What is “the Grassroots?”

Gearing up for the New Year

January ushers in a new year with new challenges ahead. When we launched the Grassroots Connector last February, we set ourselves the task of amplifying the power and the voice of the grassroots. We have reported on innovative grassroots projects, tools, voter contact strategies, and the stories of grassroots volunteers like you. Both editors and writers hoped to extend support to hardworking activists.

In the days and months to come, the grassroots community will have a chance to redefine and assert our role within the Democratic Party. To leverage the visibility and clout grassroots activists deserve, it will be necessary to define ourselves. We, the editors of the Grassroots Connector, offer our personal definitions to get this conversation started.

Grassroots are Action-Oriented — Bruce Watson

Grassroots, n., Individuals acting alone or in action-oriented groups outside the political machinery in order to make change. Such actions include such time-tested means as protesting, canvassing, phone banking, letters-to-the-editor, and postcarding but should also include teaching a myth-free history, challenging disinformation, helping others interpret media bias, and speaking truth, through any channel, to power.

===

In Service — Martha Merson

I recognize grassroots volunteers.
You show up to work though you didn't apply or qualify.
You are the hands that knock.
Your feet climb stairs, hills, and traverse side streets and sidewalks.

You essentially agree to lend your body, your wallet, your phone
In service of a centuries long project we call democracy.
Your "pay" is leftover flyers and granola bars.

I recognize you, my grassroots volunteer peers.
We met before, at a rally or quilting group or gardening.
We sign up for shifts on candidates’ campaigns
and educate our friends on ballot initiatives,
believing that sensible policy will advance our other goals.

Grassroots activists like us model civic engagement.
We shape an identity that includes our political work.
We believe that a functional democracy requires more than voting
and we walk our talk.

In Response to a System Failure — Susan Labandibar

Grassroots movements arise at the intersection of a crisis and a failure of institutional leadership. Our grassroots movement was born in the aftermath of the 2016 election, after the Democratic Party failed to prevent a demagogue from capturing our nation’s highest office. This was not just a political loss but a profound betrayal of our trust in the Party’s ability to lead.

In the midst of this crisis of confidence, we had little time to engage in serious debate over Democratic Party reform. We gathered in living rooms, libraries and church basements, united by our opposition to the Trump agenda and our need to take back control of our country. Starting as novices, we developed the skills to run tens of thousands of phone banks, postcard-writing parties, texting groups, fundraisers, and canvassing trips. Our efforts delivered tangible results. In 2018, we helped Democrats reclaim the House of Representatives. In 2020, we won a Democratic trifecta, and in 2022 we stemmed losses that the pundits deemed inevitable.

Despite these successes, doubts about the Democratic Party’s strategy and effectiveness remained. Many activists continued to operate outside the party, choosing not to push for internal reform. Now, as our movement faces an unforeseen new reality, it stands at a turning point. The question of whether—and how—to address the Democratic Party’s underlying flaws could define the future of grassroots activism and its ability to shape the direction of American politics.

===

Helpers — Steve Schear

The grassroots are all the people who spend some of their time, without pay, to help make political progress to improve our collective living conditions, to protect our democracy, and to help the planet survive climate change.

Meeting an Obligation — Susan Wagner

What unites us is a clear understanding that our obligation as US citizens necessitates active engagement in the political process. We, the grassroots, are unique in understanding that our forefathers made a contract with us, that they would create a country founded on the basis freedoms as set forth and our end of the bargain as citizens was to be vigilant about preserving these freedoms.

In 2016 we came off the sidelines and founded or joined groups who understood that the current setup was not working. Our groups were in part a reaction to the pervasiveness of money in our political ecosystem, and many of us intentionally did not incorporate, refusing to let money be at the root of the engagement. Rather we sought to promote good government, civic engagement and commitment to democratic principles.

The beauty of the current grassroots phenomenon is that there is no one person in the lead; it is the millions of volunteers who make the movement. Clear to all of us is that we can no longer rely on the existing systems of politics, the judiciary, or the press. It’s up to us.

===

Heart and Soul, the Community Builders — Robbin Warner

Today’s grassroots activist was born out of the loss of Hillary Clinton, awakened at the Women’s March, inflamed by the atrocities of the Trump administration, galvanized through Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, and committed to staying involved for the long haul.

We are largely women who feel compelled to “do something” to protect life as we know it and promote life as we want it to be.

We are fearless in our resolve, bringing a lifetime of experience and expertise to our activism. We are doers who don’t need permission to get to work.

We see our work as community building, making civic engagement a part of being an American.

There is no single umbrella organization that manages the grassroots. In fact, one of the hallmarks of our movement is how activists can and do belong to several at the same time.

We put our heart and soul into our activism. Though the defeats in 2024 were gut wrenching, we remain steadfast in staying in it for the long haul.

===

Whether your definition is styled as a poem like Martha Merson’s, a dictionary definition like Bruce Watson’s and Steve Schear’s, a philosophical rumination like Susan Wagner’s, or a descriptive recounting like Susan Labandibar’s and Robbin Warner’s, all the definitions are valid. The grassroots is all of the above and more.

In the comments below, we invite you to share your definition.