Dan Wood: The Eponymous Weblog

Dan Wood is co-owner of Karelia Software, creating programs for the Macintosh computer. He is the father of two kids, lives in the Bay Area of California USA, and prefers bicycles to cars. This site is his weblog, which mostly covers geeky topics like Macs and Mac Programming.

Useful Tidbits and Egotistical Musings from Dan Wood

Categories: Mac OS X · Cocoa Programming · General · All Categories

Tue, 12 Apr 2005

California Democratic Convention

permanent link · Topic/Politics
/Politics
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I haven't posted much about politics since the electoral debacle of last year. I was depressed with the outcome, and frustrated that all of the hope that so many of us had back then went up in smoke, and frustrated that in spite of the energy of the movement to take our country back, we still had a Democratic Presidential Candidate/Campaign who was pretty much the typical story. So I, along with a whole bunch of others, decided it was time to try to do something about it. I actually joined the Democratic Party (I had been independent) and got myself elected to being one of the delegates representing my assembly district here in California. And this weekend, I will be going to the California State Democratic Convention.

A lot of people who go to these things are entrenched old-timers and are happy to be members of this club, even if it means being on the losing team all the time. But a bunch of people like me are new at all this, and have to figure out what the heck is going on, but are also there to ask some hard questions and challenge the way things are currently run in the "Wobblycrats" party.

If I have computer access, I will blog a bit about what's going on here. This process is part of the way that citizens can have some say in the way this country is run, and I feel that so far, it's been quite an "insider's club." (Most people I talk to haven't even heard of all the state conventions, the assembly districts, the delgates, etc., and it took a lot of digging to figure out what it's all about.) Just as weblogs had a big impact on last year's elections, I think they can continue to have an impact by making transparent more aspects of our government ... seeing where the party platforms and positions come from, where the candidates get their start, and so forth.

If anybody has any questions about what the convention is about or what happens there, please feel free to leave them in the comments. (Please, no flames from Republicans — you are having your turn in office now, so lighten up.)