Getting to a buzzrdly old age, when I should be stepping back, at least a bit.
by Eric Jackson
I am about to finish a term as vice chair of Democrats Abroad. I have already served a term as chair. It ought to be enough. I say that both on the general principle of rotating democratic leadership, and in light of my health at age 68 and due to my general living and working conditions in these difficult times.
We are about to have most peculiar elections for the Democrats Abroad board and officers, to be held both with the complications of an epidemic and in disregard of our bylaws. There is a nominating committee that most members do not know and whose members have never been introduced to us, given – by SOMEONE, not the board or members — expanded powers to pick the next generation of Democrats Abroad Panama leaders. We won’t be allowed to see who is to be in the running in advance, for members to decide whether we want to jump in to run for this or that spot.
So, should I run for something? Or a better question, should YOU?
There are a chair, a vice chair, a secretary, a treasurer and three at-large board members to be elected. You must be a Democrats Abroad member to run or to vote. See https://www.democratsabroad.org/join Any member may nominate herself or himself, or somebody else if that person is willing to be nominated. However, that system has been corrupted by giving multiple places to submit nominations, or in the last missive NO place to submit nominations. Taking all of the various addresses together, nominate yourself, or someone else, by email sent your nomination(s) to these three addresses in the same message: Info-Panama@democratsabroad.org drvcamericas@gmail.com and PanamaDAnominations@gmail.com .
I urge people to run for all of these offices. If someone nominates me for any office, I give permission but when the ballots are published and I see who is running I may well withdraw.
There are certain notions that I think should guide the organization of Democrats here:
– That we have regular meetings of the board, which should be open to the membership. Agendas and minutes of our meetings, and treasurer reports, should be posted online for all of our members to see.
– That at board meetings, any board member or officer may bring a motion in his or her own words, in conformance as closely as possible to Robert’s Rules of Order that is mandated in Democrats Abroad global rule and in our country committee’s bylaws.
– That the membership of our board should be broadly representative of the sorts of Democrats we have here.
– That all officers and board members are welcome at all Democrats Abroad functions here.
– That we conduct business with a quorum of the board, in conformance with our bylaws, and do our utmost to have a board without vacancies.
– That we have different people with different aptitudes and abilities, and in recognition of this harmonize and mobilize different sorts of work toward the ends of the Democratic Party and its causes.
There are certain ideas that have been aired among Democrats here that I oppose.
– That Bernie Sanders supporters – 56% of those who voted in the 2020 Democrats Abroad global primary – are “cultiists” who should be kicked out of the party and have to run as a socialist third party.
– That when Trump supporters from the USA reached into Panama’s English-language social media groups to preach anti-masker defiance of common sense and the Panamanian government, it was “stalking” – an improper invasion of privacy – to look them up and out them.
– That it’s proper for a white woman to read former Ohio State Senator and Bernie Co-Chair Nina Turner out of the black race, over her politics.
– That “we don’t have anybody in the Metro area” and so should abandon activity there or directed toward there so as to gerrymander the party into domination by a couple of enclaves in the Interior.
– That for the next generation of leaders in Democrats Abroad, we should be looking for people sent overseas by corporations whose motivation is to pad their resumés by listing party offices held.
– That we should put a person with a background as an executive for a ponzi scheme in charge of anything in Democrats Abroad.
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