Editor’s note: Sam Daley-Harris, a resident of Princeton and author of “Reclaiming Our Democracy: Healing the Break Between People and Government” will speak on “Making a Difference in a Democracy,” at the Princeton Public Library at noon on Feb. 11.
During the talk, he will share insights and strategies from his book, which President Jimmy Carter has said “provides a road map for global involvement in planning a better future.” He released a 20th anniversary edition of the book, complete with new content in September 2013.
Below, Daley-Harris previews his talk and offers several excerpts from his book.
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In the fall of 2013, I spoke on 18 college campuses. At the end of a book group discussion at the College of St. Benedict & St. John’s University in Minnesota a Catholic nun who had just retired after 37 years as the school’s librarian raised her hand.
“I loved what you have been saying about making a difference with our voices as citizens,” she said, “but I am lost about what to do next. You see, my member of Congress is Michele Bachmann.”
I turned to page 117 of “Reclaiming Our Democracy” and asked her to read aloud a prayer that the Atlanta chapter of the anti-poverty advocacy group I founded, RESULTS, had used after their member of Congress was one of a handful in Congress who voted against famine aid to Ethiopia in 1985. I asked the nun to replace their Congressman’s name with Michele Bachmann’s name. The prayer goes like this:
“Thank you God for Michele Bachmann. We know she is a good woman who wants to do right in the world. We know she struggles with the same problems we do: closing our hearts to those who don’t agree with us. There are no thoughts or feelings that she has had that we haven’t had and visa versa….We pray for all of us to learn compassion for people in our country and far away, for rich and poor. We pray that Michele and we will be less frightened of each other. We pray our focus will be more to love and appreciate her and less to change her. Help us to remember that sharing love with the world is the highest contribution we can make and will lead to children being fed and the planet surviving. Forgive our righteousness and anger. Open our hearts and minds to find the next expression of love for Michele that she can receive.”
When the nun finished her last line, “Open our hearts and minds to find the next expression of love for Michele that she can receive,” it was clear that her sense of hopelessness had lifted a bit. I reminded her that at first the Atlanta group would read the prayer and then say, “Yea, right.” But after a while it began to sink in, the spirit of their actions with him changed, and two years later, their Congressman, Pat Swindall, agreed to co-sponsor the microfinance legislation they brought to him.”
One of the new chapters my the book is on the Citizens Climate Lobby, an international advocacy group that was launched in October 2007 and has seen breakthrough growth. In 2014, CCL’s more than 225 chapters in the U.S. and Canada had 2,253 letters to the editor published (up from 36 in 2010) and had 1,086 meetings with members of Congress, Parliament or their staff (up from 106 in 2010).
The chapter begins with the story of Elli Sparks who described joining CCL while suffering from “climate trauma.” She would read Bill McKibben’s book, “Eaarth,” and she would weep at home and weep at work. Eighteen months after joining CCL, Sparks co-led a workshop on creating relationships with members of Congress and editorial writers. During that workshop Sparks would describe meetings with 20 Congressional offices as “sacred and profound.”
Here is an excerpt from Sparks’ description in my book:
“Our director Mark Reynolds likes to say, ‘We’re betting the farm on relationships.’ Then he tells us that we need to build relationships with members of Congress and editorial writers. Most of us CCL volunteers have never done that before. What in the world does a relationship with a member of Congress look like? How do we connect with an editorial page editor? Some of us have found models for those relationships in other parts of our lives. Gary in Boston uses the model of a work relationship.”
“My relationship model is different. I adore romantic relationships, so I use romance as my model. That first meeting with the editorial writer — it’s like a blind date, only you’ve decided beforehand you are going to marry this fellow. You are going to be sweet and interesting, but not too intense. If it doesn’t work out with the editor, you are going to marry one of his friends at the newspaper — the business editor, environmental writer, or city editor. Someone at this paper will find you interesting and compelling — it’s just a matter of being persistent until you find the right connection.
“I see the relationship with a member of Congress as an arranged marriage. If you live in her district, the member’s aide has to meet with you. That’s what our Congressman’s legislative director told us in January. Since then, we’ve met five times with the LD in 2012. We schedule 45-minute meetings with him. He keeps us for well over an hour. He doesn’t want us to leave! Why? Because a good arranged marriage starts out cold and heats up over time. That’s different than a love match, which starts out hot and slowly cools down.”
“I see the editorial page writer as a painter. His canvas is the editorial pages. His pallet is filled with letters to the editor, op-eds, and editorials. I am his muse, model, and assistant. I want him to fill his canvas with colors that I like, so I’ll have my group send three to five letters to the editor whenever the opportunity arises. The more colors I put on his pallet, the better chance of having him pick one or two of my favorite colors.”
“Last summer, he printed three climate denier letters from international denier groups. At first, the denier letters felt like a blow to the gut. Then, I dug deep for the love language. My editor was proud of his work in standing up for the climate. Those denier letters were in response to his own articles encouraging conservatives to help conserve the climate. He had been courageous in writing those editorials. He was getting national attention because of them. He was not backing down. I thought he might enjoy a pat on the back from across the nation. I called Gary in Boston, a scientist in New York, and our CCL director [in California]. All three sent letters. All three letters were printed! I guess I was right — my editorial page editor likes national attention!!”
And then Sparks got to the essence of citizen empowerment and transformation, the breakthrough that eludes almost every national advocacy effort.
“During our conference I met with 20 congressional offices. I met with many folks whose view of the world was very different than mine. Going into their offices was hard. I had to let go of a lot of emotional baggage. I could no longer judge them or hold hostility in my heart towards them. I had to let go of my fear of climate change and my fear that they wouldn’t listen to me. I had to center myself in love. Releasing fear and centering in love — this is sacred and profound work.”
When it comes to deep advocacy, I stress the need to find the local chapter of a national organization that provides its members with a deep structure of support, a structure that goes far beyond mouse-click advocacy. I recommend connecting the people at the local chapters of organizations like these: Ken Patterson, RESULTS, kpatterson@results.org; Callie Hancock, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, ClimateCallie@Gmail.com; and David Goodman, RepresentUS, goodmandavid199@gmail.com.
I coach the following organizations, which are interested in forming a Princeton chapter. You can contact them if you are interested in learning more: Jennifer Chan, US Fund for UNICEF, jkchan@unicefusa.org; and Dan Kahn, The Peace Alliance, dan@peacealliance.org.
Editor’s note:
Sam Daley-Harris came from a civic-minded family — in his hometown, Miami, his father edited a community newspaper by himself, went to city hall meetings and rode in the city parade as Uncle Sam. His mother, a homemaker who almost never left the house, strongly supported citizen voting.
Daley-Harris received his bachelor’s and masters in music at the University of Miami. He went on to perform as a percussionist for the Miami Philharmonic Orchestra while simultaneously serving as a high school music teacher from 1969 to 1979. He moved to Los Angeles in 1980 to pursue his career in songwriting while continuing to substitute teach on the side.
In 1980, he founded RESULTS, the first of his efforts in citizen advocacy. The organization grew out his desire to help people develop relationships with their government representatives. Daley-Harris and other RESULTS volunteers convened monthly to write letters advocating for increased funding for child welfare issues. Through trial and error they developed techniques to get their representatives to take action.
In 1986, RESULTS generated 90 editorials and played a pivotal role in tripling the U.S. Government’s investment in the child survival fund from $25 million to $75 million. Today, funding for child survival and maternal health has grown to $600 million annually and UNICEF estimates that 25 million lives have been saved. Working with key leaders in Congress RESULTS has led successful efforts to increase funding to fight Tuberculosis from $1 million a year in the late 1990s to a cumulative $1.8 billion today.
Daley-Harris’ path from Miami to Princeton took him through Washington, D.C., where he moved after starting RESULTS and establishing its headquarters there. In 1985, he was able to become RESULTS’ first paid employee. Now RESULTS is sustained by a mixture of grants and donations, and has a staff of 40 to 50 in the United States and Canada.
In 2006, Daley-Harris became advisor to the Citizen Climate Lobby, a citizen advocacy group focused on creating political will for a stable climate. CCL is using the RESULTS principles in its approach to advocate for climate change reform. According to Daley-Harris, in 2014, CCL’s more than 225 chapters in the U.S. and Canada had 2,253 letters to the editor published (up from 36 in 2010) and had 1,086 meetings with members of Congress, Parliament or their staff (up from 106 in 2010).
Daley-Harris continues to travel regularly to Washington to assist with RESULTS, CCL, the Center for Citizen Empowerment, and most recently, the Peace Alliance. He has also shifted his focus to several other projects. From 1995 to 2007 he ran the Microcredit Summit Campaign, an effort to increase access to microloans for impoverished people globally.
For more information on Daley-Harris and his efforts, go to reclaimingourdemocracy.org and citizenempowermentandtransformation. org. The 20th anniversary edition of “Reclaiming Our Democracy: Healing the Break between People and Government will be available at the Feb. 11 lecture and can also be purchased from Labyrinth Books or online.
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