April 22nd, 2008 is Pay Equity Day

Atima Omara-Alwala, the National Chair of the Young Democrats of America Women's Caucaus, has asked that we share this information with you today.

Currently, women earn 77 cents to the dollar, over a working lifetime, this wage disparity costs the average American woman and her family an estimated $700,000 to $2 million, impacting Social Security benefits and pensions.

In 1996, Equal Pay Day was created by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) as a way to raise awareness about the gap between men's and women's wages. The day, observed on a Tuesday in April, symbolizes how far into the year a woman must work, on average, to earn as much as a man earned the previous year. (Tuesday is the day on which women's wages catch up to men's wages from the previous week.) Because women earn less, on average, than men, they must work longer for the same amount of pay. The wage gap is even greater for most women of color.

As Young Democrats we are well positioned to make a difference in our communities. Visit www.yda.org/payequity2008 to learn what you can do in your Young Democrat local chapters and/or your local Women's Caucuses, to raise awareness and take action around an issue important to us all.

Take Action for Pay Equity Today!
www.yda.org/payequity2008

Why You Should Get Involved in Your Local and State Parties

This Blog post is written by Kevin Bondelli, Southwest Region Director for the Young Democrats of America. He is the SW counter part to the Florida Young Democrats President Alan Brock, who is the Southeast Regional Director for YDA. (Join the facebook group)

It is amazing how closely Kevin's argument for joining the party out in Arizona rings true here in Florida. You have until June to file to be a Precinct Committee Person, and in most places in Florida (at least around our area of the state)you will win unopposed.

And now for insight from Kevin:

We all know the stereotype of the composition of local and state Democratic Parties: a plethora of old activists that consider anyone under 50 a young Democrat. While this keeps many younger voters from becoming involved in those entities, it would be to your advantage to bite the bullet and take the plunge.

“But Kevin, there is nobody at these meetings that is even close to my age and I would rather just be involved with Young Democrats instead!”

I know that’s what your thinking, and trust me, as a former state party employee I feel you, but the rewards of involvement will vastly outweigh the costs if you and your organization commit. Here is why:

The local and state parties determine the allocation of a lot of resources, and if nobody is there to advocate for youth programs, they are going to be overlooked.

Elected Precinct Committee persons and state committee members (at least in Arizona) vote on who becomes delegates to Democratic National Conventions, so while advocating for youth representation goals in delegate selection plans is important, having a number of young democrats involved will make the biggest difference.

Some of those older activists are actually quite interesting, and talking to them and learning from their experiences can be an invaluable education for you and your members.

Fundraising lead generation. The members of your state and local parties are the high-efficacy donors, even if they are small-contribution donors, and knowing them personally will give you a much better opportunity of raising money.

You can sell your organization and young voters in general to party regulars, and getting your message out to them will increase your legitimacy and exposure.

You are officially changing your role from “future of the party” to the “present of the party.” As long as young democrats are absent from the regular party apparatus it will appear that Young Democrats is AAA and the local/state party is the major leagues, and when you get older you graduate and get called up.

The more your state party knows you the more you will be able to partner up with their big events. In Arizona the state party works with YDAZ to have after-party fundraisers following their big dinners.

Common apprehensions of Young Democrats about getting involved:

The older activists don’t want us there. This, actually, is far from the truth. During my time at the Arizona Democratic Party I can’t count all of the activists that openly expressed their wishes that more young people were involved. While there will always be a few that look at younger Democrats condescendingly, they tend to be the minority. They won’t bite, I swear (a lot of them don’t even have real teeth).

But there won’t be any people close to my age there. Not yet. That is why you have to bring them. The Arizona State University Young Democrats have done a great job of this in the state legislative district that encompasses Tempe, and with that involvement there are now two state representatives from that district under the age of 30. How cool is it when their are people representing you at your state capitol that are your age? The answer is: very cool.

It isn’t worth my time. Seriously, did you just forget to read the entire first part of this post? Yes, it is worth your time.

Alright Kevin, you’ve convinced me. Now how do I get involved?

Become a precinct committeperson. Get appointed now and when elections roll around become an elected PC. Your local/state party can help you with the process.

Start attending your local meetings. Find out when and where they meet, bring some friends, and talk to the people there. Let them know that you want to get more involved. Once you’ve been to a couple meetings tell other friends that they should come too. Once there are more young people attending, more young people will attend. If you build it, they will come.

Go to state committee meetings. The people here are the top Democratic activists in your state. See if a representative from your state chapter can give a report at these meetings.

Have you been successful in getting involved with your local and state parties? Is there something I missed? Leave a comment and share your stories and ideas.

YDA's Spring National Conference

Are you totally geared up to put a Democrat back the White House this November? Ready to boot Republicans out of office up and down the ballot? Tired of watching campaigns from the sidelines? Had enough of the media telling you what voters are saying?

Join us as we kickoff the Young Voter Revolution - YDA's first-ever truly National Youth Coordinated Campaign to turnout young voters, take back the White House, and swing elections up and down the ballot.

Working together in Nashville we will develop our campaign plans, set goals for the number of young Democrats our efforts will turnout to vote, and brainstorm creative and cutting edge ways to make this all happen. Learn how you, as a YDA member, can get involved in this historic effort, how your local chapter, caucus, or state organization can work toward our collective goals, and what resources YDA National can provide you to help with those efforts. All in all, this meeting is where we officially kick off our efforts to make sure we not only win in November, but ensure that 2008 continues to be the "Year of the Young Voter."

Plus, we like to have a good time at YDA. After all, this conference is taking place in the heart of Music City, USA. Once all that hard work planning and preparing is done, reward yourself with some good ol' fashioned fun in Nashville's world famous bar and club district, Music Row, with enough live music to suit all your tastes!


Link

There is a job in Ohio with YDA, tell your friends.

YDA is hiring an Executive Director in Ohio.


The job can be found on YDA's website and on DemocraticGAIN.org. The deadline to apply is April 18th and applicants should send a resume, cover letter, and three references to jobs@yda.org.



Please circulate to your networks to help us ensure a strong, diverse applicant pool.

Party Leader Elected Official Delegates elected to the DNCC

Party Leader Elected Official Delegates were elected over the weekend. Miami Dade Young Democrats Vice President Florence Moss was elected! As was Brevard YD President Wes McCarville.

So was Jared Moskowitz, son of Mike Moskowitz, Broward County State Committeeman, who, along with the State Committeewoman, whose daughter was also elected, from Broward, has the largest weighted vote. (There are two State Committee people from each county in Florida, each gets a weighted vote based of their county's percentage of the Democratic Vote in Florida. Liberty County gets 1 vote for both the State Committeewoman and man, Broward has almost 60 votes each) That being said...



I don't think Jared has been that involved with the Broward Young Democrats yet, but he will be now... He is a vice mayor of Parkland , a decent sized city with around 15,000 residents. His bio has him interning for a year with YDA before working for the Vice President.

I am glad to have so many young people make the final slate. Thank you to the people who helped make it happen.

Also of important note: Congrats to Rhett Bullard and Judy Mount, both from rural north Florida! And Rhett an active Young Dem in Hamilton County!

On the next slate we need to make sure to get several Representatives from Gainesville and some more small county reps forward.

Crystal Strait: Super Delegate

The Young Democrats of America elect two DNC Members to represent us. One of which is Crystal Strait from California, and the FYD's were proud to help support her when she ran this past summer in Dallas, TX at the national convention. (Pictured above)

Today there was a great write up about her, if you are interested in learning more about our leadership, in a political paper out of CA. The Capitol Weekly.

It is a really great write up, and I hope you take the time to check it out.

How to be a delegate for the DNCC

What is the DNCC? The Democratic National Committee Convention. www.demconvention.com The website has a lot great information regarding volunteering, becoming staff, and how they advise you to become a delegate.

YDA is working to try to help Young Democrats become delegates to the DNCC too. You can sign up at: www.yda.org/delegateform

Yesterday, Alison Morano, interviewed Leonard Joseph, the Executive Director of the Florida Democratic Party on her radio show with Kenneth Quinnel. The interview covers the delegate caucuses scheduled for March 1, and, most importantly, Leonard lent his expertise on the whole election process, Florida's role in the next year, and the goals of the Florida Democratic Party.

I encourage you to listen to the show, and make plans to participate in the Delegate Caucuses around the state on March 1.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fpc/2008/02/07/Prime-Trime

Happy Birthday MLK Jr.

Erica Contreras chair of the YDA Minority Caucus sent these inspirational quotes today:

Enjoy these quotes while we use this day to remember Dr. King, and all civil rights leaders...

"All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality."

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole
staircase."

"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love
harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it."

"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted."

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the
final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is
stronger than evil triumphant. "

"I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells
him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment
in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its
injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law."

- More quotations on: [Laws]
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the
silence of our friends."

- More quotations on: [Silence]
"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can
stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."

"Let no man pull you low enough to hate him."

"Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats
away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his
objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the
ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the
false with the true. "

"Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects
revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method
is love."

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that
matter."

- More quotations on: [Silence]
"Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper
darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out
hate: only love can do that."

"Segregation is the adultery of an illicit intercourse between
injustice and immorality."

"Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity, while one
wise man forgets himself into immortality."

- More quotations on: [Immortality]
"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as
fools."

"When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong,
you cannot be too conservative."

- More quotations on: [Conservatives] [Liberals]
"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined
nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood."

"All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings
us face to face with another problem."

"The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns
those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore,
brothers."

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral
questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression
and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind
must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge,
aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is
love."

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

- More quotations on: [Justice]
"The church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and
principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed
the mores of society."

"Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the
difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a
dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one
day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its
creed: - 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal.'"

- More quotations on: [Dreams]
"I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will
die for, he isn't fit to live."

"...And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land. I may not
get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a
people will get to the promised land. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not
worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man."

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance
and conscientious stupidity."

- More quotations on: [Stupidity] [Ignorance]
"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided
missiles and misguided men."

- More quotations on: [Science]
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of
comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge
and controversy."

Post Caucus Wrap Up

Wow, I don't even know where to go from here... Obama won the Iowa Caucus, and Edwards came in second, and Clinton came in 3rd. I didn't think that Iowa would go that way, although it broke down pretty much like the last poll said it should.

From Wiretap's article on the primary:

The Iowa youth turnout rate has almost tripled since 2000. Participation of youth under 30 rose from 3 percent in 2000 to 11 percent in 2008. The turnout rate for those 30 and above was 15 percent. Among 17- to 29-year-old Democrats, 57 percent supported the winner, Barack Obama, and among 17- to 29-year-old Republicans, 40 percent supported the winner, Mike Huckabee, according to CNN's entrance poll.

Wiretap also notes that Obama's Campaign gives the youth vote credit for his win.

YDA's Executive Director Al Acker said in the YDA Press Release:

“The Young Voter Revolution continued in Iowa tonight, with young voters again showing they will turn out when targeted,” said Alexandra Acker, Executive Director of the Young Democrats of America. “Young voters were the margin of victory for Barack Obama tonight and they will by the margin of victory to propel our Democratic nominee to victory in November.

Michael Moore's comments point out that support for the war was rejected.

Over 70% of Iowan Democrats voted for candidates who either never voted for the invasion of Iraq (Obama, Richardson, Kucinich) or who have since admitted their mistake (Edwards, Biden, Dodd). I can't tell you how bad I feel for Senator Clinton tonight. I don't believe she was ever really for this war. But she did -- and continued to do -- what she thought was the politically expedient thing to eventually get elected. And she was wrong. And tonight she must go to sleep wondering what would have happened if she had voted her conscience instead of her calculator.

Future Majority Reporting that the youth vote was over three times what it was over the last few cycles.

Young voters are increasingly moving in the direction of Democrats, and tonight, the Obama campaign - thanks to a savvy youth operation that reached out on Facebook and MySpace, at high schools and on college campuses - was able to capitalize on that to attain victory. His win confirms what many have been saying for years now: young people will vote if you pay attention to the, speak to their issues, and reach out. New technologies can certainly help make that initial connection, yet it's still good old fashioned face to face politicking - peer to peer organizing - that makes the difference. Years ago, when young people began voting Republican during the Reagan Era, Democrats stopped asking young voters to participate. Tonight's victory shows what individual candidates, and the Democratic Party stand to gain by courting today's young voters.

And each campaign has released comments. I can't wait to see how things go in NH.

More and More Young Voters

YDA has linked in several news articles today on their website. More young people are participating in our democracy, becoming political active and voting.

This is the energy that we are trying to work with to make our organization here stronger, and across the state.

Click on the Title of this post and it will take you to the YDA Article. The Article also links to this story from this weekend: Case Studies in Young Voter Mobilization from Future Majority. This article is discussing the same trend.

Check out this link from YDA. It also gives the links to lots of information that will help you when talking to people about what YDA, FYD's and the Leon County Young Democrats are trying to do, and when fundraising.

And this link is Democratic Party Youth Statistics

Some of the highlights:

• In the 10 most competitive 2004 battleground states, turnout was 64.4% among young voters, compared to 48% across all other states. Like older voters, young people will turn out in higher numbers when targeted.
• Young people care about politics. According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, 77% of 18-29 years olds say they are interested in local politics, up 28 points from 1999, and 87% are interested in national affairs.
• In 2006, young voters ages 18-29 supported Democratic candidates by an impressive 58%, six points higher than the voting-age population as a whole. Democrats made gains with young independents while Republicans lost ground with their young voters.
• Young people are increasingly self-identifying as Democrats. Unlike the general population, party identification has increased among young voters. In 2006, 43% of young voters called themselves Democrats as compared to 37% just two years ago. Among all ages, 38% identify as Democrats, up only two points from 2004.

I know it is a lot of links and things to read, but I hope that you take the time to look them over in the near future. The better educated we are, the better we can present ourselves in public. The more people will want to be a part of organization and work with us in the future.

A message from Young Democrats of America

We get emails from lots of groups about the failed Republican agenda (Social Security, Iraq, Medicare), and the weak leadership of the President (Harriet Miers, Katrina, Ports deal) and all of his corrupt friends (Jack Abramoff, Scooter Libby, Jack Boehner) but this weekend we got to wondering, where is the positive agenda?

One place is at www.OurTenWords.com.

This site is dedicated to asking Democrats to submit the ten words they believe best represent the Party’s message. It’s not often young people are asked to offer input on the Party’s message-- take ten minutes and submit your own ten words:

http://www.ourtenwords.com/user/register

One of the keynote speakers for the upcoming YDA conference in Vegas , Governor Vilsack of Iowa, created this website to get all of us thinking about our hope for America and the Democratic Party. We all know why we are Democrats. As YDA members, we often share the same ideals and values which tie us together. Making sure each of us expresses that and show that young people are leaders in our Party is what OurTenWords.com is about. Take a minute and join the site, offer your own ten words, or simply vote for the entries you like:

http://www.ourtenwords.com/user/register

The Republicans give us plenty of material to make fun of, in fact we pasted of our favorites below. But the fact is, it is not enough to make fun of the Republicans, we must have a positive agenda if we want to continue to get more young people involved in politics and voting for Democrats.This online community is an innovative way for all of us to get involved and to get our peers involved in creating a positive message. The next five days the OurTenWords.com community will vote on the top 100 entries on OurTenWords.com as we all narrow the submissions down to the final three – I hope we can get some Young Democrats in that group:

http://www.ourtenwords.com/user/register

Thank you for joining us as we write our Ten Words and as we commit to a positive agenda for the 2006 election cycle. Our peers need to continue to be engaged and encouraged to be part of the Democratic Party, help us do that today by submitting your ten words and by forwarding this to a few of your friends.

Keep it blue,
Chris and Jane

P.S. After you submit your ten words, here are a few new classic Republican videos you've got to watch for a good laugh:

Bush's Nephew the future of the GOP "You Feeling Me"

John Stewart clip about Bush's new chief of staff

a Republican candidate's ad for election- you have got to watch it