About Be The Change
Who We Are

btclogo

Be the Change USA is a grassroots political organization which promotes progressive issues and principles first espoused by the Senate campaign of Mike Miles. Be the Change USA is steadfastly committed to progressive ideals: Compassion over greed, effort over pedigree, service over wealth and the common good above all. Founded in the late summer of 2004, its initial short-term goal was to support progressive candidates and issues in the November 2004 election. Over the long term, it will continue to support progressive political issues and work to increase grassroots involvement and influence in the Democratic Party in particular, and in the political process as a whole. The name “Be the Change” was Mike Miles’s Senate campaign slogan, and comes from the quote by Gandhi: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."


 

Structure

The Be the Change USA Board of Directors is responsible for the mission and the long-term vision of Be the Change USA and for maintaining its relevancy and service to Colorado's progressives. All Directors now serve on an at-large basis, and a Director shall chair, co-chair or serve as a member of each of the standing committees. The annual meeting to elect Directors took place on January 8, 2006. The Be the Change USA Board of Directors for 2006 is:

  • Bruce Barkey
  • Dick Barkey
  • Tony Delcavo
  • Larry Dunn
  • Soren Frederiksen
  • Barbara Mills-Bria
  • Colin O'Connor
  • Kimberly Phillips
  • Brad Thacker
  • Michele Melio
  • Pat Manning


The 2006 Be the Change USA Executive Committee was elected at the regular Board meeting on February 11, 2006:

  • President - Barbara Mills-Bria
  • Vice-President -
  • Treasurer - Susan Clyne
  • Corporate Secretary -
  • Recording Secretary -
  • Executive Director - Dick Barkey

 

Standing Committees:

Besides the Executive committee, seven other committees have been established to serve Be the Change USA:

Communications (Co-Chairs: Larry Dunn, Susan Tyler): Responsible for website content, printed materials, news releases, media contacts and the content of any media production coming from Be the Change.

Finance & Budget (Co-Chairs: Dick Barkey, Tony Delcavo): Responsible for the BTC budget, financial reporting, fundraising efforts and planning to accomplish financial goals set by the Board.

Candidate Support (Chair: Bruce Barkey): Responsible for creating a matrix for the evaluation of needs, candidates and potential candidates and reporting their findings to BTC. This committee will work to be the nexus of support for potential progressive candidates by linking them to training opportunities, message development, research etc. designed to cultivate progressive leadership skills.

Outreach, Base-Building and Networking (Co-Chairs: Kimberly Phillips, Colin O'Connor): This committee will be responsible for extending the progressive network and finding new ways to link to other progressive organizations, discovering opportunities for engaging new voters and maintaining contact with those individuals and organizations that will be ready to step into action for campaigns, issues and the like.

Data/Technology (Chair: Soren Frederiksen): Responsible for expanding data handling capabilities, efficiency and access for tracking voters and voter trends. Maintaining clean lists and communicating with progressives quickly and effectively through technology.

Issues and Policy Research (Think Tank) (Chair: Brad Thacker): Responsible for researching policy and proposed legislation, etc. This committee will work to establish links with credible sources to assist Be the Change in the evaluation of trends, issues, legislation and initiatives.

Events (Co-Chairs: Barbara Mills-Bria, Margaret Barkey): Responsible for working with the Board and other committees to plan and coordinate events in support of networking, training, information gathering, issues advocacy and fundraising.

 

Be the Change USA is a tax-exempt organization under Title 26, section 501(c)(4) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, and is organized and incorporated as a non-profit corporation under the laws of the state of Colorado.

 
PDF Print E-mail

Gandhi and Social Justice

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) was the spiritual and political leader in his native India, whose non-violent protests and revolution ultimately led to India's independence from Great Britain in 1947, just one year before Gandhi's death.

He was also known by the name "Mahatma," which means "great soul." This title was reserved for only the most revered of sages.

Educated in the law at University College in London, his India-based law practice was not successful. However, an Indian firm retained Gandhi to represent its interests in South Africa, where Gandhi spent the better part of twenty years. There he experienced discrimination of the worst sort under apartheid, since he was treated as a member of an "inferior race." He was often imprisoned, and developed his philosophies of non-violent protest and civil disobedience.

Gandhi's greatest influences were the teachings of Jesus, Leo Tolstoy, and Henry David Thoreau, especially Thoreau's famous essay "Civil Disobedience." According to Microsoft Encarta (2004), "Gandhi considered the terms passive resistance and civil disobedience inadequate for his purposes, however, and coined another term, satyagraha (Sanskrit for ‘truth and firmness').

Among his famous quotes:

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.

There are times when you have to obey a call which is the highest of all, i.e., the voice of conscience even though such obedience may cost many a bitter tear, and even more, separation from friends, from family, from the state to which you may belong, from all that you have held as dear as life itself. For this obedience is the law of our being.

They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody will see it.

There are seven sins in the world: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice and politics without principle."