A suggestion, sisters and brothers in the Bernie grassroots.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

More and more people are getting involved in the grassroots. We are joyous working for Bernie because we are doing what he is asking us to do in building this movement, putting him in the White House, and beyond. Here is my fundamental point: with all these volunteers joining now, it is more important to work smart than to work hard.

What do I mean by that? Having a national affiliation for your local group may make you more effective, for now and the future. Your FB meetup, for example, may not be nationally affiliated. There are two national affiliations of which I am aware. One is Bernie’s FEC official campaign for the Democratic nomination: Bernie Sanders, 2016. The other is We Want Bernie which was started by the grassroots PAC: Progressive Democrats of America.

When I started getting involved I had to make a choice. I talked to the man who founded the group in my community. He said he wasn’t satisfied with the national support he was receiving for our local group. We laughingly agreed that this was a good thing, indicating growth, as volunteers continue to flood into Bernie’s official campaign. He and I discussed an alternative, namely, affiliating with We Want Bernie. It worked out very well for us. We communicated with national senior staff the same day and it we are now a We Want Bernie group.

You can sign up for We Want Bernie here:

http://wewantbernie.nationbuilder.com/

If you prefer the official campaign you can go here:

https://go.berniesanders.com/page/s/volunteer-for-bernie?source=web_main_nav

We are all working for the same cause, so there are no jealous suitors here. Both groups are glad of the work of the other and give real synergistic support. If you want to work smart, you should consider what works best for you in national affiliation. Maybe you don’t want one, but if you think you are better with one, let me offer this in deciding between the two.

As I said before, We Want Bernie will give you a national staff response quickly, with support and advice on very specific things to do. I don’t think you can get that anywhere else for quite a while for reasons discussed above. Organizationally, Bernie’s official campaign seems to be very heavily focused on Iowa and New Hampshire, as they should be.

But there is a much more important reason to support We Want Bernie. The intention is to build a grassroots infrastructure that will remain after his election. We will be organized to continue to fight for Bernie-type candidates in local elections throughout the fifty states. That is how we will take the country back for ordinary Americans and away from the billionaire class. So by choosing We Want Bernie you will be able to continue as a grassroots warrior until we have office holders throughout America working for the people.

So if you want to volunteer today, I would recommend We Want Bernie:

http://wewantbernie.nationbuilder.com/

I believe you will end up working smart and joyfully.

[postulater]

1. Good info. But are the links correct?

The last link for volunteering for wewantbernie says go.bernie.com which you use as the official campaign link.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

2. Great catch! Corrected. n/t

[Stardust]

3. K&R

[Skwmom]

4. What are the names of the people behind this?

I don't think it's wise to accept anything at face value in the world of politics.

[madfloridian]

6. Progressive Democrats of America. Been around a while. Good reputation.

http://www.pdamerica.org/

[Admiral Loinpresser]

7. Let me see if this is helpful.

As discussed in the OP, I mentioned two national PACs working for Bernie: the first is Bernie's official campaign: "Bernie Sanders 2016." I assume this was established by some exploratory committee working directly for Bernie.

The second is probably the object of your question: "We Want Bernie." This was established by the grassroots PAC, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA). It is a well respected group which recently celebrated ten years of working for progressive candidates up and down the ballot, lobbying for progressive legislation and doing targeted campaign recruiting.

One such recruit is Bernie. They worked to get him to run for president for about a year and a half before he declared his candidacy. Here is a link to a PDA-sponsored event at which Bernie spoke, before he declared. I hope this link to that Bernie event will establish their bona fides. Bernie has also spoken on a national conference call of We Want Bernie grassroots volunteers, so he has a close relationship with PDA:

Also you can consult their website: http://www.pdamerica.org/

I hope this resolves any concerns you may have. If not, please let me know what other info I can try to provide.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

9. Sorry for the slow reply.

Had to work for personal $ and other non-Bernie stuff all day. I've only gotten back to work on the Bern about half an hour ago, before I noticed your post.

If you are interested in working for Bernie, all I can tell you is these are solid, skilled people at the national level in We Want Bernie. One has been a friend for over ten years. My experience is usually joyful and sometimes ecstatic working with these people. But I definitely don't have a problem with anybody working for Bernie however she sees fit. We are all working together for the greater good and our future!

[BrotherIvan]

5. Thank you for posting this again

I was just talking about it yesterday and couldn't find it. Their handouts are excellent and have been translated into Spanish. A double sided handout with both languages is going to be walking around with me. I'm not a talker, but if the conversation arises, they are going home with one.

Please keep us posted on what is going on. I agree with your suggestions to try to be as organized as possible so the efforts don't evaporate into chaos. People are excited and ready to go.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

8. +1 n/t