Click Here for Don Jennings Award Dinner
​On-Line/Silent Auction Pre-Bids

How to Run for Local Office Guide

​So, you’re considering a run for local office? That’s so exciting. Local officials have the power to transform their communities for the better. In this guide, we’ll go over the basics that you need to know in order to field a successful campaign. When you’re ready to dive deeper on a topic, we’ve linked to resources that can give you a more robust understanding. We’ve also created a Campaign HQ page that has upto-date resources. We’re here for you. Let’s get started!
2019
It’s going to be a
​very big year!!

Comment

Well, it’s official now. Manistee County has flipped from being a fairly solid Democratic county to a solid Republican county. Interestingly enough, the breakdown fairly mirrors the breakdown nationally with the more rural areas being Republican and the towns more Democratic.
 
If we look at it, the demographic details look a lot like typical Trump voters. Our area is older, whiter, less educated and lower income than average. And although I don’t have figures on this, I would suspect that the “town dwellers” in Manistee County are younger, more diverse, better educated and higher income than the county averages.
 
Also, we can surmise that the Trump voters are more susceptible to the fear, uncertainty and doubt message that the Republicans so adroitly used.  They, for the most part, are not overtly racist, and can vote for a tamed John James but the idea of an uppity Maxine Waters is scary. They can be resentful of “them” but the systemic racism of the Republicans falls outside of their purview. LGBYQ issues are overblown and don’t apply to them unless they have a close relative who is gay. The idea of an invasion of “aliens” is real and is seen in terms of what would 10,000 “strangers” look like in their small community not that 10,000 aliens represents .00028% of the US population. The idea of urban interests overwhelming the rural interests certainly trumps the idea of 1 person 1 vote. (The reapportionment proposal got a surprising number of no votes.) We know this feeling first hand. There has always been the idea that SE Michigan ruled the state and outstate and UP interests got lost in the shuffle.
 
What does all this mean? It means that election of representatives looks bleak in the near future. The best that we can do is to work in our communities to make sure that our values are represented and that our issues are dealt with. The fact that the election is mainly a cultural affair still leaves a lot of room for progress in specific issues. The most hateful people still need health care, their kids need to be educated, their water needs to be drinkable and the road drivable. Let’s keep working on that.
 
 
Lee Trucks

Revision of
​Local Party ByLaws

Click HERE to see Local Party Bylaws.

Buy Don Jennings Tickets
Membership Options

Election Reflections
By Rick Schrock

The 2018 election is over. Now it is time to reflect on our successes, our failures, our opportunities, and let those reflections shape our approach to 2020.
Our greatest success was restoring checks and balance to our political systems. We can now block the most damaging of the Republican policies. We can hope that political balance will lead to governance by finding common ground and working together. Time will tell if Republicans are
interested in working together. My hope is that Democrats will lead by example to cross the aisle for common sense policies.

The State of Michigan government will change significantly. Last month the GOP owned every branch of state government. The 2018 election changed everything. The Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General shifted to the Democrats. This team is all women and exceptional women. It is a spectacular team. From legislation to voting rights to consumer advocacy, we will see
a shift that will favor working people.

The state legislature is still controlled by the GOP in both houses even though Democrats received the most votes overall. The Gerrymandering by the Republicans was skillfully done and highly successful. The passage of Proposition 2 and a Democratic Governor should bring an bring an end
to this kind of election rigging.

The Michigan Supreme Court will shift more to the center. The 5-2 court was dominated by Republican supported Justices. That now shifts to 4-3. Two of the Republicans are willing to go against popular GOP thinking at times. I expect to see a more centrist court than we have seen in the past.

At the national level the Democrats gained control of the House. The Senate will be controlled by the Republicans but the margin is very small. Finally we will see some checks and balance in Washington DC.

We have a lot of good news. We need to celebrate. But we also need to step up to the bad news. Manistee County has traditionally reflected state and national trends. We supported Obama, Grandholm, Levin, Stabenow, and other in the past. This year was different. In 2018 the Democrats
carried the statewide offices, but without the majority of Manistee County voters. Our State Rep candidate and our US Rep candidates did not carry Manistee County. This year Manistee County shifted from leaning blue to being a solid red county.

It is easy to observe that all across the US rural areas are voting more and more with the GOP. Urban areas are voting more Democratic. We are rural. There is a temptation to think Manistee County voting more Republican is just inevitable. We are tempted to think we are helpless victims of a national trend. I believe that would be a mistake. Our challenge is to run the right candidates, promote key issues we have in common, and organize to get our voters to the polls.

How do we earn the votes of rural voters? That is the question we must ask over the next year. Can moderates win anymore? Can a candidate run on character rather than
policy? Do we need candidates who are bold leaders? We are not helpless. In a year of
many Democratic successes Manistee County fell short. This happened all across the
country in rural counties. Our challenge is for 2020 is for Democrats to reconnect with rural voters

Don Jennings Award Dinner Tickets

Breaking News

Monthly Meeting

Cancelled for September

​Comments from the Chair

Immigration Facts:

The Trump administration would have us believe that we have a national crisis on our southern border and that we must build a wall to keep out a flood of illegal immigrants who threaten our way of life and even our personal safety. What are we to think of all his negative rhetoric and hateful speech? Is he really alerting us to a serious problem or is he just playing the American people? How are we to take an informed position on this seemingly intractable issue. The February 4th issue of Time magazine contained a long article about immigration and really helped me put it all into perspective. The following are some highlights from that article:

1. The number of illegal immigrants living in the United States has actually declined since 2007. The number of arrests along the border is at its lowest level since 1971.

2. Once inside the United States, immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the general population.

3. 41% of new immigrants came from Asia between 2010 and 2017, not from Latin America.

4. Today’s immigrants are better educated than immigrants in the past. 45% of immigrants coming to this country have college degrees compared to 35% of white, non-Hispanic Americans.

5. The U.S., like many other developed countries, has both an aging population and a fertility rate below replacement.

6. 75% of all immigrants coming to the U.S. are of working age compared to 57% worldwide.

7. Researchers agree that migration, as a whole, raises a nations total economic output.

8. Foreign-born workers in the U.S. contributed about $2 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2016. This was about 10% of our total GDP.

This information comes from such sources as the U.S. Census Bureau, The Congressional Budget Office, The Brookings institute and others. For me, these facts paint a more positive picture of immigration than our president so often presents. It is true that, short-term, immigration can strain a community’s resources. Long-term, however, immigrants make a huge contribution to our country. They bring us new vitality and energy, which benefits us all in the long run. After all, it has always been so in this country.

​What we need is a rational immigration policy that allows those seeking new opportunity and security to settle here, become legal citizens, and build new lives without having to endure inhumane treatment in the process. 
​
​     Gary Madden

Donations

Picture
All donations are used for support of local campaign activities only.  Click the Donate button to the right.
Democrats, democratic party, manistee county democrats, manistee county, justice, social justice, economic justice, democrat, political, local, manistee county, Obama, Olen, O'Shea, Stabenow, Levin, Wrizinski, Government