We are forming a “People Powered” SuperPAC called Sustainable Vistas. It will be focused on all the issues that Progressives are in favor of, but as a non-partisan organization. We are not interested in party politics, just policies that can help the most people. We are looking to move away from ideologies, and focus on results. We are the people who have suffered the most under the current failed policies of government and private sector leaders. Having been poor and homeless ourselves, we believe it is time for us to bring our direct knowledge and hard-earned wisdom to solving problems that all of us face.

Please visit the website by clicking this link: Sustainable Vistas

If you would like to be one of the first to help us garner resources, you can either do so on the Donation Page of the website, or by our Fundrazr.com Campaign here: Sustainable Vistas SuperPAC Creation Fund

There are many things that need to be done. Among our first goals are campaigns to support the promotion of Alternative Energy in the United States, Small Scale Organic Producer Networks, and Marriage Equality for the LGBT Community. I can be contacted for questions at this email address: Jeffrey P. Colin

PLEASE visit the website, and if you think a grassroots SuperPAC is something you believe in, make a small (or large) donation. Also, PLEASE spread the word around! Peace and compassion to you.

I have authored a petition on Change.org asking President Obama to mandate the labeling of Genetically Modified Organisms in Food, inside the United States, via the Executive Order process. I hope that you will consider both signing and passing the link the this petition around. Thanks.

http://www.change.org/petitions/president-barack-obama-issue-an-executive-order-requiring-labeling-of-all-gmo-foods

Peace and Compassion to you.

In the process of working to create both a Cooperative Business, and a grassroots people and planet oriented SuperPAC, I have been engaged in contacting many different individuals, organizations, and businesses. At the risk of angering many of the people who read Firedoglake, I must say that the results have been disappointing. The Progressive Community, which professes to be in tune with the needs of the planet and the poor, has been far less than responsive in any major capacity. In fact, the responses have ranged mostly from indifference, to outright hostile territorial behaviors. Is this really representative of Progressives as a group?

One of the interesting pieces of information that I first discerned while developing a database of individuals and groups to contact in the Progressive Community was how much overlap there appeared to be between those who self-identify as Progressive, and those who self-identify as Conservative, Republican, Libertarian, or by a host of other “Right-Leaning” labels. Not that the labels matter all that much in actual day to day behaviors, but the fact that many of the same people standing up as leading voices in the Progressive Community still have numerous direct ties to those who ideals they profess to disagree with is interesting, at the very least.

Having a personal history of working with direct service and direct action activist groups, which used to have lots of people in their ranks from the communities and causes they serve, I began to look at the composition of the leadership of many Progressive Organizations as well. It is extremely concerning to me that many of the most prominent Progressive Organizations lack significant representation from the ranks of the poor and working classes. Just like the corporations that they frequently criticize, and rightfully so, they tend to lean heavily on recruiting leaders who are deeply entrenched in either government, media, organizational, or corporate networking. For many of the most prominent organizations, the various curriculum vitae of their staff and board reads much like that of companies like DuPont, Exxon-Mobil, or any other Fortune 500 company. While there is nothing wrong with great education and great work histories, who is representing the common person’s voice?

Having attended an Ivy League school, or having worked in senior positions in government or industry does not necessarily mean that one is completely disconnected from the experiences or interests of the poor and working. On the other hand, it does not make one more of an expert either. Studying the problems of the poor and working on behalf of a well-funded Think Tank is not quite the same as having lived day to day struggling to survive poverty, crime, corruption, and an ongoing and sinking sense of hopelessness that is sold by the corporate media every day in their controlled coverage of actions and events around the world. When Progressives are more concerned with what Nobel Prize winning Economists and Social Scientists have to say about poverty than what poor and disaffected workers and homeless people have to say, something has clearly gone awry.

The main purpose of creating a grassroots organization is that it should both serve and employ those most in need. Experts are needed to focus efforts, but when we have arrived at a point where the only direct input that those in need have to an organization is a form on a website, that organization really has lost the right to self-identify as grassroots. And yes, I would urge anyone reading this piece to visit the websites of the well known Progressive Organizations and look over the information on staff, board of directors, and the methods of connecting with such organizations. I doubt that what you learn will make you feel confident in their legitimacy.

My purpose in writing this piece has not been to simply toss dirt on those in the Progressive Community. While I avoid employing labels of any sort on a personal level, I am aware that there are innumerable wonderful people who self-identify as Progressives, living compassionate lives in world today. It is my hope that these people will take heed of my assertions, and do their own investigations. If they find, as I have, that the largest body of Progressive Organizations are not including a large block of staff, board members, and advisers from the ranks of the poor, working, and those who simply lack the impressive C.V.s that seem to dominate, then I urge them to contact these organizations and ask them to be more inclusive of these voices. It needs to be priority to change the nature of the dialogue by asking people from distressed communities to tell their stories, and express their needs in their own voices. It really does not require an Ivy League education, or years of working in government or industry for people to be able to say, “we need more jobs and better healthcare.”

Peace and Compassion to you.

As someone who was raised as part of an overall politically left-leaning community of people, I am very familiar with many of the thoughts and goals of those who might describe themselves as Activists. The term inspires different reactions among different cohort groups, but there is a common perception that these are the people who get involved in protests, boycotts, and other related activities that are frequently seen in popular news reports. It is perception that appears to be ingrained into the minds of most Americans.

Aside from racial supremacist organizations, and similar types of extremist organizations, the idea of street level political and social activism is most readily associated with those who would self-identify as “Liberals,” “Progressives,” “Anarchists,” and a host of other similar labels. Political activity in the United States actually happens across the diverse universe of political and social ideologies, but the terms employed in describing activities by parties holding differing political and social views varies, depending upon who is describing the activity.

What is most interesting to some of us who reject political and social labels, is how these labels ultimately relate to the actions and effectiveness of the parties they supposedly identify. Many see the labels as being only marginally useful as a short of hand method of identifying and gathering similar groups and/or ideas, while other people like myself see such labels as being absolutely meaningless in any functional sense. How one tends to view such labels is often related to how one views the people who employ them. That is the point where many of us find the most potential for misdirection and abuse of such labels; by those who use them to obfuscate and misrepresent significant facts and ideas.

In approaching the term activism, for example, many of us find the word to be something of a misnomer. While it can engender direct and specific action towards a particular political, social, or other goal, it is most often centered around advocacy, which is something slightly different. The literal meanings of the words are very close, but their connotations in our complex language controlled society, are notably different.

Ever since the Citizen United Supreme Court Decision created the monstrous reality of SuperPACs, a legion of organizations has sprung into existence dedicated to influencing the election process. The types and numbers of different SuperPAC organizations is staggering, and the amounts of money involved in the process even more staggering. Are these organizations considered activist or advocacy organizations? There are a range of subjective answers possible, but there are legal limits to what they can do. Most of their activities clearly falls into the realm of advocacy, by functional definition, but some limited amount of overlap is occasionally noted.

By and large, the nature of political and social activity that is described as activism falls more into the realm of advocacy activities, in our current social and political environment. Whereas activism could easily involve feeding the poor, or boycotting a company, or starting a co-op, or any number of direct relief or direct remedy activities, advocacy is usually more focused on the promotion of ideas over direct action. While many people consider the concepts to be of equal importance, not everyone agrees with that assessment.

In a world where many people are dying from lack of food, medical care, housing, and wars are being executed at the expense of people’s lives, it is hard to imagine that ideas are valued quite as much by the involved parties as would be food, medical care, viable housing, or an end to the violence of war. As the world is destroyed by environmental pollution, and whole ecosystems are subject to collapse, ideas do not seem wholly adequate. This is not to say that the promotion of ideas is not valuable; rather it is simply that, in the hierarchy of needs, they may not be as urgently needed as things that actually sustain life and environment.

So, for some of us that have seen protests, social movements, and political movements come and go, we have become wary of those who see activism and advocacy as the same. Especially for those of us who have come from poor and distressed circumstances, the reliance on the power of ideas quickly grows old when we are facing another day without food, medical care, or a place to live indoors. Some of us would like to see a bit more effort from the advocates on bringing food, medical care, and housing to those in need in the here and now. I think that the idea is pretty well conveyed that, when people are starving, sick, and homeless, they need food, medical attention, and shelter. If the those inclined towards advocacy would spend more time actively bringing those resources to those in need, there would likely be some less need for advocates. That is what many of us on the front lines call activism.