[statecom] "blocking" concerns

[Eli Beckerman]

Grace, you ask:

"When did we stop being willing to value a diversity of voices and reach for
the deeper and more effective understandings that come from combining the
best from many sources?"

I believe it was when our commitment to valuing a diversity of voices was
abused over and over again by a teeny tiny less-than-a-handful of people in
our State Committee. Patience for such abuse has been -- not surprisingly --
exhausted.

You also ask:

"And who benefits from our distrust of each other?"

I couldn't agree more that those in bigger ponds are benefiting.
But I ask you to consider your role -- however large or small --
in sowing such distrust. Not your words, but your deeds.

I have tried to reckon with my own role in sowing distrust in this
Party. I can see some circumstances that would lead some to be
skeptical, like my paid job with MCHC. Ethically I have some concerns
about mixing work with politics. And I invite anyone anytime to share
their concerns with me if I have aided the engine of distrust in any way.

I would like to think that my actions and presence in this Party
have been a contribution, a small step towards the basic functionality
that I openly called for before stepping up as communications director
and onto the administrative committee. But I would be deluding myself
if I believed that. Through the prism of how I have been treated -- as a
human being volunteering to serve the greater good with the best of my
abilities -- I can only imagine that I have must have committed crimes
so severe that the punishment could only be cruel and unusual and the
Constitution should be scrapped altogether to aide in such punishment.
That I have seen others tortured similarly, gives me reason to think we
have an organizational/systemic problem here which has yet to be named.

[ Note that I am exaggerating the life of being an AdCom member for effect
and humor. Really -- all of you should step up to AdCom -- it's a fun time.
]