Over 200 Young Democrats from across the nation will gather in Philadelphia on Presidents' Weekend for the Young Democrats of America (YDA) Winter National Conference, February 17-19, 2006. (press release here)
Young Democrats of America is the official youth outreach arm of the Democratic National Committee and the largest Democratic youth political organization. Four times a year, young democrats from around the country come together to meet their counterparts in other states, organize strategic partnerships, get trained in critical skills and plan for the year ahead.
In honor of this event, I'd like to highlight one of the local organizations. The Garnet Donkeys of Swarthmore College. I've been watching their blog for awhile and have been impressed with it for a number of reasons.
One is that the postings are thoughtful and well-written. There isn't a lot of "in your face" rhetoric or name calling or vulgar language. These are pieces actually worth reading.
Even though most of the students at Swarthmore are from outside the region, they are very involved with local races. They've had some excellent postings on the PA-07 race and it sounds like they are involved with the other local democratic organizations.
The blog is actually kept up – there are regular posts written by a variety of students. As with all group blogs some people write more than others but they do have a diversity of voices, respectful even in disagreement.
The entire website speaks of civility. There is a very clear statement on the home page that speaks to the acceptance of varying opinions: "I've never attended a Swat Dems meeting where we all uniformly agreed on something."
Their list of accomplishments over the last few years is very impressive.
I like the logo!
Hats off to the Garnet Donkeys generally, and the leadership in particular for setting the tone.
Posts
3 comments:
Thanks for your kind words. In particular, credit should go to Colin, our Internet Director, who blogs more frequently than anyone and without whom none of the rest of us would have a clue how to run the site.
Patrick, You'll have to make sure he flunks a few courses, then, to keep him around. ;)
unfortunately, I am doing pretty well at that on my own.
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