In your face fund raising!
Backfire: Turning Pickets Into Pledges is a brilliant example of Progressives fighting back against the repressive Christian Conservatives who are trying to stop women from taking advantage of their reproductive rights. Anti-Choice groups target Abortionists and Planned Parenthood clinics. To these religious freaks birth control is the same thing as abortion.
The plan is simple. Get supporters to pledge a small amount for every Protester that shows up outside the clinic. The daily tally is posted for all to see. The money raised is used for outreach and other community programs on the Planned Parenthood agenda.
Get it? If you protest you are handing money to the clinic and programs you are protesting. It's sure brilliance. It is a lose/lose scenario for the Anti-Choice creeps.
What I really love about this story is not just the in-your-face approach but the way the table has been turned. Why play the Anti-Choice game? Who let them make the rules?
These Planned Parenthood clinics have made a fundamental change in strategy and I think that it is very healthy for the organization. I think that Progressives everywhere can learn from PP.
I believe that a major problem with the Kerry/Edwards campaign was a failure to grab the field. Karl Rove was brilliant at setting the agenda and tone for the entire election, not just the GOP campaign. Kerry was constantly on defense and you can't score a touchdown without an offense.
Kudos to Planned Parenthood and to my Democratic colleagues...start taking notes.
posted by Hans @ 6:31:00 PM
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2 Comments:
I am glad that I stumbled onto your site and I have immensely enjoyed reading your "rants." Although, frankly, I would hardly call them rants--more likely highly passionate thought pieces.
Still, I would like to challenge you to take a deeper look at the "in your face fund raising" article. Wait. Breathe. Don't go ballistic yet. I truly believe that the issue of abortion will benefit from a conversation between or among people who disagree about it. And that conversation begins when we remove inflammatory language ("anti-choice zealots" or "pro-murder/abortion activists") AND--this is a big one--we try to understand the reasons people may hold the opposing viewpoint.
For instance, in regards to the fundraising idea of PP, I am certain that it will not stop picketers from picketing. Why? It won't stop picketers because they believe that they are doing what is necessary to stop a destructive action. They believe that the life of every human being begins at conception and that abortion is the taking of a life. They liken it to the civil rights movement. Would the civil rights' activists of the sixties have stopped if a fund raising idea such as Planned Parenthood's was in place then? I doubt it. Would gay rights activistist of today--or environmental activists--stop what they are doing? I hope not. It is the same with people who oppose abortion.
On a personal note, I do not think abortion is a good thing. I think it snuffs out the life of a living being. If you have ever heard the heart beat of a 7-week old fetus or seen a sonogram of an 11 week old fetus, you would probably agree. I also think it harms women. Yet, I also realize that may people will disagree with me. I try to understand thier viewpoint and I believe that their support of abortion is based on good intentions--just as my oppostion to it is based on good intentions.
Anyway, dialogue about abortion will continue but will only be fruitful if we put away some of the harsher accusations that each side throws at each other. I am heartened that the Democratic Party has now recognized that it needs to be welcoming to Democrats who do not support the party platform on abortion. Kerry's comments after the election about including "pro-lifers" as well as Tim Roemer's candidacy for the DNC means that the conversation about abortion can take place within the ranks of the Democratic Party.
So, Hans, I hope you will join me in discussing this highly volatile issue in a more open-minded way. Thanks for listening and keep up the passionate outporings.
Since this is an important issue, and I like to celebrate every comment my blog receieves, my response is posted as a blog entry here
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