George Lakoff Call for Volunteers to Organize for the California Democracy Act

Dear colleagues:

Thank you for all the work you have been doing. Special thanks go to Peter Glazer and Greg Levine for their March 4 organizing.

Since December I have been working to put together a statewide organization for the California Democracy Act, the ballot initiative that would eliminate the 2/3 rules and allow a majority of the legislature to make decisions about raising revenue and passing a budget. That is the only way the legislature will be able to raise enough revenue for higher education and other crucial needs in the future.

That organization is now in place and we are now ready to join our organization with the March 4 organization. We have community organizers throughout the state and organizers on all UC campuses. Within a day or two our new website will be up (www.californiansfordemocracy.com) and it will allow us to do online signature gathering in two ways. It will also allow us to use our new sophisticated organizing tools for the March 4 and March 22 (community college) events.

At this point, it is crucial to link our organizations together. I would like the SAVE Coordinating Committee to appoint a subcommittee (or to find volunteers) to work with the campus and intercampus branches of CDAC (California Democracy Act Coalition). I suggest a campus-wide signature-gathering organization, recruiting both faculty and student volunteers within departments, which would serve both the purpose of gathering signatures (in person and online) and spreading the word about March 4.

I have already spoken with Bob Meister about involving the faculty unions and have been in contact with movements at other campuses. We have also been working with superintendants of schools to organize students and teachers for March 4 and beyond.

One of the first things to do is to integrate our messages. The suggested message “we need to stabilize and restore financial support for all levels of California’s public education system.” I would add one sentence, “This will require passing the California Democracy Act to allow majority rule in the legislature.” This should also be done in all press releases. (I am happy to be able to rejoin the press committee now that all this organizing work has been done.)

I suggest that the notice on the website be rewritten to include the basic CDA message (it’s very short). I also suggest that those working with the unions join with us as well to get CDA on the ballot and pass it.

If you are interested in helping to coordinate our efforts, please email me with the subject heading CDA March 4.

Remember that only if CDA passes will the March 4 event produce any real long-term effects.

Best wishes,
George Lakoff

George Lakoff
lakoff@berkeley.edu