Having had a few days to reflect on my term as Chairman of Democracy for Tennessee, I'd like to say a few words to the people all across the state who have been active with us. Whether you're on the state steering committee, one of the local committees, a candidate, or a progressive activist that I've worked with or met at one of our events, I want to say that it has been an honor serving with all of you in this organization.

read more

While a national wave of Democratic and progressive victories sweeps the country, Tennessee seems, at first glance, to have been left behind.

But not so fast... there are bright spots.

The following was submitted by Kelli Jacobs. Even though Kelli lives across the river in Mississippi, we all consider her an honorary DFTer.

===================================================

Joe Republican gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.

I don't normally like to post articles on this site because I feel like, to a certain extent, enterprising progressives with a computer are able to locate news fairly easily on their own without having it forced on them by email blasts, Yahoo Groups, and the rest.

But I am breaking my own commandment for a special occasion to share this great piece from The Nation about an organization called "Progressive Majority".

read more

Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners magazine and author of the best selling "God's Politics: A New Vision for Faith and Politics in America", appeared at Vanderbilt University as part of the Cole Lecture series.

Wallis, an evangelical Christian minister who just so happens to be a liberal, is laying the groundwork for a new progressive movement rooted in, dare I say it, Christian values.

read more

Democracy for Tennessee celebrated its first birthday, appropriately enough, at the Labor Day Celebration (LDC) on Saturday, Sept. 10.

read more

After the TN Democratic Party's Leadership Summit, DFA/DFT activists from across the state, along with a few new activists from Hardeman County, went across the street to Bongo Java to hold the first Democracy for Tennessee "SummitUp".

SummitUp was a combination of Meetup and Leadership Summit, where we got into some more specifics about how local elections work, how to fine-tune the local DFA chapters and make them more effective, and an early look at some future DFT events and initiatives.

read more

The MTSU Survey Group just released the results of its latest statewide poll and found some interesting opinions.

At the state level, the MTSU Poll's results are good news for progressives and should be good news for Democrats. As many of us have been saying, mainstream opinion is still on our side at the local level and that Tennesseans still tend to side with "the little guy" and embrace populist values. Whether state and local Democrats can capitalize on any of this remains to be seen. Personally, I wouldn't hold my breath without some strong prodding from groups like DFA.

Here are just a few of the main findings from the MTSU Poll...

read more