Lubbock Left

In addition to providing current news and opinion about local politics, one goal of this blog is to offer a gateway to action. To that end, I’ll post the occasional tip from a helpful resource and start the discussion about how it can be applied locally, right here in Lubbock.

One of the best little books about turning your passion into action is “MoveOn’s 50 Ways to Love Your Country.” You can read excerpts online before paying the reasonable $11 for your own copy. Today we’ll look at the excerpt about the power of connecting through petitions, which has a taste of lots of different tools that should be in every activist’s toolkit.

The excerpt mentions writing letters to the editor (LTEs), a topic we will return to on its own, to support your petition. Currently the opinion editor at the A-J is Joe Hughes, and his email is joe.hughes@lubbockonline.com. Be sure to put “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line so he will spot your email. Also, be sure to keep your letter under 250 words, or they won’t print it. Alternatively, you can use the A-J’s online LTE submission form. El Editor also accepts LTEs.

There are tons of free online petition sites out there. They all seem pretty good — shop around for the one that fits your needs.

Contacting the media through a good, targeted press release is a fundamental that we’ll have to save for another day. :) Creating an exciting and memorable event is yet another key element. Setting up a simple website is also important topic for another day (for now, check out freewebs, which is getting great reviews).

I think the most important lesson to take away from this MoveOn story is that the activists had a very specific goal and a very specific set of tactics to achieve it. They also had a way to measure their success, and they set the terms of their victory. Being specific, measuring your effectiveness (and adjusting tactics accordingly), and defining what “victory” means within the context of your current campaign are perhaps the three most important ingredients to successful activism. This example has them all.

Thoughts? Examples of similar success stories here in Lubbock?