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We all know the facts, and there is no disputing it! The GOP has openly declared war on women. But the time for talk is over, now we must declare war FOR women. It is time to take action for our mothers, daughters, grandmothers, sisters and better halves. This is where you come in.

Like many of you, at one point I felt far removed from our elected officials, and had no idea how to get involved. Then I learned how to grassroots organize and saw the power that all of us have. If you are fired up and ready to get involved, but are not sure where to begin, then Democracy for America has you covered.

DFA is here to help you and your friends declare war for women!  Their training seminars provide practical tools and create a community of people committed to fighting for women’s rights. You can start this Wednesday with Debby Tucker, the Executive Director of the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence who will teach you how to effectively lobby Congress.

At the seminar you will:

• Receive an update on the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (S. 1925)
• In depth training on how to have a conversation with and lobby your elected officials

Click on the image, or go to DemocracyforAmerica.com and you will be well on your way to fighting for women across America. I look forward to seeing you there!

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Since 1976, Congress and the Republican Party have taken a hard right hand turn. During this time the discussion has shifted from what we can accomplish together, to what the government takes away. Going all the way back to our founding, Americans have held a special contempt for taxes, and Republicans have built their success around this hatred. Progressives must shift this dialogue to be successful.

First, progressives must focus on the idea that government is what we do together. Through paying taxes, we have gone to the moon, built a highway system and developed the Internet. The discussion must shift from talking about taxes to the services that we get in return for our tax dollars. For an example, lets look at how folks from the City of Troy, Michigan responded when anti-tax rhetoric threatened their library.

This video effectively displays by shifting the discussion from anti-tax rhetoric to the benefits government service, they saved their award-winning library. On issues from health care to public transportation, progressives must continue to highlight the positive impact our government has on our communities.

Next, we must highlight the empowering message of progressives. We believe that all Americans are job creators, not just the super wealthy. Progressive policies are focused on creating stability and opportunity for all, not just the super wealthy. It is progressive policies that has made our country an economic superpower, and it will continue to be progressive polices the create prosperity for all Americans.

We can talk about these points all we want, but ultimately we need strong grassroots action to back it up, and we need it now. For progressives to drive the message in this country here is what we need to do:

1. Recruit more progressives to run for office in all levels of Government: We need organize progressives to show strong grassroots and netroots support for potential progressive candidates to encourage them to run.



2. Get people involved on the local level: Republicans have used low voter turn out to hijack State Legislatures and Governors’ Mansions. They have used these as grounds to push extreme right wing legislation and make radical the new normal. We must elect strong progressive leaders across the country on the state level to show, the effectiveness of progressive ideas and highlight the extreme polices of the right.



3. Elect more progressive Senators: Currently there are 74 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus in the House. Accounting for 17 percent of all members and 39 percent of Democrats in Congress. In the Senate, The Progressive Caucus currently has only one member, Sen. Bernie Sanders. Senators are major newsmakers and message drivers, we must elect more progressive leaders to the Senate, starting with Elizabeth Warren this fall.

If progressives can rally behind messaging that highlights government as what we accomplish together and a strong economic message of prosperity for all, backed by strong grassroots organizing, then progressive democrats will be drivers of the political dialogue for years to come.

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Recently, I was traveling between Richmond, Virginia and Washington, DC when my train was running a few minutes late. I knew that there was severe weather in the area, so I took to twitter to see if there were any delays and this is what I found:

From this I was quickly able ascertain the service was disrupted between Washington and BWI, so I did not have to worry about major delays. Sure enough my train rolled into the station just a minute later. Once settled on the train, I was so impressed with Amtrak’s responsiveness, I figured I would let them know:

To my surprise not to long after, I also received a tweet from Amtrak:

In response, I promptly joined their Amtrak Rewards program and now finding myself thinking train first when making travel decisions. I now also find myself being a brand advocate for Amtrak, taking photos and sharing whenever I travel Amtrak or even recommending to friends.

The Social Media Lessons Learned:

1. In being responsive to other customers, the answer I needed was already online. Many organizations fail to respond to customers due to the time investment. They tend to view it as I put all of that time into answering one person’s question. But the fact of the matter is there may be many followers who have that same question. You get them the information the are looking for without them having to ask it.

2. Building relationships takes an unremarkable train ride and creates a brand advocate. My trip to DC was  uneventful, just a standard two hour train ride. However, it was their direct engagement with me, that made me a true fan of Amtrak, by taking the time to stop and say we appreciate your feedback and thoughts.

3. Interaction did not lead to measurable direct sale, but has ultimately generated future sales. Many non-social media types tend to not see its value, because there is not a direct click to sale. However, what they miss is it does build relationships and generate future sales. Prior to this interaction I used the train as a utility– if I needed to get somewhere affordably then I would take it. Now Amtrak, in showing they listen to their customers, has created a future customer who will think train first.

Building relationships and listening to your followers is an essiental part of the social media experience. I encourage all organizations to look into the Amtrak model and truly show they are listening to there followers.

Are there any companies/organizations that you think do a good job of this?

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