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sadoldgirl

(3,431 posts)
Sun May 3, 2015, 05:53 PM May 2015

Well, I attended a "house party for Bernie" yesterday.

It was arranged by PDA, and there were 28 of us,
which is better than what I had seen for EW.
However, there was not one person under the
age of about 40, and that was a striking difference
to the EW party.

PDA will run a 50 states campaign for Bernie, and they
seem to be pretty well organized. They also managed
to get over $500 from the group (I contributed directly
to Bernie's campaign beforehand), and they organized
for callers, walkers, and more parties. All of it good.

Yet, it still worries me that the age group was so
much on the upper side. When asked about OWS,
we were told that there appears to be no national
organization, which I had hoped for.

So much from the news about one of their Parties.

19 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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peacebird

(14,195 posts)
1. A lot of younger voters are jaded because Obama was not as transformative as they wished
Sun May 3, 2015, 05:56 PM
May 2015

We need to give them info on Bernie. I think they will come around when they hear him

blm

(112,920 posts)
2. On the other hand, those are dependable voters.
Sun May 3, 2015, 05:59 PM
May 2015

Many of us have been fans of Sanders common sense approach for at least 2 decades now. Not too surprised to hear this.

It will take a bit more time to bring in the younger voters - heck - most are busy with last weeks of school.

sadoldgirl

(3,431 posts)
3. Okay, but I thought that Bernie talked
Sun May 3, 2015, 06:06 PM
May 2015

at a lot of colleges, therefore I had hoped for -at least-
more curiosity.
Still, I am glad that PDA is committed to his
campaign.

emulatorloo

(43,982 posts)
4. I think blm has a good point about younger voters. I live in a college town
Sun May 3, 2015, 06:06 PM
May 2015

and my younger friends as so busy with the end of school right now. I have no doubt they will come out for Bernie when it counts.

The party sounds great! Wonderful news about the fundraising for Sander's campaign.

sadoldgirl

(3,431 posts)
6. PDA= Progressive Democrats (of) America
Sun May 3, 2015, 06:21 PM
May 2015

I think it was supported in the beginning by Jim Dean,
brother of H.Dean.
It is also very active about an amendment to declare
Money is not speech and corporations are not people.

They also protest the TPP for instance. Try to google
it, please, if you would like more info.

They definitely know how to organize, and,yes, they
are a PAC.

vive la commune

(94 posts)
7. The organizers for the house parties
Sun May 3, 2015, 06:26 PM
May 2015

should reach out to the reddit for Bernie: http://www.reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident/ Lots of young people on there. There are various local subreddits set up for each state, too. Check the links on the right side of the main page. It seems to me that a a lot of younger people are pretty excited, actually. Some organizers from OWS have a site, People For Bernie Sanders. I think someone posted that in the group earlier. http://www.peopleforbernie.com/

 

Wilms

(26,795 posts)
8. Hang on a sec.
Sun May 3, 2015, 06:31 PM
May 2015

You said there were more participants than at the EW group. That's great right out the gate. PLUS +++ that doesn't count all the "under 40" people who, I can only imagine, will show up for a Bernie.

Is that too optimistic?

sabrina 1

(62,325 posts)
9. They were wrong about OWS. The endorsement for Bernie came from the original organizers of OWS
Sun May 3, 2015, 06:32 PM
May 2015

It was THEY who started the whole movement which exploded across the country (not what they had anticipated).

There are no better organizers that I know of than those who got OWS going.

All of them are experienced political organizers who took a back seat once the movement took off on its own.

They planned OWS for three months and did a trial run to check the police reaction so they would be sure they had covered everything regarding filming every arrest, having lawyers on hand for each arrestee and then launched what was supposed to be about a week long sit in, in one city, but spread so fast and lasted ten times longer than anticipated.

They have just announced THEIR endorsement, now they will be organizing, as they did before.

OWS is very active in most states right now. I follow most of them on Twitter.

Just like the first phase, I am certain that this phase will be planned and organized to create the same kind of enthusiasm especially among young people, as the first phase was.

It will take time and planning, but I have the utmost confidence that Bernie is going to have an army of young activists across the country doing what they do best, getting out the crowds.

One house party isn't indicative of Bernie's supporters.

He was an early supporter of Occupy and they will remember that.

sadoldgirl

(3,431 posts)
12. Right, I tried to tell them this,
Sun May 3, 2015, 06:37 PM
May 2015

but perhaps this did not klick with them.

Oh, I hope that you are right; I got a bit away from OWS
here, after they got clobbered by the stormtroopers.
Now I will check them out again. Thanks

sabrina 1

(62,325 posts)
15. Not to worry, I watched the website when they were organizing as we had heard that some group
Sun May 3, 2015, 06:54 PM
May 2015

was going to change the tactics of protesting, such as the Iraq War protests which got hundreds of thousands of people out, but then once they went home, and the media didn't cover them, they got no real attention.

This group decided to do what they were doing in Spain, stay for as long as they could so that they would get more attention.

So they planned how to do it, what they would need, the legal aspect for the protesters, food, donations, how to communicate without microphones etc.

They expected the media to ignore them, so they brought their own media.

And everyone was encouraged to bring a camera, to put their film on Utube etc.

We know that the media will probably stop giving Bernie any air time the minute it looks like might be a serious challenge to Wall St's candidates.

But OWS used the social media expertly getting the kind of attention that made it a household word, especially among the young

Right now, OWS has been supporting the Ferguson Protests, spreading the word of where they will need people etc, and Baltimore and all over the country and doing a great job.

Your group might want to invite some young people they know, show them some videos of Bernie talking about student loans, etc. But I don't think we have to worry about young people supporting Bernie.

Someone above suggested Reddit. He is the most popular candidate on Reddit right now and they do have a lot of young people who use that site. It has millions of members, so this is good news for Bernie

BrotherIvan

(9,126 posts)
14. YES
Sun May 3, 2015, 06:39 PM
May 2015

Read the threads on here about Bernie blowing up Reddit (ichingcarpenter). The younger crowd see Bernie as a game changer, an antidote to business as usual. They see Clinton as Obama's third term. They are totally embracing his grandpa/professor style and loving it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bernie-sanders-says-he-will-register-as-a-democrat-if-needed-for-primary-fight/2015/05/02/39dc71f6-f02d-11e4-8666-a1d756d0218e_story.html

I think the fact that no young people were at the party in the OP says more about the organizers than Bernie

 

TM99

(8,352 posts)
17. So are we dragging the tired canard
Sun May 3, 2015, 07:03 PM
May 2015

of ageism into the discussion now?

If they won't vote for their grandpa figure, what makes you think they will vote for their grandma in Hilary?

Both of them are old enough to have grand children, you know?

The youth that I am around got seriously pissed off at the lies of the Obama campaign. They voted for Hope and Change, and they got Despair and the Status Quo.

This has just started, and I expect that the Sanders approach may be slow to start but will reap more long-term benefits in the end. The campaign will be open, honest, direct, and pertinent to the real issues. The campaign will not be secretive, evasive, indirect, and focus group decided as many others will be.

eridani

(51,907 posts)
19. Oddly enough, most social movement meetings have an odd age split
Mon May 4, 2015, 04:51 AM
May 2015

Half are Millennials and the other half old farts like me who still think that the New Deal was a great idea. The people in the middle are, of course, juggling jobs and kids and don't have too much time for meetings.

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