new progressive movement launches 8/16/05

[dajoki]

ABOUT PLAN

The Progressive Legislative Action Network's mission is to drive public policy debates and change the political landscape in the United States by focusing on attainable and progressive state level actions. It will do so by providing coordinated research support for a network of State legislators, their staff's and constituencies, in order to equip them with coherent logistical and strategic advocacy tools necessary for advancing key progressive economic and social policies.

If states are the "laboratories of democracy," they are also the most important breeding ground for progressive policies that serve the interests of America's middle class. Each aspect of PLAN's name will pursue that goal:

PROGRESSIVE: First and foremost, PLAN is progressive -- we believe in equal opportunity for all citizens and protecting individual liberties. These beliefs have many different models in different states -- but they are all part of the progressive agenda that PLAN will work to support----more
READ ON, PLAN WEBSITE, CLICK ABOUT PLAN http://www.progressivestates.org

[eleny]

1. Well, they can't say we don't have a "plan"!

[dajoki]

2. can't be worse than our current plan.

which is no plan.:shrug:

[eleny]

3. I don't quite agree with that

Dems in congress can't get the chairmen of committees to take up their ideas. They've been literally frozen out. When we do try to have a hearing, they either won't allow it or like Sensenbrenner, they shut it down, illegally. So, it's hard to be heard as a minority Party in this hostile congressional climate. I don't think that the Party who was the majority for so many decades all of a sudden ran out of ideas. It's that the Repubs don't want us to be heard.

[dajoki]

5. this is being built from the bottom up...

starting with the STATE legislatures. nothing happens overnight, but it's a start. re-read it, i think you misunderstood what they are trying to do. another discussion on same topichttp://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2009813&mesg_id=2009813

[eleny]

8. I understand what they're trying to do

And I applaud it. So, we're in agreement. My original reply to you was just being tongue in cheek and poking fun at the Repubs always saying we don't ever have a plan. And my response to the other poster, here, was that we always have a plan and historically so in Congress. It's just that now, Dems can't get their ideas discussed in committees. I do think that PLAN is a wonderful idea that will bring about good results. After all, decisions about voting machines, for example, are at the local level. This is going to be along haul but the states is where it has to start.

[dajoki]

9. i apologize for misunderstanding you...

i guess we'll just have to wait and see what comes of it. and i agree that we can't be heard in Congress, every idea we have is shot down immediately. again, sorry:hi:

[eleny]

12. No need for apologies

Perhaps I didn't explain my position clearly. It wouldn't be the first time! :evilgrin:

[dajoki]

13. thanks...

i know i don't explain myself very well sometimes. more than i like to admit.

[newswolf56]

7. The plague you just named -- the deliberate censorship of ideas...

not only by the Republicans but by the so-called "mainstream media" and even the public schools -- this could be the topic of a whole thread: a book even. As you obviously know, there is a horrible truth lurking beneath my superficially facetious "Progressive Leadership Against Nazism" comment. And a very big part of that truth is how the oligarchy -- even without a Josef Goebbels and the official censorship imposed by the Third Reich -- has managed to strangle the information flow in this country. It is not just that ideas are being suppressed on the floor of Congress and in our legislatures; it is also that the public is increasingly denied the opportunity to even hear of them.

(Examples abound. They include not only the absurdly uninformative coverage of the 2004 election and its aftermath {the Conservatives too were bitter about that}, but the failure of the public schools to even teach basic civics {for fear a population informed of its constitutional rights might actually assert them}, not to mention such Christofascist atrocities of disinformation as teaching that evolution is unproven or that condoms do not protect against AIDS {the latter lie no doubt a reaction to the fact adolescent sexual experience is one of the basic building-blocks of individual political identity}.)

The rightfully exalted purpose of our First Amendment -- maintenance of an informed and thoughtful electorate -- is thus effectively thwarted. If PLAN is able to overcome even a tiny fraction of these barriers, it will be a huge and promising success.

[eleny]

10. Your posting reminded me again...

...Of the people bussed to Crawford to protest Cindy Sheehan this weekend. They chanted "We don't care". If they were bought and paid for or if they were deep kool aid drinkers, the "theater" that invites the greater public to cultivate their dark side is deeply disturbing. Getting the public to become openly complicit is a masterful strategy. No need to have Goebbels in the flesh when you have the blueprint.

[newswolf56]

4. This could expand into the perfect antidote against the toxic...

politics of the Democratic Leadership Council collaborationists. I'm especially glad to see John Edwards is aboard: he's the only politician to date to really dare emphasize the oligarchy's war on America. But why isn't Dean part of PLAN?

I like the PLAN acronym, too; it could also stand for "Progressive Leadership Against Nazism." (Not that we would ever use the "N" word to describe what the oligarchy is doing to us.)

[dajoki]

6. no, never...

i think dean isn't involved because this PLAN is starting at the state level and has nothing to do with DNC, although they may eventually have to some kind of agreement.

[eleny]

11. Since Dean is a grass roots type, he would meld naturally with PLAN

At least I don't see the DNC as competing but rather dovetailing nicely with PLAN. They could complement each other perfectly.

[dajoki]

14. we agree again n/t