MontcoDFA - The Year In Review

Written by: Kevin Shaw on Dec 31, 2007 11:35 AM EST

It's been a busy and productive year for Montgomery County Democracy for America. The steering committee would like to thank everyone that participated in any or all of these events and programs and invite you to join us in the coming year as we continue to work to advance a progressive agenda for America. As Bev Hahn said a couple of weeks ago, imagine what we could accomplish if we had more regular participation from an even larger group of concerned, active citizens.

• Helped raise awareness among our local communities regarding the Occupation of Iraq:
• Participated in numerous street corner demonstrations, both small and large, organized by ourselves and in cooperation with Philly for Change, MoveOn.org, the Coalition for Peace Action, Brandywine Peace Community, Northwest (Phila) Green Party, WILPF, United for Peace and Justice, Vietnam Veterans Against War, Iraq Veterans Against War, American Friends Service Committee, and others
• Screened several feature films including The War Tapes, andThe Ground Truth
• Delivered anti-war petitions personally to Representative Allyson Schwartz with Coalition for Peace Action
• Traveled to Washington, DC to demonstrate against the war and to lobby our lawmakers

• Presented the films Kilowatt Hours and An Inconvenient Truth to raise awareness among our community regarding global warming and energy issues

• Participated in several local, county row office, and commissioner campaigns
• Provided opportunities for our members to meet and converse with several Montgomery County Row Office candidates
• Held a very successful fundraiser for Ruth Damsker and Joe Hoeffel
• Two members ran for Horsham Council
• Worked to help elect five Democrats for the first time ever to county row offices

• Helped educate voters and raise awareness regarding health care reform:
• Met with Representative Allyson Schwartz to personally deliver health care horror stories as part of a national DFA effort to support health care reform.
• Distributed flyers supporting national and state level single payer legislation to the public at the area theatrical opening of SiCKO
• Held a health care reform panel discussion to investigate and educate ourselves about the various proposals before the legislature in Harrisburg.
• Held SiCKO house parties after the DVD release

• Organized a Pennsylvania statewide DFA Conference in State College, PA
• Held State of the Union watch parties
• Saw members selected or elected to several area Democratic committees
• Wrote letters and postcards to our elected representatives on a variety of subjects including the Iraq war, and the preservation of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution
• Worked with the Election Reform Network to raise awareness and to petition our county leaders about problems with voting systems in Montgomery County
• Formed a task force to work toward Impeachment of the president and vice president
• Represented at the Take Back America 2007 Conference in Washington, DC
• Represented at DemocracyFest'07 in Manchester, NH
• Worked on various projects with other area DFA and Progressive groups.
• Countless letters to Editors on the issues of the day. (Thanks, Ben!)

Again, thank you for your participation in 2007. Here are some of our goals for 2008, we hope you can find something in this list that will inspire you to action:

• Elect a Progressive Democrat to the Presidency
• Empower Our Grassroots By Training One Activist for Each Voting District in Montgomery County (411!)
  
• Retain and Add Progressive Legislators In Harrisburg
• Pass Single-Payer Health Care in PA
• Keep Our Meetings On Task and On Schedule
• End the Occupation Of Iraq
• Impeach Bush and Cheney

See you Thursday at our Mock Caucus!

Best wishes to you and yours for a happy and healthy new year!

The MontcoDFA Steering Committee

Lee, Mary, Bev, Paul, Kevin, and Ken

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