THEORY: The College Democrats is an institution that can grow as large and powerful as its members are active. With peak activity there is a world of things that the organization can accomplish. Below is that world broken up into four realms.
I. Values and Ideas.
We convince people that they already share our progressive values or should share them. This involves bringing in speakers, organizing panels and discussions, writing pamphlets, magazines, and blogs, participating in debates, creative postering campaigns, writing editorials, and even organizing think tanks such as the Roosevelt Institution in order to create and convince people that we have the best solutions.
II. Activist.
We help get good Democrats elected and actually effect changes to laws and the actions of elected officials. This also involves organizing rallies and demonstrations in order to create change. A great example is Princeton’s College Democrat's Filibuster Frist. Activism under these circumstances may appear merely as a means for convincing people that Democrat’s are right, but really, the direct goal is to create effective change by mobilizing students to take action and then getting results.
III. Training.
Teach skills to Democrats that will make them more effective in making America more progressive. This means organizing workshops from how to build a grass roots campaign, to how to debate effectively, to how to build and run an effective College Democrats organization. Not to mention helping students get internships.
IV. Progressive Community Building.
Creating a community gives the opportunity for creative and spontaneous growth and action in an organization, because working together becomes the status quo. This is the backbone of good activism, training programs, and winning the war of ideas. You have to like working with the people you have to work with, and through parties, and pizza, and social events – you can create a community of progressives who want to work together.
PRACTICE: The College Democrats has three main arms, the Executive Board, the Activist Council, and its Umbrella Groups.
More formally, there is also a copy of the Constitution.
