progressive infrastructure
Building Progressive Infrastructure
Video excerpt of Commonweal Institute Fellow Dave Johnson's presentation about building progressive infrastructure at the 2006 Yearly Kos Convention.
April 2009 Newsletter
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| April 30, 2009 | |
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We are your Conduit to the National Policy Conversation Progressive Movement Sectors and FunctionsAdvocacy, Organizing & Persuasion The Progressive Ideas Leadership RetreatSummaryLeaders of 25 major progressive ideas institutions responded to a call from four peer institutions and met from December 10-12, 2007 in Tarrytown, NY. The retreat revealed much common ground, and participants recognized that they constitute an “ideas
sector” for the cause of progressive politics and social justice.
Participants have chosen to move together, beyond the
organization-logic that necessarily guides each of their institutions
individually, into a series of commitments and actions guided by
movement-logic aimed at bringing shared progressive values and policies
to the fore in American society. Understanding Progressive InfrastructureThe American conservative movement has succeeded in moving public attitudes steadily rightward over the last 30 years, with far-reaching consequences for the country’s political governance. This success has been achieved through a well-funded and well-coordinated organizational infrastructure that follows a long-term, disciplined communications strategy. In order for moderates and progressives to maximize the power of their own ideas and values, and to compete effectively with conservatives over the coming decades, they must develop, without delay, their own infrastructural capacity and p Consolidate, Consolidate, Consolidate: Advice to ProgressivesThe day after the 2006 midterm elections, the basic conservative interpretive frame emerged. A veritable chorus of commentators on the right rose up to declare that the results represented not a defeat for conservatism but rather for a Republican party that had abandoned its conservative principles. The election was less an ideological victory for Democrats, progressives, or liberals, we were told, than it was a sharp correction administered to the incompetents and big spenders who had disappointed their conservative constituents. Framing a Progressive AgendaAt time when news of climate change, human rights abuses, the UN's Millennium Ecological Assessment, and the dire state of the half of the world’s population that lives on less than $2 a day should be bringing new adherents, Progressives seem to be losing influence around the world. The work of many of us demonstrates that appealing alternatives exist to the destructive practices of the last century. Yet despite our efforts these lessons remain isolated and largely ignored. We must and we can do better. The American Political Marketplace: New Citizens, New Machines, New StrategiesAmerican citizens today have a decreased sense of community spirit and less sense of civic responsibility, compared to the time of the nation's founding. They are motivated first and foremost to maximize their own personal interests. They have become passive consumers of American politics. HOME CONTACT GET UPDATES DONATE LOG IN  COMMONWEAL INSTITUTE 150 Erica Way, Portola Valley, CA 94028 Telephone 650-854-5695 info AT commonwealinstitute DOT org |