'Soul of a Citizen' Excerpt: How the Christian Coalition and MoveOn Helped Save the Internet Together

"When
it
comes to protecting Internet freedom, the Christian Coalition and
MoveOn
respectfully agree," read the New
York
Times ad. MoveOn was the largest progressive organization
in America, and
the Christian Coalition a key group for conservative religious
activists.
They'd never teamed up on anything before.

The
story
behind the ad began with a former Army Ranger captain and Christian
Coalition
activist named Joseph McCormick. After losing his Republican
congressional
campaign and being a 2000 Bush delegate, Joseph began to recoil at the
polarization of American political debate. He dropped out of active
politics
and retraced Alexis de Tocqueville's journey across America,
interviewing a mix of
ordinary citizens and political leaders across the ideological spectrum.
The
discussions were so rich that Joseph decided to create gatherings that
would
bring together key organizational leaders of similarly differing
perspectives.

Christian
Coalition
president Roberta Combs got involved early on, cosponsoring the
second gathering of what would be called Reuniting America, in December
2005.
The other main cosponsor was MoveOn co-founder Joan Blades, who had
worked as a
mediator and was strongly drawn to the idea. The retreat assembled
leaders from
organizations representing 70 million Americans, including conservative
groups
like the American Legion, the Club for Growth, Americans for Tax Reform,
and
the Christian Coalition; progressive ones like the Sierra Club, MoveOn,
Common
Cause, the National Council of Churches, and the League of Woman Voters;
and
the massive seniors' organization, the AARP. Roberta and Joan quickly
hit it
off.

Four
months
later, Roberta couldn't make it to a Reuniting America steering
committee meeting, so she sent her daughter, Michele Combs, Christian
Coalition's communications director and a former head of South
Carolina's Young Republicans. Michele
and Joan, who sat next to each other at breakfast, also connected
immediately.
Michele was going through a divorce, and Joan had written a book on
cooperative
custody. Both were moms, so they talked about their children. Despite
vast
political differences, they instantly became friends. "We connected just
talking the way women do," said Michele. "We have lots of
commonalities."

At
the
next retreat, on energy security, Michele connected again with Joan, and
with
Al and Tipper Gore, who participated, along with scientists, energy
industry
leaders, and activists of diverse perspectives. "It was in a little
hippie
town an hour north of Denver,"
said Michele, "with peace signs everywhere. I was a little shocked. Then
I
walked in and the first people I met were Al and Tipper. But she was
just a
very kind person, compassionate and honest. I liked Al too, even though I
didn't vote for him. When you meet someone intimately with just 30 other
people, you have a chance to see the good in them. They went through a
lot."

Later
Michele
participated in Gore's global climate change training sessions.
"I'd been thinking about environmental issues since I was pregnant and
was
told 'don't eat shellfish because of mercury.' If it's such a problem
when
you're pregnant, I thought, isn't it a problem when you're not? Thinking
about
climate change was a logical next step." After learning more about the
issue, she started a Christian Coalition project promoting alternative
energy,
together with the National Wildlife Federation. Michele described the
head of
that group, Larry Schweiger, as "a very strong Christian, passionate on
this issue, with lots of evangelical hunters and anglers in his
organization." Michele liked joining Schweiger to lobby Republican
Senators, "because when he goes in with the Christian Coalition, they
can't accuse him of being liberal."

Joan
always
gained something from talking with people she disagreed with. "But
with Michele and Roberta, it went deeper. We formed a friendship. We'd
talk on
the phone about our families and who Michele was going out with since
her
divorce. Kind of a girlfriend thing. We bonded further at another
retreat just
for women. We figured if we got along so well, our friends and political
allies
would too, which turned out to be true."

The
retreats
fostered their friendship, and more. Soon after meeting Michele, Joan
got the idea of a joint political effort to save what was called Net
Neutrality--the right to keep the Internet available as an open commons
for
all. The Internet had developed that way from the beginning, with all
content
having equal access and phone and telecom companies supplying the
physical
routes for data to travel, but not being allowed to favor or disfavor
particular websites, applications, or data. But as high-speed Internet
use took
off, AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and TimeWarner lobbied to control all
that their
media carried. This could let them auction off the right for websites or
applications whose owners wanted them to load faster, while relegating
other
sites to second-class service. Such a shift would have devastated
nonprofits,
small businesses, and all kinds of political advocacy groups, which
couldn't
afford the rates that the most lucrative sites could pay. The telecom
companies
would also be able to control any content they chose, as when Verizon
refused
to distribute a text message alert from NARAL Pro Choice America and
AT&T
muted singer Eddie Vedder's criticism of President Bush during a live
Pearl Jam
webcast. In August 2005, the telecom companies got Bush's Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to eliminate the requirement that all
content
providers be treated equally.

The
next
spring, the battle moved to Congress, with the telecom companies
spending
millions to change the rules permanently. They got the House to pass a
bill
that would have confirmed the elimination of Net Neutrality. It looked
as if
the battle was lost. But a word-of-mouth revolt began working to block
similar
Senate legislation. Prominent bloggers of all perspectives took up the
cause,
including apolitical ones covering food, sports, and technology. In
April 2006,
the media reform group FreePress.net
launched a new Save the Internet Coalition including the AARP, MoveOn,
Gun
Owners of America, American Library Association, National Religious
Broadcasters, Common Cause, Service Employees International Union, and
key
individuals like many of the people who'd first developed the Web, plus
online
video gamers and prominent musicians. Opponents delivered petitions to
swing
Senators. But time was running out.

Then
Joan
proposed to Michele that their two organizations collaborate on the
issue.
MoveOn had already taken a leading role. The Christian Coalition had
done some
low-key lobbying but had issued no public statements. When Joan broached
the
subject, Michele promptly got the go-ahead from her organization to
participate. They ran the New York
Times
ad, as well as a joint Washington
Times
opinion piece. Roberta wrote a separate Washington
Post op-ed in with the head of leading pro-choice group
NARAL.
Michele and Joan then delivered a petition with over a million
signatures at a Washington, D.C.,
press conference, with Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan and Republican
Senator
Olympia Snowe. Michele also testified before Congressional committees
and
worked with MoveOn's media person. Because the groups were such strange
bedfellows, their joint efforts attracted far more attention than if
either had
acted on its own. "If we'd just done this with other conservative
groups," said Michele, "it wouldn't have had nearly the impact."

Joan
agreed.
"It's nice to not always be predictable," she said.
"When MoveOn shows up, people expect what we're going to say. But when
MoveOn and the Christian Coalition show up together, people think, 'If
these
guys can agree on this, maybe it's something I should pay attention to.'
You
get a totally different response."

Although
the
Christian Coalition took heat from some usual allies, the two groups
persisted, and the regressive legislation deadlocked in the critical
Senate
committee. Political momentum shifted further after the 2006
election--and when
avowed Net Neutrality supporter Obama won the presidency and appointed
strongly
supportive FCC Commissioners who enshrined the approach as policy. But
without
Joan and Michele's friendship and unlikely political partnership, an
equal-access Internet might well have vanished into cyberspace.

Both
women
found value in what Joan described as "working outside our regular
neighborhoods. It was wonderful to make a difference on an issue that
not a lot
of people are thinking about, but is very big in terms of maintaining a
public
square that benefits everybody. It was a very happy ending."

"I
think
it's America
at its best when you come together like this," said Michele. "At the
end of the day everyone wants to make a better country for their
families, for
the future. When we talk basic values, there's a lot we come together
on."
Working with new allies also energized her. "When people on either side
of
the aisle work with others who feel the same way as they do, there's
often in-fighting
and egos. When you work with a group you normally disagree with, you're
coming
together without common baggage. You're both passionate, and you get a
lot
done. Not that I don't appreciate the organizations I usually work with,
but
when a group like ours comes together with MoveOn or the National
Wildlife
Federation, it shows that we really can find common ground."

From "Soul of a Citizen" by Paul Rogat Loeb