Please also note that Duggan – the subject of this article is a long time friend of Liberal Republican Supervisor Robert Weygandt… This article is imformative in two ways, one is the interesting friends Weygandt has and the fact that those same friends are the driving force behind Montgomery.

Courtesy of the “Reader’s Write” Segment of the Tahoe Sun…

Readers Write: What does a community organizer do?

Theresa May Duggan, Many of you have thanked me over the years for helping on local campaigns and causes. I do so willingly and with no agenda other than to improve my community and leave my little bit of heaven better for the next generation. A few of you asked me how I learned to do what I do and even why I do it. Some of you have benefited from my passion with help on your own campaigns or causes. Well, my passion comes from deep within, from an intense desire to help others and an understanding that we are only here for a split second in time. If we can each in our own way make a difference, then have we not experienced success in life itself?

On Wednesday evening at the Republican National Convention, I was personally offended by the comments of Governor Palin. I was devastated by her remarks; I felt she denigrated my work and diminished my efforts by belittling my passions and the passions and commitment of every other one of the “1000 points of light” that GHW Bush talked about as the foundation of our civil society. Where would our communities be without our non-profit organizers working long hours for low pay doing what many of us could not or would not do? All of us need to know that our work is meaningful and in a few short snippy sentences our life’s work was reduced to a joke. I was not amused, I hope you weren’t either.

And the remarks of Rudy “911” Guiliani were just as hateful. He mocked presidential candidate, winner of 18 million votes, Barack Obama, saying “he has led nothing, nada.” Well, I beg to differ, Mr. Mayor. He’s leading millions of us to find hope in a process many were all too willing to let pass by. Could this be the same mayor of New York who in the 1990s praised a local Brooklyn Community Collaborative when he said “they do not pay homage to political figures…. They require you to answer their questions. They remind you that you are a public servant.?”

A democracy only works when we participate, when we agree to be informed, when we agree to interact with people who don’t share our views, when we agree to be inclusive and work toward solutions together. When we talk, we can learn what interests we share and work to build bridges to the future. Haven’t the last eight years of Bush-Rove-McCain politics of division showed us how fractured we have become as a nation? Can’t we do better?

I found an article on line that says it simply:

“Community organizers make democracy work by mobilizing people to inject long-ignored issues on to the public agenda and hold politicians accountable. They help give people the confidence they need to use the tools of democracy. In a society where wealth and income is concentrated in a few hands, grassroots organizations make it possible for ordinary Americans to find their civic voice and exercise influence in politics.”

—Peter Dreier & John Atlas, The Nation, September 5, 2008

So please take a few minutes and read the entire article: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080922/dreier_atlas and then I hope you will make a commitment to DO ALL YOU CAN in the next few weeks to bring change to our community, our region and most of all to our country, a country I deeply love.

For our community: Support Jennifer Montgomery
For our Region: Support Charlie Brown
For our Country: Support Barack Obama

DO ALL YOU CAN!

—Theresa May Duggan is a proud Community Organizer and long time North Shore resident who enjoys a good discussion and working with others to seek solutions. She invites you to join her at the Community Election Headquarters Opening in Kings Beach upstairs of Spirits of Tahoe on Friday evening between 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. to learn more about what you can do to bring about positive change!