Green Shoots of Democracy within the Philadelphia Democratic Party

Download or read book Green Shoots of Democracy within the Philadelphia Democratic Party written by Karen Bojar and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-06-27 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on the experiences of grassroots political activists from different socio- economic and ethnic backgrounds, Green Shoots of Democracy explores how self-identified progressives manage (or fail to manage) to work within a big city political machine. Although the book focuses on the work of progressives to foster democracy and transparency within the Philadelphia Democratic Party, lessons gleaned from their experiences are applicable beyond Philadelphia. Americans have long had a history of volunteerism; however, grassroots partisan politics is often not considered a worthy volunteer endeavor—not as worthy as, for example, working in a homeless shelter or a literacy center. Green Shoots of Democracy argues for a more democratic, transparent party structure—one that is sorely needed to counter the widespread perception that electoral politics is dirty business rather than an honorable civic project.