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Internet Fosters Local Political Movements

by Open-Publishing - Wednesday 28 December 2005

Internet Movement USA

By RON FOURNIER

FORT MYERS, Fla. - 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 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 Clinton’s
impeachment, raised $60 million for liberal causes in
2004. The group put its organizing muscle behind Cindy
Sheehan last summer and helped make the "Peace Mom" 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.

___

Shannon Sullivan’s 9-year-old son wanted to know why
Mayor James E. West used a city computer to solicit gay
men over the Internet, and why nobody was doing
anything about it.

"He’s the mayor," Sullivan replied.

"Mom, you better do something."

So she did. A single mother with a high school
education and no political experience, Sullivan
launched a recall campaign that used an Internet site
to organize rallies and media events. Turns out there
were thousands of other people in Spokane, Wash., who
wondered why nobody was doing anything about West.

"I was mad at people for not doing anything. I was mad
at the system and I was mad at James West," she said
after her campaign succeeded in convincing voters and
the mayor was recalled. "I’m not so mad anymore."

___

Roberta Bailey likes Pugs - the jowly, wrinkly faced
breed of dog she keeps as a pet. She also likes punk
rock and people. With the help of the Internet, the
Manhattan photographer found a way to combine her
interests: She organized a group of Pug owners who
fought to save a legendary punk venue.

"I got off my butt and did something cool," she said.

Using the Meetup.com Web site, Bailey organized a
"Million Pug March" in Washington Square Park to show
support for the venerable club CBGB. It’s as close to
politics as she has ever come.

"Who knows what me and the Pugs can do to change the
world some day," she said, giggling.

Howard Dean used Meetup.com in 2003 to organize anti-
war activists behind his Democratic presidential
campaign. Though his candidacy petered out, the Web
site continued to grow.

Nearly 2 million people log into the site to find
others with similar interests. There are more than
4,000 topics - everything from witches and pagans to
wine enthusiasts, working moms and divorced dads.

"People really get a certain high about connecting with
other human beings," said Scott Heiferman, the site’s
co-founder. "Because we live in such an isolated
culture, when people come together with other like-
minded people, there is a sense of, ’Let’s organize to
do something.’"

___

Matt Margolis got tired of hearing about the rising
influence of liberal blogs so he scrolled the Internet
for advice on how to start an online diary of his own.
He enlisted writers. He got help with designing a home
page. He found somebody who knew how to write computer
coding.

Blogsforbush.com was born.

"It took a community of people to get me going," said
the 25-year-old architecture student from Boston. By
the end of the 2004 election, he had a nearly 1,500
other bloggers posted on his site - an army of Bush
backers who donated time and money to his campaign and
wrote letters to the editor on the president’s behalf.

___

Dave Renzella is a fitness instructor at Omni gym in
Fort Myers, Fla. In his spare time, he plugs into the
MoveOn Web site to get the e-mail addresses of fellow
liberals and tries to organize them.

"I’m not an activist at heart. I’m a gym rat," he said,
"but the Internet makes it easy to combine an interest
in people with an interest in politics."

___

Eli Pariser, the 25-year-old executive director of
MoveOn Political Action, said the people-driven trend
is a good thing for democracy, a chance to "shift the
balance of power from established interests that can
raise of lot of money and lobby special interests to a
bunch of bubble-up, bottom-up citizen campaigns."

These newly empowered constituents are using technology
to send a message to politicians. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack
frequently hears from citizens via e-mails on his
Blackberry.

"It’s great because it reconnects people to government.
It’s created a sense of community and a sense of
belonging," he said.

Politicians who pay little heed could find frustrated
voters banding together and creating a third-party
movement.

"At some point this has got to reach critical mass,"
Kofinis said. "Nobody knows when that will happen or
how that will happen, but it will literally explode
into a movement."

___

On the Net:

MoveOn:
http://www.MoveOn.org

Meetup:
http://www.meetup.com

Blogs on Bush:
http://www.blogsforbush.com

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051225...