Anyone can rant against the current state of American democracy. Anyone can talk trash about politicians, or bemoan the apathy of the electorate. How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office is a guide to getting off one's cynical duff and actually effecting positive change through the electoral process. Editor William Upski Wimsatt created the League of Youth Voters, a political action committee designed to raise awareness amongst younger demographics and support candidates on a country-, state-, and city-wide basis. This book tells the stories of how of these marginalized voters — such as gays, punks, blacks, and Latinos — organized to make the winning difference in contested legislative and electoral races across the country. To prepare readers for the 2004 elections, this book lists potentially close races, provides maps of key swing states and districts, lists 800 people under 35 in office, and examines youth voter turnout and impact.
Biography
Social entrepreneur, philanthropic consultant, journalist, and political organizer, Billy Wimsatt recently released his new book, Please Don't Bomb the Suburbs: A Midterm Report on My Generation, and the Future of our Super Movement (Akashic Books, September 2010).
Wimsatt has written for Vibe, the Chicago Tribune and published five books with 100,000+ in print including Bomb the Suburbs, No More Prisons, and How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office, winner of the 1999 Firecracker Book Award for Political Non-Fiction. He has spoken at Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, and was named by Utne Magazine as "Utne Visionary" and to The Source Magazine's "Power 30."
As a 2010 Fellow at Movement Strategy Center, Wimsatt runs The Field 3.0 Project, a community dialogue and documentation effort to envision the future and drive innovation in movement building.
He also runs All Hands On Deck, a voter engagement program targeting likely drop-off voters, focused in key battleground states (ie. NV, MO, OH, PA, IL). All Hands On Deck coordinates a 12 Week Plan to organize volunteers in the lead up the mid-term elections.
All Hands On Deck also works in partnership with youth groups (www.voteagain2010.org); the Coffee Party (www.coffeepartyusa.com), Salsa Labs (www.salsalabs.org), and runs creative programs such as: Local Voter Guides and Pennies For Democracy (www.penniesfordemocracy.org).
Previously, Wimsatt founded and ran the League of Young Voters (2003-2008) which organized 3000+ youth to create 300+ voter guides and impacted 29 state and local elections or pieces of legislation. In 2005, he co-founded Generational Alliance. Over his career as a funder and fundraiser, he has helped move more than eight million dollars to social change. In 2008, he created and ran the Ohio Youth Corps program for the Ohio Democratic Party/Obama For America, which trained and deployed 50 staff throughout Ohio.
Wimsatt has worked for Green For All, consulted for Rock The Vote, MoveOn.org, the Hull Family Foundation, The DC Project, The Funders' Collaborative on Youth Organizing, and completed Rockwood's year-long course for executive leaders.
