Young Democrats: Thank You, Democratic Leadership!

by: Matt Stoller

Fri Sep 21, 2007 at 10:05


This has been a horrific week of performance by the Democrats in Congress.  Habeas, Moveon, the Webb amendment, Iraq, etc.  And yet, here's the blog post and email by YDA.

If you are on our email list, are friends with me on facebook, or obsessively follow what we are doing from our webpage - you will have noticed that the Speaker's office released a report on their progress with youth issues.

This is actually a VERY COOL development. The fact that our leaders are acknowledging how important we are to this country AND doing something about it can only be a good thing.  No longer are we stuck with a Congress that only cares about the wealthy, corporations, seniors, and has no problem giving us a bunch of lip service.

We think it is important for young people to realize exactly how much the Dems have done for them this year - and the progress report is a great way to show them.

So - go check out the progress report ... and then help us thank the Dems for all they've done for us!

There's tremendous opportunity in the youth space.  College Democrats is growing strongly, and this generation is the most progressive generation alive today.  Even so, the Democracy Alliance reduced funding to youth groups probably because of the proof displayed here that there's no coherent strategy behind YDA, although it's not clear to me if YDA got dinged in the funding cut.  They should have been dinged.  This is exactly the kind of sycophantic behavior that should be stamped out of the political system.

UPDATE:  I have no idea whether YDA's funding should be cut or expanded, and I actually emailed back and forth with a YDA funder and wrote that this could just be a one-off mistake.  I just wanted to offer a rationale for why the Democracy Alliance cut off funding earlier for youth organizing programs.  Going forward, there should obviously be huge piles of money pumped into this space, just as YDA shouldn't be so clumsy on days when everything falls apart for Democrats (the loss of habeas, Webb amendment, etc).  Lots of stuff should happen in this world that isn't happening, and vice versa.  Criticism is a way of offering suggestions for improvement. 

And yes, I think college loans and the minimum wage are important.
Matt Stoller :: Young Democrats: Thank You, Democratic Leadership!

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Young Democrats: Thank You, Democratic Leadership! | 28 comments
How to keep the wolves at bay (4.00 / 1)
give em inch after you kick em a yard.

John McCain opposes the GI Bill.
"youth" dems programs (4.00 / 1)
Most (but not all) youth programs are more about cheerleading and being foot soldiers for the Democratic party than they are about representing the interests of progressive youths.

The leaders at the top of these institutions gain power for themselves within the Democratic establishment by mobilizing their peers as volunteers.  But they often don't give anything back to the people they're exploiting.

clarification (0.00 / 0)
I should add that I don't mean the College Dems -- the College Dems at the school I recently graduated from faced some of these issues, but were pretty independent and a force for students in local politics.
[ Parent ]
Also (0.00 / 0)
there isn't an automatic correlation between being young and being progressive. A strong correlation yes, but presumably these sorts of orgs are meant to be inclusive and representative of all young democrats.

John McCain opposes the GI Bill.
[ Parent ]
Opposite (0.00 / 0)
Wow, I would say the exact opposite.  It varies, of course, from place to place and chapter to chapter.  But on the whole I would say that there are MUCH more interesting and effective outlets for progressive activism on campus than the College Dems like Campus Progress, Campus Climate Challenge to name a few.

By contrast, YDA is building youth infrastructure in places where the Democratic party is week - rural areas, high school are some examples, engaging young people in civic participation (voting, canvassing, etc), and converting young people to Democratic partisans.

Those are all worthy things, and having met the leaders of the national YDA organization, I can say that they are far more interested in these goals than their own personal power in Washington.

Youth To Power: How Today's Young Voters Are Building Tomorrow's Progressive Majority

[ Parent ]
i was talking more about my experience at the local/college level (n/t) (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
to get more specific (0.00 / 0)
I didn't just mean YDA in my original comment, but the YDA affiliate in Michigan doesn't exactly respect democratic processes.  Take a look at some of the comments in that thread if you want to get a sense of how the Michigan Young Dems are perceived.

From where I'm from, far too often I've seen progressive youth activists used by the Democratic establishment to win elections without getting "our" issues on the table in a meaningful way.

I agree that at the national level, Campus Progress, Campus Climate Challenge and so on are all appear to be doing more interesting work than the national College Democrats organization.  However most of the "youth organizing" that I observed in my four years as a college student didn't really empower us.

[ Parent ]
God Forbid Someone Would Recognize the Accomplishments (4.00 / 1)
of the current Congress.  Did you even look at the report?

http://speaker.gov/c...

The fact is, the Congress has done a lot for Young Americans since taking office, especially considering how terribly the Republican Congress treated youth issues like student aid.  Now the Democratic Congress just released something entitled the "Young Voter Progress Report".  As an organization composed of young voters, this seems like a report that YDA might want to pass onto its members.

But I guess its much more fun to bitch and whine about actions like the MoveOn vote.  Reminding young voters over and over how terrible the Democrats in Congress are and how they are no better than the Republicans seems like a brilliant strategy Matt...That'll really get them out on the campaign trail and into the voting booth...

"Never separate the life you live from the words you speak" -Paul Wellstone

did you realize (0.00 / 0)
that half of the stars mean incomplete?  The report itself shows the Congress has not done much.

New Jersey politics at Blue Jersey.
[ Parent ]
Did you realize that the half that are incomplete (0.00 / 0)
fall under the category of "signed into law" which Im pretty sure is a power the constitution does not give to Congress?

"Never separate the life you live from the words you speak" -Paul Wellstone
[ Parent ]
it's about the timing (0.00 / 0)
it's about the timing of the email. when i got the email from YDA, my first thought was, do they not read the newspaper? or the political blogs?

if the organizations that purport to build political power for young people act like they are uninformed about what's going on in the wider political world, young voters will never get the respect they deserve.

maybe this organization just deserves to get less funding since it's actions are clearly unstrategic.

Ugh! (0.00 / 0)
Yea, I had the same reaction. After serving two years as a state president, most of the YDA people (at the national level) are, truly, sycophants. One of the major reasons that I ended my involvement - they were more concerned about getting personally ahead than actually making a difference.
YDA changing (4.00 / 1)
While I agree the timing sucks, I think Congress has done amazing things for our generation, well at least the Democrats in Congress. So, in that respect, I disagree with Matt. Democrats in Congress have done great things for Youth.
Someone does need to tell their political director to learn how to be more strategic.
But in response to raincityman, I was kinda in the same boat as you, I didn't really like the National leaders of YDA, but I did get a chance to meet their newly elected President, he's an openly gay man from Texas of all places..and very dimanic, I think we will see good changes coming out of YDA now. But we will see!
[ Parent ]
Watch your back! (4.00 / 1)
We're going to find you strangled in your house with the fingerprints of Mike Connery, Barrack Obama and every Democrat in the state of Virginia on your neck. Unless EMILY's list, the CBC and organized labor don't get you first. I'm beginning to have trouble thinking of a Liberal special interest group you haven't pissed off on the front page of OpenLeft. In summary:

Keep up the good work.

I support John McCain because children are too healthy anyway.

Like a Ninja (4.00 / 1)
I slip in like a Ninja when you least expect it.  ;-)

Youth To Power: How Today's Young Voters Are Building Tomorrow's Progressive Majority
[ Parent ]
I disagree (4.00 / 2)
Matt, I remember having a conversation w/ you at Take Back where you were really down on the Democracy Alliance (which I understood) but you channeled that anger towards YDA, which I didn't get as much. 

YDA's not a perfect organization, but it's a hell of a lot better than 95% of the other constituency groups out there. 

Yeah, I'm involved in the group, so I feel I need to stick up for it.  But I would turn my back on the group in a second if I didn't think it was doing really important work. 

The YDA update on the college affordability bill was timely. That bill was the only major action campaign that YDA has done in the last 6 months (YDA doesn't mostly do advocacy, it does decentralized, state-based, support for youth organizing) and the bill passed yesterday.  So after lobbying hard for it (one of the biggest lobbiest groups in fact fighting for the bill), I would have been surprised if the group hadn't sent out with a bit of self-congratulating. 

frankly, we're all pissed at the Democratic Congress, especially in relation to everything foreign policy.  But that's no reason not to celebrate the good stuff, otherwise where's the incentive for the congresscritters to ever do any good things (if we just ignore them and stay angry all the time). 

And just because you and I and the blogosphere are focused 24/7 on Iraq, doesn't mean the average young democrat out there in the rust belt is.  Should YDA make it's next campaign an Iraq-related on?  It's debatable.  But this campaign has come to an end, and the young people won (unlike most other groups fighting for good things from this congress).  So sending out an 'end of the campaign' message isn't such a sycophant-like thing to do. 

So in summation, I think you're being quite a bit too hard on YDA, and not looking at the email in context. 

YDA's Goals and Better Communications (4.00 / 2)
I think this is a huge overreaction on Matt's part.  YDA has very different goals than MoveOn, even though both are against the war.

YDA exists to build power for young people within the Democratic Party infrastructure - a job they do well since teh organization started to revitalize itself 3 years ago.  In attaining those goals, their letter to congress made perfect sense.

This is about a larger issue - namely that the netroots and progressive youth infrastructure run on parallel tracks that never intersect.  We need to come up with better ways for these two vital pieces of our movement to communicate and coordinate.

I've got much more on this over at my blog.  Apologies for not explaining more fully here in the comments but I'm running out of the office as soon as I hit submit.

Youth To Power: How Today's Young Voters Are Building Tomorrow's Progressive Majority

I'm a blogger and part of YDA, I support Edwards (0.00 / 0)
YDA is not a policy based organization.  It does have a policy making committee that is based on who gets elected at each convention.  However, the MAIN function of YDA is to turn out the vote for all Democrats by getting young people involved with the Democratic party.  The YDA is actually quite new in it's ability to function in that way.  This is mostly due to the FUNDING that they are now getting allowing them to employ full-time organizers in select states.  I believe this funding comes from the DNC.  They are not an organization that is likely to strongly oppose DNC or the leadership in congress.  That is where they are funded.
corretion (0.00 / 0)
the money doesn't come from the DNC apparently...
[ Parent ]
here is something interesting (0.00 / 0)
[ Parent ]
So, just wondering... (4.00 / 1)
if there's any Democrat or Democratic group you haven't attacked yet. And who appointed you guardian of Democratic orthodoxy, exactly?

Making college affordable is no longer a priority. So sayeth Matt Stoller.

Further Reading

Context is important (0.00 / 0)
I like YDA -- or at least I want to -- which is why I've attended their last two conventions even though I'm not really a member.  I want to support them, see what they're about and draw them into more contact with the progressive groups I work with every day.

That said, when I received their email yesterday, there was no way in hell I was responding positively to anything that said, "Send a thank you note to Congress."

It's not a criticism of their strategy, their focus or their differences from MoveOn (of course they are different...that's why they are different organizations) to say that their timing yesterday was off.

My guess it had been planned for yesterday for a bunch of good reasons a while back...and then it went off with the unfortunate context of the Senate's craven cowardice on our minds.

But the real point:  I'm not taking their action as a result.  So, as timing of an action, it deserves to be criticized by those of us who want YDA to succeed.

And to those of you who make fun of OpenLeft's willingness to criticize: this is a site that launched with the first "Right to Respond" I ever heard of.  If you don't expect them to criticize Dem institutions, you might be reading the wrong blog.

I hope YDA takes their right to post on these pages.

Come to Arizona before you say cut off YDA (4.00 / 1)
Really? I mean seriously? THIS is what you want to focus on? Talk about a circular firing squad. Thanks for wasting our time on this.

Letme just tell you a story about Arizona Young Democrats. We went from one of the MOST conservative universties that invited David Horowitz, Ann Coulter and a slew of other Reagan Ranch morons out. And PAID $30,000 each to speak. That was the  present in 2001. Now, we have controlled the campus president by a liberal democrat for 6 years now PLUS went from 3 Republicans representing Arizona State University to 3 Democrats. We were instumental in electing Harry Mitchell for Congress and our counterpart in Tucson elected Gabrielle Giffords.

This same group of "stupid young democrats" as you call us helped elected Councilwoman Donovan, Councilman  Strauss, Councilman Bond ( 22 years old ) in a city that is 80-20 Republican -Democrat. Then there is Rep Kirkpatrick, now running for Congress in AZ-01 and Rep. Campell (30 years old ), Lujan (32 years old), Rep, Albelser, Senator Meg Burton Cahill, County Water board member Fitch (21 years old).

I could keep going and all these people were elcted in 2006 BY YOUNG DEMOCRATS. A program that cost almost 80k that in no way could we have afforded in Arizona but with the help of YDA National, we could.

Arizona is a right to work state yet we through out the food service vendor Sodexho Marriot off campus who is a well known human rights abuser as well as a construction company on campus that was abusing is workers and not allowing them water breaks in the Arizona 112 degrees sun. Now, there is a labor pact on the University due to the leverage we brought and protests.

We protest the war pretty much EVERY WEEKEND. We've done Die -ins and sit-ins at the city council, state capitol and the Univ President's office.

Ask any progressive Democrat in Arizona and they will tell you that one of the things that gives them energy is the Young Democrats.

I am so angry at you *#$&* right now, I want to use all sorts of profanity at you. Critisize YDA sure, I was puzzled by the timing as well, but to say that you should CUT YDA OFF is utter stupidity and moronic behavior. Cause cutting them off effectively cuts us off.

SO think before you type, please. The effectiveness of our programs here seriously diminishes without YDA's funding.

YDA is doing great things (0.00 / 0)
The response in Arizona has been great. People are sick of the complaining and really glad to see people taking note of the great things Congress has done, and are happy that YDA is making a point of this. Has Congress done enough? No, that's why this is called a PROGRESS report!

Also, with all that's being said about YDA its important to keep a few things. YDA has changed the way it does business, and Arizona is just one of many examples where YDA's strategy is making a difference. The criticism being made here of YDA as an organization stems from perceptions of years past. Take a look around at our meetings now. The convention in Dallas just a few months ago was the highest attended in YDA history, and the fall conference in New Hampshire will also be very different than the meetings were years ago. Our meetings now are about the trainings and voter contact, and making a positive impact in local communities.

This is annoying (0.00 / 0)
I can understand a blog discussion about the timing or merits of the email, but cutting off funding? Absurd.

Firstly, I think the email was fine, great even. The youth progressive movement worked their asses off to elect a democratic congress and build up orgs like YDA. Yet, all we've been hearing is how awful congress is. Granted, there are areas where that is the case, but I think there also other things the dem congress is doing that are great that we never get to hear about. Here is one of them, and I think it was important for YDA to highlight this.

And I don't think I need to dive further into the funding comment, Stoller is clearly unaware of what YDA is doing around the nation.

Thanking Congressional Democrats (0.00 / 0)
I am having a hard time with the concept that it is a bad idea to let your members of Congress know when they are doing something right. We are so quick to jump on every mistake and bad vote, as we should, but we never seem to talk about the good things that are done.

YDA has a very specific mission, with issue advocacy goals of its own. One of their main issues is the cost of higher education. The College Cost Reduction Act was a big victory for students and YDA, and it made complete sense for Tony Cani to thank Congress for it. Should Congressional Democrats being doing more to end the war? Yes. Should we expect them to stand up for the issues we care about? Yes. However, we should also acknowledge that progress is being made on important issues, and many of those issues have a great importance to young Americans.

Matt's reaction is the equivalent of someone refusing to send a thank you card because they only got one of the birthday presents they wanted.

On the accusation that Young Democrats are the lapdogs of the DNC, that just isn't true. The College Democrats are part of the DNC and receive funding through it, YDA is an independent 527 that raises its own budget. YDA split with the DNC in part because it wanted to have the freedom to take on the party when it was at odds with the mission of YDA. We saw this last year when YDA fought the DNC on youth goals for the Democratic National Convention. Take a look at the YDA platform and you will see one of the most progressive documents coming from a party-affiliated organization.

The work YDA does is extremely important for the present and future of both the Democratic Party and the Progressive Movement. More youth participation and higher voting turnout will mean victories for progressive candidates and issues. So I am going to thank Tony Cani both for the work he has done for the Young Democrats and for sending that thank you e-mail. Someone needed to let our Representatives know when they have done something right.

case in point (0.00 / 0)
The Social Justice coalition is headed by the ASU Young Democrats president and this was in the news today:

Defunding YDA or any attempts puts actions like these which is paid for in part due to the actions of YDA, at risk.

Your actions are disgusting and embarrassing to Progressives everywhere you hack.

================================================

"Protestors disrupt fundraiser"

Several hundred community members at a cocktail reception for a fundraiser on Gammage lawn Thursday were noisily disrupted by about 50 marching, chanting and drumming demonstrators carrying signs.

Anthropology senior and Social Justice Coalition member Carah Campini said the demonstration had been planned for about a month to protest the alleged worker abuses of Great Western Erectors, one of the contractors used by the ASU Foundation.

"We want to encourage the ASU Foundation and the ASU administration to consider the far-reaching effects of their actions," Campini said.

SNIP

Juan Ramirez, a former Great Western construction worker and one of the protesters, said the demonstration was important because ASU would not take their allegations seriously.

"[Great Western] wouldn't provide any water," he said. "There would be a lot of cases of dehydration, [and] they wouldn't provide [workers] with the right medical attention."

Ramirez said the company has no respect for workers.

"They treat us like machines," he said.

I agree, it's the timing (0.00 / 0)
An earlier comment brushed on this, and I wanted to elaborate the point.

My experience with youth groups has been quite mixed.  They seem to have a nice grasp on "creating" Democrats and encouraging activism, but a fairly tenacious grasp on anything even slightly resembling a "movement."  In fact, at times, it almost seemed (in my experience at least) that they feared actually standing for much other than applying the label of Democrat to themselves and the various groups.

I believe there are larger issues facing us today (the war and perversion of our constitution for example) that necessitate a level of cohesion and focus normally not necessary to support a party.  I don't mean striving for a bland, cookie-cutter political dialog, but rather a common focus (that already exists) that unites youth groups and fledgling voters in an actual "movement" and not politics.

This actually happened in 1992, and I was part of it.  And at that time, youth groups and college organizations were actually making a regular practice out of holding their own leaders accountable for their rhetoric and their votes.  Great efforts were put forth to educate us (the young voters) on the issues.  I am not implying this is not happening now, but the choice of YDA to release this email at this time, literally days after some of the most atrocious and shameful votes in the history of the 110th Congress does make one wonder if they are paying attention to what we are up against, in a broad, encompassing scope.

What I gather from the comments in the original post, and my (admittedly limited) knowledge of funding decisions for groups such as YDA is that funding is not a right they are entitled to, but rather something they strive to achieve by pursuing the common goals of liberal ideals.

For them to release this email at this time doesn't say to me they are a failed organization with nothing to bring to the table, but rather that they may (as all organizations occasionally do) be in need of a wake up call.

And funding is the easiest wake up call of all.  If they aren't able to understand the implications of praising the leadership immediately after our many of our leaders fail us, are they capable of organizing a strong, progressive youth vote?

It's a valid question, and a serious concern.

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Young Democrats: Thank You, Democratic Leadership! | 28 comments
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