that the advice that I was giving to the guy in the dream was well suited (and probably intended, by my subconscious mind) to promote your web site. (And, I suppose, mine, and anybody else's who is trying to fix democracy).
The idea is to write a book, not only suitable for children, (in large part targeted to them but ultimately for everybody), about how they are mis-informed about our 'wonderful' democracy. The structure of the book will take the form of following the life of a young, well-intentioned boy (or girl; let's assume a boy named Joe), starting in the 7th grade, who is actually a little ahead of the curve, in terms of his civic-mindedness. After a brief discussion of Joe's textbook understanding of democracy when he is 12-years-old, we will read a story of Joe's budding good citizenship, centered around efforts of his at certain stages of his young life.
However, while conceding Joe a small pat on the back (for his good intentions), we will basically show how each of his efforts was WASTED - and why.
Quite possibly (and preferably), you will not need to write much of this book, yourself. Some of the chapters of Joe's wasteful efforts have been covered by bloggers, and if you let them co-author chapters which are basically riffing off of diaries that they have already written, you will not only spare yourself the effort, you will give them an opportunity make their home web site better known.
Here is a sketch of stages/chapters that readily come to mind:
7 th grade
===========
Lifestyle activism. Planet keeps dying. Joe changes a few light bulbs in his house. Author would be educationaction, who posted "Self-Delusion and the Lie of Lifestyle Activism (Core Dilemmas of Community Organizing)" at OpenLeft
9th grade
===========
Letters to his congressman. Joe gets interested in healthcare reform after his uncle goes bankrupt after a serious illness, even though he has insurance. He starts writing letters to his Congress critter, because he wants to "make a difference". Joe gets back nice, fuzzy form letters, which do NOT explain how his Senator needs to raise $20,000/day for his re-election, and is spending about 30% of his time schmoozing with lobbyists. Those lobbyists include ones from Big Pharma. (Dave Sirota could write this chapter.)
11th grade
===========
Mistakenly supports GW Bush's invasion of Iraq, even though young Joe has a strong sense of right and wrong, and generally seeks peaceful solutions. Joe, of course, has been suckered by not only the propaganda directly spewing out of the Bush Administration, but also the echo chamber it finds in Main Stream Media. For example, the crap that Judith Miller published in the NY Times. Some quotes from Noam Chomsky on "manufacturing consent". (Gary Null could write this chapter.)
21 years old
===========
Joe helps elect Democrats in 2006, because he now views Iraq as a huge mistake. Democrats use their new power to..... make excuses and keep funding the war. (You could ask the PDA to supply this chapter. Norman Solomon, I suppose.)
23 years old
===========
Joe gets serious (so he believes) about change, joins some liberal organizations, and helps get Barack Obama elected. Meanwhile, he's got $70,000 in education loans, and can't find a decent job. Obama turns out to be mostly change that a fool could believe in, but Joe is in denial, even if uneasy. After all, he's not hearing much criticism from the Left, including against the continuing lack of transparency over financial bailouts. (Obviously not a reader of OpenLeft :-) ). Discussion of cooption of reform organizations.
(The person who should write this chapter is definitely Jane Hamsher, who recently wrote "Van Jones: A Moment of Truth For Liberal Institutions in the Veal Pen". You should definitely read it, if you haven't, already. Gary Null could also write this chapter.)
24-25 years old (Epilogue)
==========
This is the chapter that you would write, if you decide to add it. Of course, it would describe how vote bloc technology finally started making the efforts of Joe (and the millions of other Joes out there) PRODUCTIVE.
