Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Factions - Working WITH Each Other, Not FOR.

Factions - from The Federalist #10, James Madison, November 1787.

"a number of citizens, whether amounting to a minority or majority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community".

I've just turned 60, I grew up in Massachusetts in a family always discussing politics. Who remembers the acrimony in the Democratic Party when Kennedy challenged Carter? When Dukakis won in 1988? When Clinton won in 1992, or Gore in 2000, or Kerry in 2004, or Obama vs. Hillary in 2008? Anyone notice happening now against Bernie Sanders? 

I've been active in various ways in the SEA from the 2009 bargain until 2018. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard 1 faction or another disparage another faction for a lack of solidarity or unity, I'd have a full paycheck!

HOW do we actually work WITH each other? In the current model the winners basically step on the toes of the losers, insult the losers as being anti-Solidarity and anti-Unity, and insist the losers work FOR the winners. When we look at General Assembly attendance, when we look at voting participation in Seattle Education Association elections, the current model is a failure. 


We need to change. 


MEETINGS, AGENDAS, ABBREVIATED ROBERT'S RULES - ONLINE AND OPEN



https://organizingteacherswa.blogspot.com/2014/06/meetings-agendas-abbreviated-roberts.html