Author Archive for Max Jordan

Let Me Introduce Myself…

Published by Max Jordan on February 14, 2011. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

My fellow Democrats,

My name is Maxwell Jordan and I will be serving as leader of our organization next year. I would like to introduce myself to you and let you know a little bit about my plans for us next year. First, I am Junior studying Political Science and I participate in several organizations on campus such as the Great Issues Committee. If you don’t know me that is because I was absent last semester due to my internship with the United States Department of State. I spend the semester working for our Mission to the United Nations Agencies in Rome, Italy. It was a tremendous experience that has validated everything I believe about our great country. I hope that we may get to know each other and build an effective political organization that can dramatically impact local and state elections. Please see below for my plan regarding how we can become a strong and resilient campus organization.

Membership

An organization is nothing without a strong and stable core of members. It is my hope that we can increase our membership and meeting attendance rates over the next year. Currently, I am exploring moving our meeting time to better accommodate our member’s schedules. Hopefully, within the next week or so I can send you a survey regarding our organization that can include this topic. Membership will be my top priority and I will not rest until we have an active membership of at least 25 people that participate in vibrant meetings. I will share more on this with you at a later date. Until then, please bring friends, coworkers, and roommates to our meetings!

Fundraising

It is my intention to explore new methods of fundraising for our organization. Some of these potential methods include developing a ActBlue page and other politically based forms of fundraising. We need to utilize our strong alumni base so that we may be able to solicit funds that can help with us with our overall organizational mission.

Voter Registration

I would like to make voter registration a significant priority for the next. People on this campus need to have the ability to exercise their constitutional rights as American citizens. It is my hope that we can partner with several organizations to create the largest voter registration drive in our school’s history.

Dynamic Events

I hope that together as an organization we can come up with a slate of dynamic events that can capture the attention of the university. We need to start early due to the school’s new speaker policy, and it is my hope to get you some preliminary information on this topic soon.

Organizational Improvements

I would like to refine our organizational practices and develop new procedures that can make our organization strong and effective. It is my hope that these new processes can be passed down in order to create continuity and institutional memory.

In the end, student organizations are purely a reflection of membership. It is my sincere hope that at the end of the 2011-2012 school year we can look back and say that it was the time we made our breakthrough.

All the best,

Max Jordan
President, Saint Louis University College Democrats

The Word “Liberal”

Published by Max Jordan on March 13, 2010. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , .

From the pages of The Progressive Billiken:

The word “liberal” is so often used to propagate a message that is completely opposed to the progressive ideals that are held by the many millions of Americans who identify as members of the Democratic Party. In a world of instant punditry and twenty-four hour idolatry, talking points, become more important than message or intent. The respective political ideologies of the two major political parties of this nation should not be understood through stereotypes, but rather through productive discourse and the reality of governance. Today, many right leaning new sources identify everything wrong about this nation as “liberal”. I do not believe that their intent is malicious nor do I believe that they prescribe to the darker side of the American news industry. However, I do believe that they embrace the stereotypes that endow our process of governance with everything that is wrong about our political process. To clarify what being a “liberal” really means I would like to cite President John Fitzgerald Kennedy:

But if by a ‘Liberal’ they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal,” then I’m proud to say I’m a ‘Liberal.’

This explanation is articulate, understandable, and true in terms of what really is at the center of Democratic ideology. We are not for big government, socialism, or the restriction of individual liberty, but rather we are simply pro human. Progressive policies seek to underwrite the value of every citizen in this country not spend us into bankruptcy or regulate our markets into oblivion. The complaints that so many on the other side of the ideological spectrum have are based in the implementation of policies within the realm of governance, and should be separated from our truest values. Our national debt has been incurred through many Republican and Democratic administrations. The current economic crisis occurred because of bipartisan idiocy. We can overcome these challenges if we simply look past stereotypes and look towards a dualistic sense of responsibility that must be part of our American experience. Do not demonize a word simply based on talking points, and I beg everyone to research history rather than misrepresent the present.