A while back, Nathan Wyeth wrote a Soapbox for Grist about the crappiness of green-group canvassing operations. It kicked off quite a discussion.
If you’re interested in the subject, Dana Fisher has a good piece on it at The American Prospect:
Unfortunately, this type of outsourced politics increases the distance between members and the progressive national groups that claim to represent them – and has proven no match for the kind of political institutions on the right that are locally rooted and turn citizens into engaged activists.
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In contrast to the outsourced politics of the left, political groups on the right work through pre-existing civic associations formed by churches and other locally grounded networks to create lasting connections with its political base.
