Action vs Posturing: Responding to Student Loan Reform

Tony Cani, Political Director of the Young Democrats of America here.

I am happy to clarify our involvement in College Affordability work. I believe that you will all find that Michael's concerns that YDA was just posturing instead of taking action are grossly unfounded. In fact, we are aggressively pursuing steps beyond his suggestions to "capitalize" on the GOP no votes.

Quick facts:

* YDA is an active member of the College Affordability coalition which works with other youth organizations to get legislation through Congress that helps students. (It is important to note that we are the only partisan organization actively involved).

* Over 2200 YDA members sent letters to congress pushing for this legislation over the last week from www.yda.org/writecongress. This type of lobbying is something House leaders DESPERATELY wanted support with.

* YDA pushed for phone calls directly to House members the day before and day of the vote, resulting in a few hundred calls coming from www.yda.org/callthehouse.

* This isn't the first time we've done this. Since HR5 was up during the first 100 hours, we have employed the tactics above, local chapter efforts, and a text messaging campaign. To "sign our mobile petition" for lower interest rates you can text "COLLEGE" to 3-5-3-2-8. We then send updates to your phone on when votes are happening etc.

From the beginning of the Democratic majority in Congress, we have seen college affordability work as an opportunity for us in three ways.

First, it allows us to lobby for legislation which young people support and need - in and of itself a great cause. Secondly, it provides good "programming" for our local and state chapters who are always looking for ways to work with other groups in their area and around the country. Finally, as Democrats deliver on campaign promises to young people, it provides a real opportunity to brand the Democratic Party and individual Congressional Members as the party directly taking actions to improve lives and we can use no votes to highlight the screwed up priorities and empty rhetoric of Republican members.

It is also important to realize that my personal belief (as a long-time local activist, grassroots leader, State Party employee, and YDA State President) is that in order for these efforts to be effective they need to happen on two levels. Nationally we drive the efforts, send emails to our list and leaders asking them to take actions - giving them the information they need to do so well. Then, the real electoral pressure HAS TO COME from the local level. An effort on a college campus inside a district, or a letter to the editor from someone in the district has a much greater impact than something coming from those DC political hacks at YDA or random out of town activists writing from their out of district homes. When we are hitting from both fronts simultaneously however, I think we can make a big impact.

On to specifics. About 8 days ago I sent a memo to all our State Presidents describing the efforts we were taking nationally to lobby for this bill, and explaining to them the branding opportunities. In it, I gave them bill summaries, and some ideas for potential individual and chapter actions to take.

30 minutes after the bill passed, we then sent a follow up memo to all our state presidents with each of the No Votes and their CD (something we scrambled to get together fast) so they could start planning their efforts. I sent the same list to all our coalition partners as well.

We are urging our local chapters to do the following:

* Send a press release condemning their individual member who voted no (or praising the yes vote). We have a sample release to them for these purposes.

* Start a letter to the editor campaign about the individual member's vote. We have a sample letter to the editor for these purposes.

* Host events that either THANK the members who voted yes, or demand answers from those who voted no.

We did ALL OF THIS after HR5 as well, so it isn't new to our organization. The most creative thing some of our local chapters did back them was have a gigantic thank you card on campus for students to sign which then was to be delivered to the member. This was more about showing students what happened then actually thanking the member - and it was very effective.

Nationally, we definitely have some targets already plotted out that we are especially excited to go after. Expect to see some of this at our National Convention next week which includes a large panel SPECIFICALLY on this issue. Notably, Representative Deborah Pryce who serves the OSU campus, Tom Davis of Northern Virginia, and John Doolittle of California are in for a few surprises.

I think it is important to realize that just because we don't put something on our web page or our blog, it doesn't mean we aren't in the midst of action on a given cause. That being said, we have blogged about our pre-vote efforts and have our college affordability action link prominently displayed on the front of www.yda.org.

I do want to also add that posting something on a web page or blog IS NOT ACTION. It is a first step toward action. I don't know when along the way youth organizations and activists got mixed up about this point. While I think it is exciting that Fred put together a great post with a good target list it will not on its own, except by accident, result in action with on the ground efforts. Alone, a blog post is little more than the same type of posturing that Michael is so concerned with. The key in these efforts, especially in a liberal blogosphere geared toward older Democrats, and to a generation with mounds of evidence showing peer-to-peer communication is the best way to activate them is follow up and local action on the ground - especially by local activists. Additionally, I think it is important to note that a target list limited to people with opponents and an arbitrary assessment of possible victory is something I believe is a bit short sited considering all the surprise from nowheres victories of 2006 and the growing number of young activists all over the country. Just because you live in a place where purple and blue seem impossible to achieve - it doesn't mean your organizing efforts are any less important than anyone else's.

I will however accept that even given what I have written above, it clearly is important for us to do a better job of advertising outside of our internal communication avenues what we are doing. This is a major area where we need improvement and will only amplify what we are already doing.

Finally, I am happy to share that this college affordability work is a model that we are fine tuning for issue/chapter/political work. After convention, similar efforts will be unveiled in turn for Climate Change, the Iraq War, and a yet to be determined poverty/jobs issue. All which have panels to kick them off at our convention. With the recent hire of a Director of State and Local Programs to bolster my national efforts with efforts at the local level - I imagine you will see that we are completely dedicated to exactly the types of efforts Michael is describing.

So, join us. Take action. And if you have any questions feel free to email me at tcani (at) yda (.) org