I thought the Brand New Congress meeting on Harrison last night was a real waste of time. There were two very nice young women presenting with a pitch which might have made more sense given to college students than the general public. BNC was presented as a national organization which seeks to win a super majority in Congress in 2018 with candidates as yet unvetted running on an unformulated platform whose most general planks are yet to be decided on.
One of the high points of the substance communicated was that in 2017 all of the candidates will be flown to Washington, DC for a photo opportunity to kick off fundraising. This, of course, is right out of Boorstin: a pseudo-event is the goal to be worked towards.
Anyone can nominate a candidate for BNC. The three qualifications (I took notes) are that the candidates:
- Are good at what they do.
- Reflect their communities.
- Are able to win.
There were about fifty people attending, mostly middle-aged and older. I didn’t see a black face.
During Q&A one guy asked whether BNC will be running someone against Pelosi. He said he’d called the BNC office a couple months ago and been told that they wouldn’t be challenging her. The BNC presenters were quick to disavow this position to make it clear that no decisions have been made yet – they may be running someone against Pelosi but then again they may not, it depends on whether Pelosi endorses the as yet undecided upon BNC platform. Who is drafting the platform and what is the process? Well, we are told, there are people making those decisions – go to the BNC website and get on the mailing list for more information.
The importance of a super majority was stated several times. We were assured that if we doubted the staying power of the organization we should know it will be around until it wins a super majority, even after the 2018 elections.
I’m going to an Our Revolution meeting tonight to check that out. There were a couple people last night saying to e-mail sfberniecrats@gmail.com about yet another organization also.
