We! The People Webzine: A Voice is Born by Norla Antinoro

by Norla M. Antinoro
January 8, 2007

Thirty four years ago I gave birth to a son and I'm immensely happy with and proud of how that turned out. This past week I participated in giving birth to another entity and I'm happy and proud of this new youngster. It would be utterly delightful to watch it grow and prosper as well as my first born has done.

This past week, working with an unsurpassed team, I participated in the birth of a new webzine: We! the People. We! is the magazine for the new grassroots organization WeDemocrats.org. Its articles and commentary are those of its members. No hired guns, no pundits, no talking heads. This zine is the voice of We The People, the members of WeDemocrats.

It was not an easy birth. There was wailing and weeping. There was dispute and debate. There were conflicting views and passionate feelings. There were many bland ideas and fascinating tidbits. Images dull and pretentious, fascinating and simple. All these came together, mixed and intertwined to produce a smooth looking, easy to read, thoughtful and timely zine expressing the opinions of the progressives of America.

If it does not reflect your ideas, and you consider yourself to be an American progressive or dedicated Democrat, contact me and let your voice be added to the mix in We! It's that easy.

As a lifelong Democrat, I have looked for ways to support the principles of the party since before I could vote. I have voted in every election for which I was eligible. Until the 2000 election, I truly believed that voting was being an active citizen and was enough. Over the following four years it became quite apparent that there were so many things broken in our country's electoral system that simply voting for candidates and propositions was not enough any more, if it ever had been. More was needed. The citizens of this country needed to get involved in the running of their country in ways they had never been involved before.

My awakening to the needs of my country came at a time when many others were also opening their eyes and seeing the plight of this nation. Thus was re-born the grassroots approach to political activity in America. While grassroots has always been involved to some extent, there have been a few decades of apathy in America during which the average voter seemed to believe that someone else out there in the greater world somewhere had control of things and what the average voter did had little effect. As I fought my way out of the pit of apathy I heard my own words from the lips of my fellow voters so many times: What can I do? I am only one person. What can one old woman do to have any effect? What can one grocer do? One history teacher? One taxi driver? One dentist?

First, you can vote. That is the bedrock of it all. But it is not enough. Not any more, if it ever was. In addition to the voting, we must speak about, write about, and discuss all the ideas and issues before us. We must propose laws, bring suit, and speak out. We must join others who believe as we do and work together to get candidates elected who will actually represent our interests in congress, in both the state and federal legislatures. We must provide input and constant feedback to those candidates after they are elected. That is not the easy part. It's the hardest part of all - getting your representatives to pay attention to you beyond a smile and a handshake. Getting them to focus on your face and hear your ideas is difficult and it's very easy to fade back into the feeling of inconsequence, of 'what can one me do'. But that person you are seeking to talk to is your representative, he or she works for you. You have a right and a duty to make your thoughts and feelings on the important issues known to all your reps, at all levels. Support them when they do good, with letters of praise to the local papers and to the representative's office. They may not answer you but they will put your letter in the file to pull out when they need to show that their constituents support this issue and are behind them.

In the 2006 elections, the power of the grassroots approach was demonstrated. The congress was returned to a Democratic majority largely by the efforts of grassroots organizations and the people who form them. You, me, and our neighbors. We, The People.

That's where WeDemocrats came in. Founded by Ron McBride in 2006, WeDemocrats began as a small group of DFA members who wanted to do a little bit more, be a little bit more active and involved. Recently it became an independent entity, no longer under the DFA umbrella, and after only a few weeks as an independent group, it is 1700+ members strong and growing.

In that swell of membership growth, I came on board and was chosen to be the editor of the groups webzine, We! The People. Out of whole cloth, it seemed, we were to create a magazine to give voice to the people, the progressives of America. A small but energetic team began the process and together we crafted the We! that you can see today. New. Still damp. And growing. The team includes the energetic and talented webmaster, the publisher, the editor, advisors, writers, and friends. The ideas come from us - the members of WeDemocrats. The words are ours. It is truly the voice of We The People.

To keep this newborn thriving, we need new material every week. If you have thoughts, write to me. We will put them together into an article for We! If you are a writer, send us your commentary and opinion, your researched articles, and we will publish. If you are a cartoonist, send us your work. If you write protest songs or protest poetry that fits the message, we will find a way for your voice to be heard. Add your voice to the voice of We! The People.