Why should we care about resolutions and going to the Democratic conventions here in Texas?
Some people question why we bother with writing and promoting resolutions, and say that the candidates may ignore them or that the general public doesn't care. However, I believe there are some very important reasons why we should promote resolutions that deal with issues we care about:
* They help us to educate people about issues we care about, by explaining why a particular policy is a good idea. This includes Democrats at the precinct and Senate District conventions who may support some of our issues (like impeachment) but be unfamiliar with others.
* Build support for progressive issues, and remind others that they aren't the only ones who care about them.
* Provide one of the most effective ways of motivating voters who support progressive issues to attend their party conventions (for Democrats: precinct, Senate District or county, and state conventions; for Greens: to sign petitions to get on the ballot, and to attend their state convention).
* By getting progressive Democrats to participate in their conventions, we can elect more progressive leaders in the Democratic Party. (The Greens don't need this but the Dems do!) We actually made major progress in Texas in 2004, because we got a lot of progressives to the conventions. Because of this, we now have a fairly progressive platform, and we elected almost a majority of progressives to the State Democratic Executive Committee. The SDEC acts like a board of directors, and they make all the big decisions for the party between the state conventions. If we can get just a few more progressives elected there, I think we'll see big changes in the Democratic party.
* Candidates may certainly choose to ignore resolutions or the party platform. However, they do this at their own peril. Ignoring the issues that the grassroots (us) care about means they aren't likely to get the support needed for block walking, phone calling, and other essentials for winning elections. I personally think one of the reasons so many Dems keep losing is that many of them are ignoring these issues, and as a result it's hard for them to get campaign volunteers.
For a list of our resolutions, see http://www.paa-tx.org/resolutions
You can also find an alphabetical list of both new and old ones at the bottom of this page: http://www.paa-tx.org/about
For more information on resolutions, see http://www.paa-tx.org/node/1483