The Licking County Progressives

Recent bullet points of local information you might want to know, but may have missed:

• A series of brainstorming/planning sessions for the Licking County Progressives occurred in August and dealt with the following:

1)      Democracy Day 2017 (Sunday, September 17th):

1. a) Time and Location of event: 1-5pm (actual event is 2-4pm, hour before and after for set up and clean up), Main Newark Public Library at 101 W. Main St., Meeting Room A
2. b) Birthday Celebration for the “Oldest Corporate Person” (we will obtain a cake from a local baker), and we will try to make some drinks available as well
3. c) Presentation on Money in Politics: complete with the history of the issue (pre-2010), remarks on the Citizens United and McCutcheon rulings, highlighting how the oligarchs on both sides of the political spectrum (The Koch Brothers and Warren Buffett, for example) are empowered over average people, and discussing the increasing cost of our elections – at each level – before and after the controversial rulings in this decade and even the potential corruptive influence that this method of financing elections has on the process, we will also address why amending the constitution is the best option versus standard legislative action or even doing nothing
4. d) We will note that a petition for Fair Districts = Fair Elections will be outside of the library if that petition is still in circulation
5. e) Time permitting, each participating citizen will have 5 minutes to speak (and we will keep time) on the issue
6. f) We will plan to have information available with respect to current Amendment sponsors at each level of government and on how the Constitution is amended (different paths for starting such, the pros and cons of a convention, and how amendments are ratified, and we will attempt to reference more sources for helpful information on this issue
7. g) We will encourage participants to contacts our state and federal elected officials to promote a constitutional amendment

2)      Summer of Labor

1. a) The plan is to kick off a preview of what is to come via a Month of Labor in September 2017 with the Labor Day parade.
2. b) Make a connection between Democracy Day and the theme of a “Labor Month” by noting how “Democracy” means “us” (the people) and how organized labor/unions is “social democracy” and how “Citizens United” is an attack on all forms of democracy via a coup orchestrated by the oligarchs
3. c) On Labor Day, in an idea originally proposed by the current Licking County Democratic Club President, we should advocate for the participation of all members of the Licking County working class, and encourage them to proudly wear their respective work uniforms no matter where they work and regardless of whether they have a union, to carry a pro-Labor sign and/or wear a shirt supporting such, and in this parade we will look to encourage participants to march alongside the Labor Council and other working class-friendly groups
4. d) Throughout the Month/Summer of Labor, we ought to emphasize that casual dress is nothing to be ashamed of, since it is a hallmark of the working class since not everyone can afford to dress formally
5. e) Introduce some kind of labor-oriented panel discussion towards the end of the month, possibly with a featured/educated speaker with expertise on the issues affecting the working class
6. f) The ideal model for the Month of Labor in 2017 and for each of the four months in any future “Summer of Labor” would be as follows: a parade (or some other festive working class event), an event for working class outreach (complete with sharing opportunities for work, info on organizing, and labor education, but this event would be replaced with the Democracy Day event each September if there isn’t enough interest in hosting four events that month), and a Working Class/Labor Panel discussion event with a featured speaker (if possible)
7. g) A representative from Working America has expressed interest in helping to organize these events and they recommend that we seek the help of the AFL-CIO as well as the Blue-Green Alliance (Jobs of the Future)
8. h) An open invitation to local candidates may be extended
9. i) We will look to advertise for these events (via fliers and paid ads) wherever we can find the eyes and ears of working class citizens, there will be an ad in the newspaper