Elliot Anderson

Name:	Elliot Anderson
Location:	Las Vegas, NV

My Experience in progressive politics:

After getting out of the Marine Corps, I had my eyes opened to the dangers of the Bush Administration. After receiving the DFA Training in Las Vegas, I was launched head first into major political activism. As they say, knowledge is power.

My personal volunteering highlight:

My most proud moment in politics was taking the fight to Fox News.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJeVFCVaRF0&feature=related

Another unbelievable moment to me was giving the Democratic Radio Response to George Bush on Memorial Day Weekend.

http://www.democrats.org/a/2007/05/war_veteran_del.php

Here is a link to a Daily Kos Diary of activities I've been involved in.

Steps I've taken to combine on-line and off-line action:

I use the internet for a lot of crowd building for local grassroots events. I also use it to record the events and to show people what we do out here in Nevada. I think we have done a lot of great activities out here and it is important to get the word out.

Why I want to attend Netroots Nation:

I wish to attend Netroots Nation in Austin to get a better feel of the people and organizations involved in New Media. In addition I am always interested to learn more about politics in general and Netroots Nation in Austin will no doubt prove to be an eye opener.

What I want to get out of Netroots Nation:

I hope to reconnect with everyone I know from the blogosphere and to meet more activists. I also hope to have my eye opened to new issues and new problems I may not know. I think the blogosphere is such an important community to know well because it is the community driving headlines in the political world today.

What is a progressive activist:

A progressive activist is someone who believes strongly in action. Liberal and progressive are two terms which are confused regularly. Liberals and progressives have the same views on issues. However, it is "progressives" who do something about it.

A progressive activist must be willing to create change through action. It isn't enough to believe in something and then talk about it. We must recruit and train people who are willing to get out there and make stuff happen.

How I think blogs fit into the progressive movement:

Blogs play an important role in bringing things to light for policy makers and for activists. The traditional media is frankly quite lazy in its reporting and it needs to have some outside help if Democracy is to survive. The traditional media is in a bubble being based in D.C. and part of the same social class as the people they are supposed to be holding accountable. This is a dangerous mix which needs to be helped by blogs.

In addition Democratic policy makers need to be agitated from the outside as well. Blogs provide an effective way for progressives to organize and help shape the Democratic Party as a party which believes in action and not just having beliefs on issues. It doesn't matter what you believe if you are too afraid or unable to do anything about those beliefs.

How I think Democracy For America fits into the progressive movement:

Democracy for America is a key part of the progressive movement. As previously stated, a progressive activist is a liberal person who wants to do something about what they believe. It is not likely that progressive activists will have much luck being able to fight for what they care about without knowledge and skills. It is perhaps a cliché, but knowledge IS power.

DFA's best contribution to the progressive movement is giving all of us the knowledge to navigate the political world. I think a lot of us never had any clue about what was out there until we attended the DFA Training Academy. You can't change the world until you understand it. If it wasn't for the DFA Training Academy, this progressive activist would just be liberal. I wasn't able to take effective action until I had DFA's help.

In 10 words or less, create a bumper-sticker slogan against John McCain:

Help America Regain its Sanity- Vote Out Bush/McCain