Workers advocate for a $20 per hour minimum wage in Los Angeles on November 1, 2022.
Suggestions for Progressives to Become Stronger
There exists a truly irritating strain among both progressive lawmakers, staff, and outside advocates, of prejudging their own defeat.
Though reluctant to admit it publicly, for the sake of morale and status, progressive citizen group leaders taking on the corporate supremacists and their political lackeys are in hard times. With few exceptions, they are neither adjusting with bolder strategies and tactics nor growing fast enough to spin off new divisions and groups. On the other hand, corporatists, driven by profits, have constant motivation and measurable yardsticks for defining their success. Corporatists, with their monetized minds, are not seized by internal worries and debates about how to address climate catastrophes, addicted customers (tobacco) and patients (Opioids). They are corrupting governments or becoming tax dodgers, all while demanding government handouts.
Against that background, I offer some suggestions. Progressives should:
1. Not succumb to the satiety of exposing and denouncing, without moving to action. Their reports gather dust. Be like law professor and leading child advocate Robert Fellmeth (See, Children's Advocacy Institute). He has exposed wrongdoing, proposed reforms, and taken them all the way through the California Legislature to the governor's signature.
2. Avoid being overly turf-conscious which weakens your group and rejects the reality that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In 1972, we produced magazine-size profiles of all the members of Congress running for re-election. This was never done before or since. We asked Common Cause—similarly committed to accountable, responsive lawmakers—to notice these profiles to their membership. They politely declined. Our groups, under my watch, always publicize the good works of other groups.
3. Understand that the affliction of aliteracy—knowing how to read but not reading—is widespread among progressives—outside of their narrow specialties. Trying to get progressive advocates or researchers just to read our new Capitol Hill Citizen newspaper (https://www.capitolhillcitizen.com/) and use its special contents to press their own causes is no easy feat. It is very difficult to break through the addiction of screens and unending voicemails. So, why not have communal non-fiction book clubs within the groups like Public Citizen, Common Cause, People for the American Way, Greenpeace, Sierra Club et al. to bring people up-to-date on the crushing new swarms of corporate controls? Readers Think and Thinkers Read. Both motivate action.
4. It is too difficult to dislodge honest but ineffectual leaders of the larger citizen groups and their subdivisions. As baseball coach Leo Durocher used to say, "Nice guys finish last." To overcome normal sentimental feelings, think of all those people, families, and children out there who are not being served, protected, and encouraged due to weak, unimaginative, or burned-out heads of civil rights/civil liberties, labor, consumer, and environmental groups. They should realize their own limitations in their present positions and move on to tasks for which they are more suited, letting fresh leaders succeed them.
5. Wake up! There exists a truly irritating strain among both progressive lawmakers, staff, and outside advocates, of prejudging their own defeat, of scrapping bolder or new initiatives for change or reform with the cry "It just ain't gonna happen."
Imagine if Newt Gingrich, a junior Republican from Georgia, had that attitude in 1991. He bullied his way to the top, and evicted two Democratic Speakers of the House of Representatives to become Speaker himself in 1995 and then started the GOP wreckage of the country.
Let's face it, messianic right-wing ideologues have more energy and "We're going to make it happen" fervor than many of their laid-back counterparts in Congress. Compare the sheer moxie and determination of the so-called House Freedom Caucus (eventually driving out their Speaker John Boehner) and taking no quarter from present Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with the years-long anemia of the much larger Progressive Caucus—just recently stirring itself a bit, but not enough to prevail on issues contrary to the corporatist leadership of the Democratic Party.
Justice Louis Brandeis was relating well-known history when he wrote: "Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done."
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just three days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Though reluctant to admit it publicly, for the sake of morale and status, progressive citizen group leaders taking on the corporate supremacists and their political lackeys are in hard times. With few exceptions, they are neither adjusting with bolder strategies and tactics nor growing fast enough to spin off new divisions and groups. On the other hand, corporatists, driven by profits, have constant motivation and measurable yardsticks for defining their success. Corporatists, with their monetized minds, are not seized by internal worries and debates about how to address climate catastrophes, addicted customers (tobacco) and patients (Opioids). They are corrupting governments or becoming tax dodgers, all while demanding government handouts.
Against that background, I offer some suggestions. Progressives should:
1. Not succumb to the satiety of exposing and denouncing, without moving to action. Their reports gather dust. Be like law professor and leading child advocate Robert Fellmeth (See, Children's Advocacy Institute). He has exposed wrongdoing, proposed reforms, and taken them all the way through the California Legislature to the governor's signature.
2. Avoid being overly turf-conscious which weakens your group and rejects the reality that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In 1972, we produced magazine-size profiles of all the members of Congress running for re-election. This was never done before or since. We asked Common Cause—similarly committed to accountable, responsive lawmakers—to notice these profiles to their membership. They politely declined. Our groups, under my watch, always publicize the good works of other groups.
3. Understand that the affliction of aliteracy—knowing how to read but not reading—is widespread among progressives—outside of their narrow specialties. Trying to get progressive advocates or researchers just to read our new Capitol Hill Citizen newspaper (https://www.capitolhillcitizen.com/) and use its special contents to press their own causes is no easy feat. It is very difficult to break through the addiction of screens and unending voicemails. So, why not have communal non-fiction book clubs within the groups like Public Citizen, Common Cause, People for the American Way, Greenpeace, Sierra Club et al. to bring people up-to-date on the crushing new swarms of corporate controls? Readers Think and Thinkers Read. Both motivate action.
4. It is too difficult to dislodge honest but ineffectual leaders of the larger citizen groups and their subdivisions. As baseball coach Leo Durocher used to say, "Nice guys finish last." To overcome normal sentimental feelings, think of all those people, families, and children out there who are not being served, protected, and encouraged due to weak, unimaginative, or burned-out heads of civil rights/civil liberties, labor, consumer, and environmental groups. They should realize their own limitations in their present positions and move on to tasks for which they are more suited, letting fresh leaders succeed them.
5. Wake up! There exists a truly irritating strain among both progressive lawmakers, staff, and outside advocates, of prejudging their own defeat, of scrapping bolder or new initiatives for change or reform with the cry "It just ain't gonna happen."
Imagine if Newt Gingrich, a junior Republican from Georgia, had that attitude in 1991. He bullied his way to the top, and evicted two Democratic Speakers of the House of Representatives to become Speaker himself in 1995 and then started the GOP wreckage of the country.
Let's face it, messianic right-wing ideologues have more energy and "We're going to make it happen" fervor than many of their laid-back counterparts in Congress. Compare the sheer moxie and determination of the so-called House Freedom Caucus (eventually driving out their Speaker John Boehner) and taking no quarter from present Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with the years-long anemia of the much larger Progressive Caucus—just recently stirring itself a bit, but not enough to prevail on issues contrary to the corporatist leadership of the Democratic Party.
Justice Louis Brandeis was relating well-known history when he wrote: "Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done."
Though reluctant to admit it publicly, for the sake of morale and status, progressive citizen group leaders taking on the corporate supremacists and their political lackeys are in hard times. With few exceptions, they are neither adjusting with bolder strategies and tactics nor growing fast enough to spin off new divisions and groups. On the other hand, corporatists, driven by profits, have constant motivation and measurable yardsticks for defining their success. Corporatists, with their monetized minds, are not seized by internal worries and debates about how to address climate catastrophes, addicted customers (tobacco) and patients (Opioids). They are corrupting governments or becoming tax dodgers, all while demanding government handouts.
Against that background, I offer some suggestions. Progressives should:
1. Not succumb to the satiety of exposing and denouncing, without moving to action. Their reports gather dust. Be like law professor and leading child advocate Robert Fellmeth (See, Children's Advocacy Institute). He has exposed wrongdoing, proposed reforms, and taken them all the way through the California Legislature to the governor's signature.
2. Avoid being overly turf-conscious which weakens your group and rejects the reality that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In 1972, we produced magazine-size profiles of all the members of Congress running for re-election. This was never done before or since. We asked Common Cause—similarly committed to accountable, responsive lawmakers—to notice these profiles to their membership. They politely declined. Our groups, under my watch, always publicize the good works of other groups.
3. Understand that the affliction of aliteracy—knowing how to read but not reading—is widespread among progressives—outside of their narrow specialties. Trying to get progressive advocates or researchers just to read our new Capitol Hill Citizen newspaper (https://www.capitolhillcitizen.com/) and use its special contents to press their own causes is no easy feat. It is very difficult to break through the addiction of screens and unending voicemails. So, why not have communal non-fiction book clubs within the groups like Public Citizen, Common Cause, People for the American Way, Greenpeace, Sierra Club et al. to bring people up-to-date on the crushing new swarms of corporate controls? Readers Think and Thinkers Read. Both motivate action.
4. It is too difficult to dislodge honest but ineffectual leaders of the larger citizen groups and their subdivisions. As baseball coach Leo Durocher used to say, "Nice guys finish last." To overcome normal sentimental feelings, think of all those people, families, and children out there who are not being served, protected, and encouraged due to weak, unimaginative, or burned-out heads of civil rights/civil liberties, labor, consumer, and environmental groups. They should realize their own limitations in their present positions and move on to tasks for which they are more suited, letting fresh leaders succeed them.
5. Wake up! There exists a truly irritating strain among both progressive lawmakers, staff, and outside advocates, of prejudging their own defeat, of scrapping bolder or new initiatives for change or reform with the cry "It just ain't gonna happen."
Imagine if Newt Gingrich, a junior Republican from Georgia, had that attitude in 1991. He bullied his way to the top, and evicted two Democratic Speakers of the House of Representatives to become Speaker himself in 1995 and then started the GOP wreckage of the country.
Let's face it, messianic right-wing ideologues have more energy and "We're going to make it happen" fervor than many of their laid-back counterparts in Congress. Compare the sheer moxie and determination of the so-called House Freedom Caucus (eventually driving out their Speaker John Boehner) and taking no quarter from present Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with the years-long anemia of the much larger Progressive Caucus—just recently stirring itself a bit, but not enough to prevail on issues contrary to the corporatist leadership of the Democratic Party.
Justice Louis Brandeis was relating well-known history when he wrote: "Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done."