First Meeting in Lincoln – Nov. 27

Thrilled to announce the first meeting of DSA Lincoln!

DSA Lincoln Meet & Greet & Organize
Sunday, November 27 2pm
The Commons 1239 South 14th St, Lincoln

RSVP on Facebook here

Meeting Agenda

1. Intro
   1. Who Are These People (Meeting Organizers)
   2. Brief History of DSA – What it is, How it’s Organized
      1. Democracy at all levels
      2. Everything Is Intersectional
      3. Diversity at all levels
   3. The ABCs of Democratic Socialism
   4. Go around the room – ask guests who they are, why they’re here, what they want to do
2. Discussion Time
   1. What state and Local Issues matter?
   2. What issues do we want to work on?
   3. What’s in the DNC Platform you like? Don’t like?
3. Short Term Goals
   1. Forming an Organizing Committee
      1. Need five paying members to form Organizing Committee (OC)
      2. Fill out form in back of Organizing Guide PDF and send to National Org.
   2. Forming a Local Chapter
      1. We need 15 dues-paying members for a Local Chapter
      2. Chapters are autonomous and democratic. How they are organized is up to us.
      3. Officers? Leadership Committee?
      4. What other Committees do we want? Membership & Outreach, Tech/Communication/Design, Direct Action Group, Study Group, Issue Working Group (i.e. Feminism, Anti-Racism, Queer/Trans, Immigrant Issues, Economic Justice)
   3. Identify Local Allies
   4. Recruit, Recruit, Recruit!
4. Next Time
   1. What meeting place and times work?
   2. Your Goal: Bring 3 people to the next meeting!
   3. Call to Action: What YOU can do
   4. Call Your Reps
   5. Write a letter

Minutes

The meeting began at 2pm. Meeting organizers introduced themselves as volunteer organizers with DSA.

A brief history of DSA was provided, including its structure nationally and locally. Then the basic tenets of Democratic Socialism followed. Both lessons are available on the website dsanebraska.org/about

All meeting attendees were given the chance to introduce themselves and talk about why they were at the meeting and what made them want to become politically active, and what was important to them.

Notes from this discussion include:

• Becoming a more active citizen
• Labor movement
• Having a greater voice in modern politics
• Anti-racism
• Need strong movement against systemic problems
• Making local politics more progressive
• Concern over undue influence of money in politics
• Collectivism
• Child education & welfare

A summary of the issues discussed at the 2016 Nebraska Democratic Convention platform writing process followed, including:

• Alcohol sales at Whiteclay
• Saving Medicaid
• Mental healthcare issues, especially for Vets
• Affordable Healthcare
• Solar Roadways
• Living Wage
• Opposition to Gerrymandering
• Opposition to the Death penalty
• LGBTQ rights
• Protecting Natural Resources
• Americans with Disabilities Act
• Addressing increasing income inequality
• Addressing Property tax corruption
• Abolishing the super delegates system in the Democratic Primary
• Universal public pre-K education
• Abolishing the Electoral College

The group then discussed potential objectives for local actions, including:

• Affordable housing / opposing gentrification
• Natural Resources and the environment, including renewable energy and the impact of the chicken processing plant proposed by Costco in Nebraska
• Anti-fascism
• The projected $1 billion state budget shortfall for 2017-2018 and Governor Ricketts proposing tax cuts
• Bathroom access for trans people
• Electoral reform, including addressing gerrymandering, ranked choice voting, electoral college reform
• Connecting to workers and unions
• Living wage

Creating an Issues Framing committee was proposed. This committee would help create narratives and talking points to help members talk about issues and help educate the public. Specifically on policies and concepts that may be familiar by name but not by concept to people, such as Democratic Socialism and Tax Increment Financing.

The process of forming a local DSA Chapter in Lincoln was discussed. A local chapter needs 15 dues-paying member, and their organization is up to the local chapter. There was a consensus to postpone setting group structure and leadership until later meetings, assuming more people would attend future meetings and should have a say in the make-up of a Lincoln chapter.

An upcoming public meeting on December 2 was discussed. The public meeting was a discussion of the candidates for Lancaster County Director of Corrections.

The next meeting was set for December 18 at the same location, the Commons at 14th & B. Meeting attendees were encouraged to invite other people to the next meeting.