Doing democracy

takes focus and it's worth it.

I went to the Oregon democratic party platform convention this weekend. I was one of many delegates. First time doing this.

Group discussion and editing of legislation ideas

The main goal of this event is to choose and fine-tune potential legislation that we want legislators to act on. We voted on the democrat party platform for Oregon.

You need a border collie to herd democrats

Someone said to me that we have a shared contract of being together and participation is key.

This was more fun than any voting I’ve done before. Everyone signed up for two sessions out of nine to attend. I picked quickly, based on what resonated immediately and that was 1) human rights, and 2) protecting democracy.

The other sessions were: economy & labor; education; environment; foreign policy & national security; healthcare & public health; infrastructure; science & technology.

We met at Western Oregon university, home of the wolves. Monmouth is no longer a dry town, not since 2002, which I learned from Rick. Rick owns Rick’s Place and it’s where I bought a London Fog and a local newspaper, Itemizer-Observer, and talked to Rick. He said you can’t make any money in Monmouth. He has run his coffee shop for 29 years.

Rick and Rick's Place

Once the meetings started, we sat in breakout rooms and began our task: to recommend legislation to legislators toward active goals around specific issues. Sounds straightforward, but this is actually where you get to see how the tofu is made.

It was like a Quaker business meeting in many ways. We had agreed upon rules and procedures to follow regarding engagement. These were called parliamentary procedure, which we all could review in our booklet. It was fascinating.

It was also like a convention for editors and librarians about how to finesse language into the best words (50 or less) to convey the most accurate meanings, which would hopefully move forward legislation down the road.

You can’t be lazy and do democracy. You have to read. I get it now why some folks lean into authoritarian or anarchy movements. You don’t have to read or discuss and figure things out. It’s less effort, more of a 50-yard dash than a marathon.

With the democracy thing you need patience and tolerance. Add maturity and you’ve really got something. You have to sit with a bunch of individuals and come to some sort of reasonable agreement for everybody. This means that you have to be reasonable and open to both agreement and disagreement. 

Sometimes you have to be willing to sit down with twisted, knotted up fishing line and take the time to unwind and re-spool to restore function, metaphorically.

It was like an exercise in the flexibility and balance of agreeing and not agreeing, for the good of the whole.

It was like a circus but not with clowns, instead with trapeze acts of swinging through and trying to connect with enough grace to pull off the goal of landing on the other side.

It was like being in a large kitchen with individuals stirring diverse pots, but singing together anyway.

An old and amazing giant sequoia

The small campus had gorgeous trees. There was a giant sequoia planted by the class of 1887. They listed the names of people from that class: Belle, Ida, Minnie, Ira, Kate, and Leroy among them. They left something we all benefit from- a giant beautiful tree that is still here. Thanks class of 1887!

Thank you also to the democratic party of Oregon for holding this fabulous event and for every delegate that took the time to show up and work for ways to support Oregon’s legislative values and process! You make a difference!

“It is the indispensable duty of those who maintain for themselves the rights of human nature… to extend their power and influence to the relief of every part of the human race from whatever burden or oppression they may unjustly labor under…”

-Benjamin Banneker