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There’s much progress to report in the New Progressive Alliance’s effort to leverage the 2012 election to create a unified, uncompromising voice for Progressive ideals and reform at the national level. Your recommends, shares, tweets and facebook likes of this diary will help grow the organization and increase the chances of fielding both a primary challenger to Barack Obama and a viable indie or third-party candidate in the general election.
Thanks for your help.
Anthony Noel, NPA Facilitator
The NPA Update, April, 2011
In this issue…
- Finding A Primary Challenger
- Coming Soon: NewProgs.org
- Spotlight: United Progressives
- Steering Committee Supports Work on a Unified Platform
- Calling All Artists: Design the NPA Logo!
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Finding a Primary Challenger
The New Progressive Alliance has begun contacting prospective challengers to Barack Obama for the 2012 Democratic Party presidential nomination.
A new and growing organization, the NPA is dedicated to shifting the electoral paradigm in America from one that is largely closed, and in which voters are given only two choices – bad and worse, and both beholden to for-profit conglomerates – to a truly open system which enables genuine social democracy.
As the first of its two-stage strategy for achieving this goal, the NPA is actively seeking a 2012 primary challenger who will commit to turning the electoral process, as we know it, on its head.
Readers of the progressive blog “MyFDL” chose ten current and former Democrats as prospective primary challengers to Mr. Obama last fall. Elizabeth Warren placed first, followed by Russ Feingold, Howard Dean, Richard Trumka, Alan Grayson, Cynthia McKinney, Al Franken, Paul Krugman, Dennis Kucinich, and Jane Hamsher.
We seek a challenger who recognizes the rare opportunity 2012 provides for boldly leveraging Americans’ broad support of real Progressive policy and programs. Our challenger must pledge to oppose Mr. Obama throughout the primary season, and to play a key role in the second stage of our strategy, by changing the “traditional” script and throwing their support not to Mr. Obama, but to an as yet undetermined independent or third-party candidate who earns our endorsement.
That endorsement will not come easily. Both our primary challenger and general election candidates must publicly pledge to uphold the NPA’s core values, also chosen by readers at MyFDL last fall: Full Employment, Medicare for All, Civil Rights / Human Rights / Civil Liberties, Fair Trade, and Ending the Wars Immediately. (See related story, “Steering Committee Supports Work on a Unified Platform,” below.)
NPA volunteer Ed has written a terrific recruitment letter customized for each of the prospective primary challengers. We gratefully acknowledge his hard work.
Coming Soon: NewProgs.org
Thanks to the efforts of two more volunteers, Tenisha and Jay, the NPA will soon have an online home!
NewProgs.org will list the members of the NPA Steering Committee; link to every issue of The NPA Update; report on our work toward a Unified Progressive Platform; detail the organization’s short, mid, and long-term goals; list membership and volunteer opportunities, and offer many more features.
We’ll send out a notification when NewProgs.org goes live.
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We Need You
Without the help of volunteers like Jay, Tenisha and Ed, the progress you’re reading
about would be impossible. Survey after survey has shown more than 60 percent of
Americans favor Progressive policy initiatives, but a relatively small number of
professional corporate and political elites prevent those voices from being heard,
and America from joining the global community of social democracies. We will not
change this reality without the help of large numbers of everyday people who are
committed to doing so. The NPA seeks State Founders, writers, organizers, researchers
and legal and accounting pros. To help, write admin_at_themalcontent_dot_com.
And thank you.
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Spotlight: United Progressives
Earlier this year, former Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate and NPA Steering Committee member Jill Stein suggested United Progressives as a potential member of the NPA. Her idea has created what looks to be a promising partnership. From the United Progressives’ “About” page:
“A policy group was formed following the end of the 2008 Presidential bid of Dennis
Kucinich by seven people from his campaign who sought ways to advance the objectives
of progressives through alternative avenues.
“It was clear, through our experience with the campaign and from long experience
with the American system of government, that change was needed. American citizens
are not being adequately represented.
“One of the alternatives our policy project decided to act upon is United Progressives,
a union intended to unite progressives on issues rather than candidates. By uniting
progressives on issues rather than candidates, we believe that the change we seek
in our lives and to our political system of government is possible.”
After representing United Progressives in an observing role during the March meeting of the NPA Steering Committee, Paul Barrow, one of the organization’s founders, received a terrific response to this diary, which he posted both at his organization’s site and here at “MyFDL.”
We urge you to consider joining United Progressives – a group which shares the NPA’s underpinning beliefs of issues over identity and strength in Progressive unity.
Steering Committee Supports Work on Unified Platform
In its March phone conference, the NPA Steering Committee supported efforts to assemble a Unified Progressive Platform.
Jill Stein, Cindy Sheehan, Paul Barrow (see previous story), and Norman Bie (organizer with Independents, Greens, Libertarians, and Others) joined NPA facilitator Anthony Noel via phone March 28th. Labor organizer Alan Maki could not join the call but provided his thoughts via an advance email. Absent due to prior commitments were Richard Winger, Cornel West, and David Swanson.
The Unified Platform is being worked on now by NPA volunteers. Five more simply stated values, incorporating beliefs stated in existing platforms of various Progressive organizations, will be added to the five chosen last fall by MyFDL readers, and all ten will be supported in detailed position papers.
When completed and approved by the Steering Committee and the NPA’s member organizations, the Unified Platform will be housed at the NPA website and presented to other Progressive organizations to encourage their participation in the Alliance. It will be our foundational document, a crucial element in determining whether candidates earn our endorsement, and in assessing their performance while in office.
Calling All Artists: Design the NPA’s Logo!
We’re seeking the definitive graphic representation of the NPA’s mission. If you painted “our” picture, what would it look like?
Take a crack at designing our logo! Submit your design as a .jpg file by June 1, 2011. We’re looking for a strong mark that conveys a theme of unity. It should remain crisp, clear and immediately recognizable when reproduced in a variety of sizes.
The winning design will appear in all NPA communications. Enter as many designs as you like, but each must include the acronym “NPA” and/or the words “New Progressive Alliance.” Five finalists will be chosen by the NPA Steering Committee, with final voting to take place online at “MyFDL.”
The winning designer receives a lifetime membership in the NPA; a one-year Benefactor’s Membership to FireDogLake; and the pride of knowing they’ve contributed to a movement committed to changing how politics is done in America.
Send your design to admin_at_themalcontent_dot_com. And good luck!
(All entries become property of the NPA; entry constitutes assignment of each design’s copyright and ownership to the New Progressive Alliance. Entry period may be extended in the absence of suitable designs, at the sole discretion of the judges.)
Cross-posted at The Malcontent and Antemedius
39 Comments
After O announced that Manning committed a crime, I’m very ready t
o primary Obama. Dang, how’d I do that.
I’m impressed!
Thanks for the comment.
How’re things in CA?
Passed along to my favorite artist for the last para. Thanks!
both a primary challenger and a third party candidate? Are we going to both win and lose the election to the republicans?
Way to go NPA, excited to see this update! The recent statement on Manning being “guilty” is outrageous and just another reason why simply asking this President (and his party) to be better isn’t enough. Also, did anyone else notice how strange it is that he he apparently is trying to put himself on the side of higher taxes? Not 4 months ago it was him (Barack Obama, the exact same person) who signed legislation which extends the Bush tax cuts for the rich. How about save us all a lot of trouble next time, veto tax cuts for the rich, and demand higher taxes for wealthy individuals and large corporations like GE.
Of course there won’t be a next time. The Democrats (and the President), who supposedly want a progressive income tax, won’t control both houses of Congress and the White House again for a long time history tells us so they deliberately forfeited that opportunity. By coming out strongly now against those same tax cuts just amounts to political opportunism that only serves the interest of a politician, not the millions of struggling Americans.
No, we’re going to face facts and address them strategically to build a winning coalition. The key facts are:
- The fix is already in for Obama in the primaries, although the youth and independents who put him over the top in 2008 will not support him this time – as evidenced by their refusal to participate in the midterms.
- A large and still-growing constituency has been awakened to the total co-option of government by corporate interests, and that fact is manifesting in places like Madison and Columbus and elsewhere.
- At the same time, the uprisings in the Middle East have demonstrated the degree to which this medium, the Internet, can influence and catalyze populist movements.
So…
- By putting up a primary challenger who refuses to throw their support to Obama and pledges to support the NPA-endorsed candidate at the end of the primary process, we re-energize the youth and Independents Big O has betrayed.
- That endorsement attracts not only those constituencies, but the growing tide of working people who will no longer automatically pull the big D lever and, most important, the huge swath of Americans who, as poll after poll has shown, support Progressive reform but feel so disenfranchised by our UniParty system that they stopped voting long ago. Most critically…
- We take the key page from the Obama playbook: Spreading the word and growing the movement via the Internet and social media in creating, at minimal cost, a real option to the corporate-bought-and-sold “choices” the major parties will set before us.
From what little I’ve read about Obama’s re-election strategy, and the fact that the DNC is kicking off 2012 in Charlotte, NC Obama is not counting on the young vote turning out or the liberal base that got him elected in 2008. The strategy is a “New Southern Strategy”. Which offers a dynamic mix of the black vote, coupled with a large college-aged and professional voting bloc. Midwestern values are old school and no longer looked upon as having any significance. Rotsa Ruck with that.
Obama is in his third year as President. He has continued 2 wars and started a third under Sec. Def. Gates, given US sovereignty to BP, expanded civil rights abuses, keep Guantanamo open, defunded social security for the first time in history, kept funding fossil fuels at the expense of renewable energy, stepped up prosecution for whistle blowers like Manning and DeChristopher (even to the point of saying Manning broke the law – inexcusable for a lawyer), ignored climate change, and made our debt problems much worse by extending Bush tax cuts at a time when he had the HOR by almost 40 votes and 59 senators. Obama also had the tax cuts for both social security and the rich expire in 2012 – an election year which guarantees they will be extended indefinitely.
We need to face the fact that this is more than being slightly off course temporarily. It should be obvious by now that Move-On’s letters to Obama to be like the candidate he promised simply do not work. OFA’s long list of insignificant Obama “accomplishments” notwithstanding, in all major areas he has continued Bush policy, so no, I do not think a republican would be markedly worse.
A chance to change significantly was deliberately not even tried. We cannot afford to wait another generation for another 59 senators, the WH, and the HOR by 40 votes to come into alignment and hope next time it will be different. At the very least we should give NPA serious consideration.
recommended and submitted the story to digg.
Good job.
I just placed an ad in craigslist (NYC) for an NPA/Democratic primary candidate. See Democratic Candidate for President (USA)
A few suggestions:
1) Use New Progressive Alliance in the MyFDL diary titles. We can’t expect everybody to guess what NPA likely stands for.
2) I hope the website has testimonials from steering committee members, in the form of youtube videos, that could go viral. These testimonies would be about what they see as the reasons that an NPA are necessary. Hopefully, some would also go into a comparison with existing organizations, such as MoveOn and PDA, but if not then…
3) Have videos, not necessariy by famous participants, as to what the difference is between and NPA and the MoveOn’s of the country. These videos would be an excellent place to educated and/or re-inject memes regarding the veal pen.
Oh, yeah, please also post to docudharma.com.
So one question. Should you not be able to get a candidate who meets your pledge criteria, but another Dem enters the primaries challenging Obama from the left, would you support that candidate?
Okay, two questions. How viable are the Greens? I have urged NPA to go with the Greens as the best-established 3rd party. But that is an open question. Regarding the Greens’ party rules, is it possible for the Green national convention to support one candidate, while state parties support another? (2-1/2)
And a comment.
I can see the value of expanding the platform in terms of broad appeal. Will the prospective primary candidate now be required to support all 10? I think 5 separates the wheat from the chaff.
Things are interesting in CA06, where Norman Soloman may run for L Woolsey’s seat if she retires.
I am passionately opposed to running a 3rd party candidate. I’m surprised there doesn’t seem to be a place for me in your organization.
Norman Solomon as in Media Watch?
To question one, a Dem who enters the primaries challenging Obama from the Left could still earn the NPA endorsement by meeting the same standard: public endorsement the platform and a pledge not to throw their support to Obama come the convention. Refusal to do both means (1) they can say whatever pretty things they like during the campaign with zero accountability later (the very road that led to this mess), and (2) they are more interested in perpetuating the UniParty’s ability to ignore the will of the people than they are in empowering the people.
On #2, the Greens are certainly viable in terms of ballot access, and their eventual nominee will certainly get a hard look. There is some disarray at the national level of the party, and I believe it is as you suggest, that state parties’ completely autonomous status permits their support of whomever they like, regardless of the nominee coming out of the national convention.
On the platform, I think the concern that surfaced is that the five points disregard a lot of the progressive agenda, like a social safety net, for example. While Medicare for All can be construed as part of that, it is distinct in terms of the real goal, i.e., health care to progressives means what it does in social democracies, the ability of EVERY citizen to walk into a hospital or doctor’s office and get care at minimal or no charge to them. So health care is certainly an issue unto itself, where the components of a social safety net (welfare, Social Security, food stamps) are meant to provide a basic level of sustenance for particular life events from cradle to grave, be it loss of employment, loss of a breadwinner, or retirement.
Again, just an example, but my sense is that the five additional points will be as strong as the first five in terms of true Progressive ideals, and assuming we can succeed in unifying it the platform as described in The Update, we’d naturally expect any candidate seeking the NPA’s endorsement to embrace it.
exactly, arch. Thanks for the comment!
That is awesome, prog cat! Why not join our growing list of volunteers? Just write me at the address in The Update.
Thanks again!
Say more, marinara. Do you mean you oppose third parties altogether and are voting for Obama? Or that you only support running an Independent? Or that you only want a primary challenger and expect they can win the nomination?
Help me out with some details. Thanks.
Thanks, metamars!
Thank you ed2291.
It’s interesting, isn’t it, how readily many party faithful simply accept whatever their leadership tells them.
As you (and GA_spoken) suggest, if there was ever a lightbulb moment demonstrating just how solidly entrenched the Dems are with the rich, it was Obama’s refusal to stand up for taxing the rich when he could actually have done something about it, before the midterms, and likely won back his base to boot. Instead, he triangulated the legislative majority away, Clinton-style, in hopes that moving further to the center scores him a landslide in 2012.
And NOW – at the precise moment when he knows the battle cannot be won -he’s all about taxing the rich. Textbook triangulation. And sickening.
Thanks GA. (See my reply to ed2291 below.)
Gotcha! Thanks.
I look for Obama to call for single payer, tax the rich and end the wars. There will be fine print of course. It’ll work if the Republican nom is a cyclops. Are you in?
By the way. I will be voting with you guys all the way unless a Hugo Chavez comes to our rescue out of nowhere. If it all comes to naught I will vote for the cyclops. Nobama for me.
Thanks workingclass. You’ve been involved since very early on, a little Google Group you might well have forgotten by now
Thanks for the support, and any help you can offer – even something as simple as helping to cross-post The Update at other sites – would be big.
I don’t think Obama will revisit health care anytime soon. It will be “an accomplishment” for his 2012 campaign. He can’t call for ending the wars and expect to be taken seriously. In 2-1/2 years, they rage on and we’re on the cups of at least one more. All he’s got is tax the rich, but even that begs the question, why did he not support that when he could actually have won on it, before the midterms, or in the lame duck? And we all know the answer to that.
Thanks as always for your comments.
I haven’t forgotten. I don’t have much to offer. When your site is up I will tithe an extremely modest sum and there are a few other grumpy old men that I might persuade.
Were Chuck Todd and Marc Ambinder (perish the thought) prescient last August?
Would Obama Fare Better With a Republican House?
It was mostly snark. But he is the consummate liar and he has no conscience and no shame. If voters were paying attention they would be screaming for is resignation. For all they know he is the same guy that ran for office in ’08.
No one seems to be commenting on the most brilliant aspect of this plan (and, marinara: I think this addresses your concern).
It takes the classic “vote only party candidates or those spawn-of-Satan Republicans will win” tactic so often used against Progressives and turns it around on the Dems. It changes the dynamic to “supporting the NPA-endorsed candidate is the only way to keep the GOP from taking the White House, because if that person doesn’t get the nomination then his supporters will go 3rd Party in the general election and Obama will lose.”
You don’t need a majority: just enough so that splitting the vote will mean a GOP victory and your NPA-endorsed candidate is in a position where it’s him or the Goppers, and that will bring in lots of support.
thx anthony.
i believe that president Nixon, president w. bush, and other “disaster” presidents occurred because the democratic candidate was weakened.
Anything that strengthens the republican candidates is bad. That means indy or third party candidates.
distinct possibility that that dynamic won’t occur
Prescient? No.
Obama won’t blame the GOP for anything as the election approaches, he will praise it and claim Washington is seeing a renaissance of cooperation. He must, because he needs GOP votes to replace those of the “f*cking retards” who elected him the first time around, and won’t be supporting him in ’12.
But we have a disaster president now. Calling W a disaster, do you not see how Obama has only extended his policies?
We can piss and moan all we want about how disappointed we are in his performance, but if we turn around and vote for him anyway, what is his – and more important, the Party’s – incentive for change?
Thanks for “getting it” ironymeter, and for your comment.
Elections are won and lost on coalitions, NOT along party lines, as some believe – and as the parties want us to believe.
Neither party has a sufficient majority – nationally or in most states – to win outright. And the number of self-identified Indies continues to grow, meaning people are figuring that out, and are beginning to think for themselves. It’s the freethinkers the NPA is after.
To you, marinara, well of course that’s possibility. But there was also a time – almost exactly four years ago, as I recall – when there was a distinct possibility Obama would never sit in the WH. At what point did you begin to “believe,” he would?
My point, quoting Wayne Gretzky: “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”
Many things are possible, including making the “least evil” approach work for you instead of against you.
As had been said many times in these pages, if the D Party knows you’ll vote for them no matter what just to keep the R’s out, then they have no reason to actually do anything for you. Now change the dynamic so that the only chance at keeping the R’s out is to push the NPA candidate just as hard as you can…