I attended Netroots Nation this past week in Philadelphia. To say that it was different from Netroots in Pittsburgh in 2009 is like saying radio is different from television. Both are media, but the similarity ends there.

History

The term “Netroots” was originally defined as the bloggers who leveraged the internet for political activism. “Netroots Nation” started as “YearlyKos” in 2006 as a gathering of bloggers from Daily Kos. The name changed in 2007. The early gatherings were filled with people who put wrote their handles and their real names on stick-on badges. Most of us knew one another only by handles until we met in person. Blogging was so big and important that for the 2008 and 2012 DNCs, bloggers were chosen (national blogs, plus 2 from each state) to attend with media passes. Those credentials were still available in 2016, but the number of bloggers had shrunk astronomically.

In 2009, the attendees were predominantly bloggers, plus formal media, and politicians. There were a lot of people who were running for office for the first time, at all levels. The vendors represented unions, researchers, media, and people hawking things like tee shirts, jewelry, books, etc.

2019 Overview

At NN19, in Philly, I ran into 3 people from “the early days”, but mostly the attendees were representatives of political organizations, issue groups, lobbyists, elected officials and people there to learn. The vendors were, for the most part, selling services like web design, data services, fundraising services and the like. As an aside, there was one jewelry booth, and I now own a necklace of a bleeding heart, engraved with the word “liberal”.

The sessions were comprised of trainings where the speakers were often selling services (many, albeit not all) and the panels related to different facets of identity politics. Media was everywhere: if you wanted to, it was easy to be interviewed for both local, national and international outlets.

The keynotes included 2020 presidential candidates, as well as far left elected officials.

Swag included things that didn’t exist the last time I attended: reusable water bottles (I now somehow own seven), and computer camera covers.

One of the weirdest things, I thoughts, was the issue of water. There certainly were places to refill water bottles, but at all those stations were little disposable plastic cups, which were single use, and used by most people. In addition, whenever there were drink bars, you could get a disposable bottle of water. It all seemed so incongruous.

Many of the bathrooms are NN19 had the “Men” and “Women” signs replaced with “All User” signs. I hadn’t seen this before and it was interesting. Many people didn’t care, but there were people who were intent on finding those bathrooms in other parts of the Convention Center that hadn’t been changed.

Pick Fave Philly Moment

There is a Starbucks just outside the Philly Convention Center, where NN19 was held. I went in for a beverage, and wanted to use a reward. Philly moment courtesy of the barista:

“We don’t do that here because we suck.”

My Favorite Sessions

This is a toss-up between “How to Text Like a Human” and “Hacking the Code.” The texting session provided the kind of information that our local candidates are going to be able to leverage in 2019 to reach audiences they wouldn’t be able to otherwise, and to activate teams that will help win this year and going forward.

The “Hacking the Code” session provided a ton of information on improving the utilization of Facebook Pages to their best advantage. GREAT STUFF! Turns out there is a lot of semi-hidden information and options available if you know where to look.

Worst Moment

Get a cup of coffee, this is a bit long…

To understand the full import of this story, you need to know two things about me: first, I have genetic prosopagnosia, which means I don’t see faces. I cannot recognize myself in a photo unless I can identify my clothing or jewelry. Second, without my glasses, I cannot see more than 3 feet in front of me, and I have night blindness, meaning things are bad even with my glasses if it’s not bright light.

So, I was outside my hotel smoking a cigarette the first night (no judgement, please) and was joined by a young woman who asked if she could have a cigarette. I gave her one, and noticed that she had a “first time attendee” tag on her NN badge. I asked her what she’d learned that day, and she was angry about the fact that the caucuses were held at the same time and since she was both black AND Latina, she couldn’t attend both. She felt that the people making the schedule should have known that people could be both, and she felt that they’d done that on purpose. She then lit up a joint.

I told her about how NN used to be about blogging, but this year was rooted in identity politics. She said that everything was identity politics. She asked what I liked to blog about and I started talking about healthcare. It didn’t go well. I explained that a lot of the healthcare I blogged about had nothing to do with identity politics, and she explained to me that health care was ONLY about identity politics. I told her that if she wanted to talk about how black women have four times the mortality of white women during pregnancy and childbirth, that was true. And if she wanted to talk about how medications are predominantly tested on white men from 18 – 64, thus excluding kids, the elderly, women, people of color, etc., that was true too, BUT, my issues related to patient-centric care, universal access, legislation, drug costs, etc., were devoid of identity.

She asked what I knew about that, and I shared that I did an internship in an ER a lifetime ago. Before we had MRIs and CT Scans, and my job was to evaluate the patient in front of me and stabilize them enough to get them to surgery, or ICU, or do whatever was necessary to make sure they didn’t die on my table. And I never cared about race, or gender, or anything other than saving that person. And if there were six people in a car accident, the rules were the medical rules of triage, and those are again independent of anything other than physical condition.

During this conversation, she yelled: “DID YOU SEE THAT?!?!?!?” I had no idea what she was talking about since I didn’t have my glasses on, it was dark, and I could barely see HER. She said that a couple with a young child pushed their kid towards to kid to move away from her as they were walking by. I asked if perhaps they were trying to get away from the smell of the pot smoke, and she asked if I was inferring that she smelled bad.

Amazingly, we eventually found some common ground.

Two days later, she came up to me, and asked if I knew who she was. I didn’t, because I need a good 30 – 60 seconds of listening to someone for me to place their voice since everyone looks the same to me. Once she said she was the person I’d spoken with a few nights ago, we were able to have a conversation, but she still thinks I’m a racist. Sigh.

Local Connections

It was great to see so many people from the area who were there to learn, meet other kindred spirits and connect with people they only “knew” online. I saw a ton of people that I don’t see often enough, and it was great to reconnect and catch up. These conversations, on moving candidates forward, winning our local elections this year, and future plans were a true highlight of my time at NN19.

The Lipinski Challenge

You probably know of Congressman Dan Lipinski. He is the sole anti-choice Democrat in Congress, the only one to vote against the ACA, and amazingly, he was re-elected in the IL third last year. I ran into Abe Matthew who is challenging him in 2020.

We chatted about his numbers, and his plans, what he’d already undertaken, and I gave him a few “out of the box” ideas. He was a little surprised that these sorts of things are never mentioned to candidates, and I explained that these are things we did 30 – 40 – 50 years ago, but have been forgotten. He’s going to try several of them, since they are ways of engaging voters outside the mainstream that are unique. Glad to be of service to such a worthy candidate.

Identity Politics

You may have read that 75% of “The Squad” was at NN19, and they, and their supporters made a big deal about their relationship (or lack thereof) with Nancy Pelosi and her supporters. In addition, you are surely aware of the schism in the Party.

I am saddened and overwhelmed by the whole “us vs. them” fracture of the Party. It is counterproductive, and a good way to insure with 100% certainty that we lose the House and the Presidency next year, and remove any chance of retaking the Senate. At a more local level, all the states need to gain/retain Democratic majorities in their respective State Governments because redistricting, and this hurts those efforts. (To the Fair Districts people: yes, I’m well aware of the push for non-partisan boards to create district maps, but just in case….). In addition, this rupture prevents the ability of our elected officials to do one of the two things they are supposed to be: that is, produce legislation and vote the conscience of their constituencies on that legislation. And those “constituencies” are comprised of both the people who voted FOR the elected official, and those who voted against him/her.

The anger of some attendees against their elected reps in purple districts was especially disheartening.  Sigh.

While I could write about this for paragraphs on pages on chapters, I will simply say this: Leadership is top down. And what we need is for Party leadership to sit down over coffee (or some other beverage) with the hard left and just talk. Find common ground (and it’s easy to see if you look for it) and come to the conclusion that working together is far better than seeking discord. Keep the disagreements internal to avoid giving our enemies cannon fodder. These are things that make government work, and legitimately serve constituents. Anything else is a guaranteed second term for the Orange Monster and his regime.

The Privilege Moment

One night, I was outside the Convention Center, waiting for a friend, when I was approached by a security guard. She asked what our conference was about, and said that there were bags and parcels on a bench, and they looked too new and “good” to have been left by homeless people. My friend arrived and we went over to look at the suitcases and bags: they were filled with towels, diapers, hygiene items, and more.

It was obvious that people had left these things FOR homeless people, and I was sorry I hadn’t thought of doing the same thing.

Philadelphia is the poorest major city in the country.  That definition is a single adult under the age of 65 living alone or with a roommate and with an income below $12,752, and that’s currently 26% of the population of the city. Heartbreakingly, the problem of poverty is not limited to Philadelphia.

We of privilege (and by that I mean those of us who live indoors, have potable water, indoor plumbing and earn enough money to be able to eat ,very day: that minimum dictates “privilege” in Trump’s America) need to find ways to do things to help those who need it.

So, take a lesson from those who packed up those bags at NN19 – go through your house and find stuff, like blankets and towels, toothpaste and soap …. you know the rest …. and donate it.