David Sirota: The 50-State PLAN For the Future

[Larkspur]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/david-sirota/the-50state-plan-for-the_5724.html

Today in Seattle is the big kickoff of the new Progressive Legislative Action Network (PLAN) - an organization dedicated to passing progressive legislation in all 50 states. We are expecting (fingers crossed) a full house here in Seattle, as we have rounded up some terrific speakers, including Senator John Edwards, Gov. Brian Schweitzer, and Center for American Progress President John Podesta. For more on what PLAN will be doing, read this terrific piece by John Nichols in the Nation yesterday.

This is really an exciting day for progressives - it means we are finally going to start cohesively countering the right-wing in the states, where for too long they have dominated. As a preview of today's events and the plan for PLAN, here is an early draft of the speech I will be giving to open the conference:

PLAN is all about using our power in the states to start making America work for the hard-working Americans who have long ago realized that their government has been bought by Big Money and ideologically extreme interests who work to lower wages, permit corporate price gouging, and intrude on the most private aspects of our lives.

Nowhere is this special interest agenda more powerful than in Washington, D.C. today, where things operate more like a rubber stamp politburo for the most extreme policies, rather than a democracy that represents ordinary people. But that is not necessarily how things work in the states.

Sure, special interests influence state policy – but state lawmakers are so much closer to ordinary people than Washington politicians. In fact, most state lawmakers are "ordinary" people themselves, coming from all walks of life in their communities. That means there is a much greater opportunity for progressives to overcome special interest forces and make real change in policies that, unlike much of what comes out of Washington, actually affects the daily lives of citizens.

<SNIP>

[montanacowboy]

1. First time I heard about this

where is it being held? what time?

[Larkspur]

3. It's today and is held in Seattle.

but here's David Sirota's blog http://www.davidsirota.com/ and here's PLAN's web site http://www.progressivestates.org/

[donsu]

2. won't matter - voting is still riggable

nt