La Mesa-Foothills Democratic Club

For our next general meeting, Sept. 7—next week—we’re going to get you started canvassing neighbors for vote, and help you get to know your local candidates a little better.

The best way to get people elected is to go door-to-door, neighbor-to-neighbor, and convince folks to vote in one-on-one conversations. We’ll help you get going with that with GO Team training. As part of that, we’ll show you how to use the MiniVAN mobile app, which is your guide to canvassing the neighborhood.

We’ll also hear from local candidates for office in La Mesa and the surrounding communities, including City Council, school boards, and more.

The meeting is at the usual time and place—the La Mesa Community Center, 4975 Memorial Drive. Programming starts at 7 pm, but come at 6:30 for informal conversation with your fellow Democrats.

Important: Our October monthly meeting is a special day and time. Mark your calendars for Thursday evening, October 6—we’re having it on Thursday rather than Wednesday out of respect for the Yom Kippur holiday. We’ll return to our usual schedule in November, first Wednesday of the month.

Monopoly is a thread—and threat—running through many of society’s fundamental problems, according to Cory Doctorow, an activist, journalist, blogger, science fiction writer, and long-time anti-monopoly champion, who spoke to the club at this month’s general meeting.

Watch the video:

Or listen to the podcast — and subscribe here.

Topics covered include:

• Why we’re in a “seminal moment” for anti-monopoly.
• How monopolies came to pervade the economy, limiting business and creating adverse social conditions.
• How monopoly drives wealth concentration, grinding down the young and working class, and exacerbating homelessness.
• How President Biden has championed anti-monopoly, delivering the sweeping Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, and appointing key antitrust watchdogs.
• Why Biden’s appointing Lena Khan as head of the Federal Trade Commission is ”the most salient political appointment of any president in at least 20 years.”

And more!

Cory comes up from the technology industry. He’s worked with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights organization, for many years; he’s now a special consultant for that organization.

Tech industry monopolies—primarily Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon—are highly controversial. But it’s not just tech. Monopolies dominate every industry. From healthcare and finance to professional wrestling, every industry is dominated by an extremely limited number of companies, which control what consumers can buy, and limit job choices for people who work in that industry. Monopoly power allows companies to exert unhealthy influence on the government agencies that are supposed to regulate them.

Cory is the author of books including science fiction for adults, such as “Radicalized” and “Walkaway,” nonfiction about monopoly and conspiracy, “How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism;” “In Real Life,” a graphic novel; and the picture book “Poesy the Monster Slayer.” His latest book is “Attack Surface,” a standalone adult sequel to “Little Brother;” his next nonfiction book is “Chokepoint Capitalism,” with Rebecca Giblin, about monopoly, monopsony and fairness in the creative arts labor market.

Cory blogs about monopoly, digital rights, and shares whimsical links at Pluralistic.net. He previously was co-editor of the blog Boing Boing for 19 years. Born in Toronto, Canada, Cory and his family now live in Los Angeles.

And mark your calendar for our next meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 7, at 7 pm, at the La Mesa Community Center, 4975 Memorial Drive, where we’ll get training in GO Team—you’ll learn what you need to know to go door-to-door to convince your neighbors to vote local candidates. And we’ll also hear hear from candidates for local office and find other ways you can support them. Come early at 6:30 pm for informal conversation with your fellow Democrats.

Read the July issue of our monthly newsletter, the Progressive Voice. Articles include: 

• Weber, Gonzalez, Parent celebrate Democratic achievements
• Why don’t Republicans value Americans’ lives after they’re born?
• How to overcome Trumpery.

And more!

Read it online here:

The print newsletter is distributed free for club members. If you’re not already a member, sign up here.

Join us for our next general meeting Wednesday, June 1, when we’ll hear from three Democratic Party leaders about Democratic Party accomplishments we can all be proud of.

• Dr. Shirley Weber, who is California Secretary of State and former State Assembly Member representing San Diego. La Mesa’s own Dr. Weber has been a champion of racial equity and she’s now fighting to protect voter integrity in California and nationwide.
• Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego, former State Assembly Member and incoming Executive Secretary Treasurer of the California Labor Federation, one of the most powerful labor organizations in the country. Gonzales is a longtime advocate for labor rights.
• And La Mesa City Council Member Colin Parent, who has worked tirelessly to make our local community better.

The moderator will be club board member Matt Strabone, who’s running for Treasurer in La Mesa.

Democrats are the party that cares about affordable housing, equal rights, healthcare, education, and more—let’s find out more together about what we’ve been doing about those things.

Join us Wednesday, June 1, at the La Mesa Community Center, 4975 Memorial Drive, at 7 pm, or come a half-hour early for informal conversation with fellow Democrats.

Also at the meeting: We plan to vote on endorsing several local candidates. And we’re inviting you to join us to march in the La Mesa Flag Day Parade, June 4. Find out more here.