Hedrick Smith, well known journalist and author of “Who Stole the American Dream,” is helping to organize a local group of people on Orcas to work at the grass roots level to begin to reclaim the American dream.

Many community members attended his TED talk last fall (it can be viewed here), where his words inspired more than 60 people to sign up to get involved in this effort. Now the effort is beginning, and anyone interested is invited to attend.

This is to be an open, informal non-partisan group – independents, Republicans, Democrats, greens, libertarians – all are welcome. The meeting is on Friday, Sept. 11 at 5 p.m. in the Orcas Food Co-op meeting room upstairs. Send an RSVP email to Marilyn McGuire at marilyn@marilynmcguire.com.

“This is not a move to push any political candidate or to promote any political party,” say organizers. “Getting big money out of politics, out-of-state money flooding our elections, campaign ethics and other issues are within our purview, as examples.We can pick a couple of immediate priorities and get moving.”