How Progressives Can Deliver on the Promise of Change in 2009 -- Seven Rules for Success

A little over a year and a half ago I published a book called Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win. At the time, Progressives were emerging from decades in the political wilderness after Democrats had taken control of Congress in 2006. That was followed by the extraordinary campaign of Barack Obama that convinced Americans to bet on progressive change.

In 2008, America voted for the hope that change would bring them better lives than the status quo. But hope will only last so long. In 2009, Progressives have to deliver the goods. We have to convert the "change we need" into change in people's lives.

The opportunity we have to make serious progressive change in the next six months is unparalleled in the last half-century. But our success is not preordained.

To succeed, we need to remember seven key rules:

1). The critical battles being fought in 2009 are not about "policies" -- they are about the distribution of wealth and power. When we talk about putting an end to exploding health care costs for families, the money we save will come out of someone's pockets. In the case of health care, those pockets belong mainly to the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. In the case of energy, it's the oil companies. When it comes to re-regulating Wall Street the oxen being gored belong to the big Wall Street banks.

These interests won't roll over and play dead simply because they have driven the health care system into bankruptcy, caused the collapse of the economy, and jeopardized our future by blocking the road to energy independence. They will fight tooth and nail for the status quo.

As Frederick Douglass famously wrote, "Power concedes nothing without a struggle. It never has and it never will." They will mobilize all of their wealth and connections and the power of their political donations. We have to counter by mobilizing every resource at our disposal -- mainly the organized power of millions of voters.

The president can't do this alone. We have to make sure that every member of Congress understands that they will not return to Washington in 2010 if they don't deliver on health care reform, a path towards energy independence, regulatory reform, and immigration reform in 2009.

That will require millions of phone calls from constituents, angry town meetings, lobby days, protests, letters, email, TV ads -- and cornering Members of Congress in the grocery store. It will require intensity. It will require a massive progressive mobilization that won't take "no" for an answer.

2). Progressives -- and our Democratic Members of Congress -- have to remember that we have the high political ground. In times past, Progressives have correctly mobilized to protect minority rights, or defend other causes that challenge the popular view. This is not one of them. Today, 73% of the population favors allowing consumers to have a choice of a private or public insurance plan. Overwhelming percentages favor legislation to create a new generation of clean energy jobs. Three-fourths favor comprehensive immigration reform. And nobody likes Wall Street banks.

We are demanding that Congress enact programs that are politically popular. The other side will try to sow confusion and fear. We must proceed with self-confidence and clarity -- and not let one word of their attempts at misinformation go unanswered.

3). We must always present our case in populist terms. We represent the interests of average people -- not the elites that benefit from the status quo. The other side will try to argue that we favor a "government takeover" of health care that allows "Washington Bureaucrats" or some other elite to control our lives. If we spend all of our time talking about "insurance exchanges" and the arcana of health care policy we will lose.

We must frame the debate for what it is -- a battle between the private health insurance companies and their multi-million dollar CEO's on the one hand, and the interests of average Americans on the other. Populist frames are necessary for each one of our fights. Populism always trumps policy-speak.

4). Actually, it's not just the sizzle; it is the steak. We have to get the reform right. Especially when it comes to health care, people will put pencil to paper and determine right away how the "reform" affects them. It's not good enough to pass just any bill and call it reform. In the end, health care reform has to bring down the cost of health care for everyday families -- and make health care affordable for all Americans.

That is why it is essential, for example, that reform includes a public health insurance option that will compete with private insurance companies and end their ability to control health care in America -- a public plan that incentivizes the delivery of health care for an affordable price, not maximizing profits and market share. That's why reform has to include enough money for subsidies to middle class families to actually make premiums affordable.

In 1989 all of the "wise men" in Washington passed a "catastrophic health care bill" for seniors that was supported by Washington insiders. But they failed to see that it would make the average UAW retiree pay a higher percentage of his income towards taxes and premiums than Warren Buffet. Seniors across America rejected the plan.

Many Members of Congress remember vividly the image of senior citizens chasing the "powerful" Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Dan Rostenkowski, down a Chicago street in the middle of his own district to protest the new bill. It was repealed six months later.

Today's Congress must remember that each of this year's reforms will be measured in very concrete terms by every American family. They won't be able to dress up the status quo in a flashy new coat and call it reform.

Even when it comes to issues that play out over the long haul, like energy and regulatory reform, it will be pretty clear, pretty quickly, if average people get real change or more of the same. And of course, economic reform has to deliver a real economic recovery or Obama will be a one-term President and the window for progressive reform in America may close for many years to come.

5). Progressives have to keep their eye on the ball of real structural reform - changes in the distribution of power.

From the standpoint of the long-term direction of our society, the essential questions at stake this year are all about changes in the distribution of wealth and power. Progressives need to focus like a laser beam on those questions.

The creation of a public insurance option will permanently change the structure of the health care economy. A cap and trade system will change the economic incentives over the long haul and channel investment into clean energy jobs -- not just into hydrocarbons. The Employee Free Choice Act will allow a massive expansion of collective bargaining rights for employees. Immigration reform will change the status of 12 million people who should be allowed to contribute fully to our society. A Financial Consumer Protection Agency will radically limit the ability of the financial sector to siphon massive sums of money from the pockets of average Americans into the fortunes of a few.

6). No whining. Progressives have to swear off whining about the tactics of the opposition - and match them blow for blow.

In the two days before the energy vote the opposition used Twitter to generate a flood of calls to swing members of Congress -- many from outside their districts. There was a certain amount of whining within our ranks -- as if that were unfair.

The other side will do whatever it can to win. Next time we simply have to deliver twice as many calls that actually come from within Members' districts. A hundred years ago, Mother Jones said: "Don't mourn, organize." We have to live by the dictum: "don't whine, organize."

7). This historic window for progressive change will close if we don't act, just as surely as a hole in the line disappears in football if a running back doesn't burst through.

Mike Lux's book, The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be surveys the history of progressive change in our country. He finds that it is not randomly spread. It occurs in clumps - during "big change moments."

We are blessed to live in one of those big change moments. But, Lux finds, the lengths of those moments have varied enormously depending mainly on how well Progressives execute.

Doris Kearns Goodwin's book about the Roosevelt Administration is called: No Ordinary Time. This is no ordinary time, either.

For the next year, every Progressive in America needs to realize that he or she has an opportunity to make history that simply isn't available to most people at most times. That means that all of us have a responsibility to all of the Progressives that have gone before us -- and to our kids and grandkids -- to make the very most of this precious opportunity.

More than anything else people want meaning in life. They want to do something of lasting importance. At this very moment we have that opportunity. It is up to each of us to seize it.

I believe that President Obama and the key people in his Administration are completely committed to using every power at their disposal to make real progressive change in 2009. The same goes for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. But -- just as in last year's election -- the critical ingredient that will allow us to be successful is the mobilization of millions of Americans. It simply won't happen without us.

Some people are lucky enough to be able to say: "I was there at Selma." For many, it was the proudest moment of their lives. Their eyes well up when they speak of it. It changed the course of history.

We all have the opportunity to be present at another one of those moments. To be there, each of us has to empty the stands -- march into the arena - and help make history.

Sign up with Organize for America (OFA), Health Care for America Now (HCAN), Americans United for Change, MoveOn.org, USAction, Campaign for America's Future, Immigration Reform for America, League of Conservation Voters, The Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Rebuild and Renew America Now, Americans for Financial Reform, the Center for Community Change, Catholics United - there are scores of progressive organizations to choose from that are working together to pass the progressive agenda. Get active with your union. Join a progressive religious organization.

It's simple as this: If we don't take advantage of this historic moment we may not have another for many years to come. If we do, we will help lay the foundation for a period of unparalleled possibility and hope.

Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist and author of the recent book: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com.

Comments

[PhilipTaylor]

To be copied and pasted in many locations!

[PhilipTaylor]

My goal was to get your basic ideas down to 250 words!

[PhilipTaylor]

RobertCreamer's seven PROGRESSIVE rules:

1. Battle for Progressives is changing distribution of wealth/power in America now controlled by Healthcare, Wall Street, Oil, Insurance, Big Pharma Corporations. They don’t care that have nearly ruined America’s Healthcare, Economy, and Energy Independence and will fight for Status Quo. FDouglass, "Power concedes nothing without a struggle." They use Wealth+Con­nections+C­ongress Funding and we have OUR millions of voters who can demand "NO MORE GREED.”

2. Progressives have the high ground! We favor single-payer or at least A STRONG Public Option, new clean energy jobs, and Downsized Wall Street banks, all programs that are politically popular.

3. Always present in populist terms, interests of average people versus the Elites+Status Quo. Frame the Battle as Good versus EV1L or private insurance companies versus interests of average Americans.

4. Watch the FINAL PRODUCT the Politicians write margin Notes that GUT benefits for Americans during House Senate Reconciliation (DODD). Measure Congress in concrete terms for every American. NO dressed up status quo is reform.

5. Progressives have to F1ght for changes in the distribution of wealth and power. A Financial Consumer Protection Agency limits financial sector siphoning massive wealth of average Americans.

6. No Whining! Match them blow for blow. MotherJones: "Don't mourn, organize!" BLOG! Demonstrate!

7. Our historic Progressive Window of change will close since progress occurs in clumps in "Great Short Moments." We must make historic Progress as Our LIVES depend on it and EL1TES will NOT GIVE UP!

[LeeroyFDermit]

Any polices enacted by Democrats might be erased after the next election - just as Democrats are erasing Republican policies now, so to avoid this seeming futility, anyone who really believed in progress, in the American people, or who at least believed that the people have a right to self government and the best representation possible, should want to decentralize power from the Congress to the people.

Perhaps a Constitutional amendment would do the trick:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote directly on each referendum of any kind before the Congress shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state for any reason.

http://www.leeroyfdermit.com/2009/07/representation-amendment.html

[DaveinNorthridge]

You obviously don't live in California if you're proposing something like that. Our budget crisis is the direct result of one of those referenda. As for erasing policies, if you were correct, we wouldn't have Medicare if that were true, would we?

Work to get the most progressive representative running for Congress in your district elected. Decentralization would put the entire array of government policies where the issue of marriage is now, and I don't think anybody wants that to happen.

[libwingoflibwing]

This article has some very good points. But it really ignores the two big elephants in the room and how we deal with them:

1) The entrenched interests own congress. Right now the cart is before the horse. The first thing should have been campaign finance reform and reform of corporate lobbying.

2) The corporate media is a propaganda machine that keeps congress inside a bubble and acts as memetic antibodies to nullify any progressive message. Most of us have bought the lie that the problem with the corporate media is that they win the battle to convince the hearts and minds of the people and so what we need to do is find alternate ways with new media to reach the people. But that's not the role of the corporate media. WE HAVE THE PEOPLE RIGHT NOW. The role of the corporate media is to keep congress in the bubble nullifying the messages of the people. The partners of the corporate media in this are the corporate political advisors.

Progressive need to destroy the power of the corporate media and corporate political advisors to keep congress in a bubble. I don't think letters, emails and phone calls with prepared messages do the trick. The bubble has convinced congress that these are just fringe groups that do not represent voters. They believe in the "silent majority" that doesn't send letters, emails and phone calls and they think they learn about them from the corporate media and the corporate political advisors.

[libwingoflibwing]

The article address the wrong battle. It's like the Maginot Line.

But Mother Jones was right. Whining is not the solution, organizing action is, but action to accomplish the right thing- convince congress that progressives represent the people, not corporate media and professional political advisors.

Those in the bubble have been immunized against letter, email and phone campaigns. Protests like street fairs are powerless. Never forget the power of millions of protestors across America against invading Iraq.

NO! Take direct action, nonviolent, radical action that SHUTS down the status-quo. Civil Disobedience based on symbolic disobedience, like refusing to clear the street in street fairs protests, won't do.

We need action that's about claiming denied justice, threatening the status-quo resulting in the establishment ATTACKING us. Examples: breaking the anti-salt laws marching to the sea to make your own salt. (Ghandi) Marching to mass register voters. (King) Boycotting an entire industry that doesn't pay workers living wages. (Chavez) A General Strike demanding 8 hour work days. (Haymarket Square) Driving out sacrilegious capitalists profiteers in the temple. (Jesus) Blockading access to a globalist planning meeting. (Seattle 1999)

The First Amendment gives us the right to petition congress. When congress goes on recess, lets petition them in mass blockades of their homes. Enough with the street fairs. Enough with the easy clicking email campaigns. Make them hear us.

[Chernynkaya]

I wholeheartedly share your ideas. I have been waiting for an organizer to appear and help us in actual rebel lion.

Our so-called representatives are anything but. The moment is almost ripe, but we have been kept just comfortable enough to prevent real upris ing. This may seem uncaring of me, but I do believe things have to get worse before we will be motivated.

Think about what we could do about the banksters and their unscrupulous credit card policies- Why haven’t millions of credit card holders sent their cut up cards into the banks, for one thing? How many people have even sent their medical bills to their senators? And as far as marches go- well, there haven’t been any!

I am interested in any ideas that would promote non-violent, lawful civil disobedience. I am interested in any sites that promote action too. I am definitely getting the impression that my emails and phone calls are shouting to the wind.

One final point: I don't think people are merely whining. I think it's a first step, the murmurs before a potential storm. BTW, see the Naomi Klein post on this site about insurrections.

[ahumbleopinion]

If you attack President Obama you are undermining the potential for progressive change. He may not be perfect, he may not be making change as fast or far as you would like, but unless progressives are firmly and vocally behind him, we won't get the changes we want. He needs our wind behind his back if he is to make changes against the entrenched power structure.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

Respectfully, unless progressives are firmly and vocally behind our principles, we won't get the changes we want.

During the presidential campaign, some Republicans critized Obama for being an empty suit with a nice speech.

In contrast, many of the leaders in the Democratic party endorsed him. And the primaries narrowed it down so that he was our only choice.

The term "centrist" suggests a person who takes middle or midway positions. But it is clear that when Obama taking positions contrary to what people could reasonably consider progressive, he does not take a central, middle, or midway positions.

As an example, when he broke his promise to vote against telecom immunity just prior to the election, he didn't vote to give the telecoms immunity for half of their misdeeds of spying upon us for the Bush Administration.

In more recent time periods, when it became clear that some at the CIA engaged in war crimes, he didn't take a middle position and say that his Administration would only give de facto immunity to half of the war criminals. His ultimate position was that he would give de facto immunity to all of them.

How is this a centrist position, a middle position, or a midway position?

His performance on various issues shows that no matter what we do, he is going to continue to take positions in opposition to traditional American or progressive values.

[progressiveconnie]

GOOD MORNING!!! MY FELLOW HOMO SAPIENS WHICH MEANS THE SPECIES WHO IS WISE.
The most favorite slogan of those in America's legal system is; "We are a nation ruled by laws."
One is left with the impression that those mouthing this totally meaningless slogan today either live in an ivory tower or in dark cellars devoid of any communications.
The fact, reality and truth is: America has become a lawless country and proof of this is all those Federal employees and contractors who have broken any and every law they felt like it and have gotten away with it.
It seems that Federal employees and contractors have total immunity no matter what laws they have broken or are still breaking.
And why do all these law breakers who have committed some of the worst crimes in U.S. History get away with it???!!!
The answer is simple; America has the most corrupt government and legal system in U.S. History.

[bayside]

Progressives are not in office..Blue dogs ,closet republicans are in office..You want progressives ideas, then no more republician moles..Obama is not a progressive. He is a republican with a D...Bad then is he fooled us and said the right thing to get in office..It will be hard but we have to do our own vetting..

[jacklambert]

Progressive Government is now in office. I voted for them!
So far they get an F.
This Administration has arrived at the event horizon of the black hole of irrelevancy.

[zanzig]

Amazing. Did you even read Mr Creamer's article? This is the best step by step account of specific actions the people can take, and all you can say "I voted for them and they fail". I'll say it again, America does not deserve a progressive government or your President; you deserve people who will rape and pillage all the way to their ill gotten gains so that you can sit back and whine about it. In ANY other country in the world, the depredations committed by Wall street and the continuing theft by AIG and others would have had people marching in the streets. Instead you have tea parties. As I understood history America was born of revolution, but there isn't a skerrick of that blood left is there?

[AnotherMcIntosh]

The issues raised are not the only ones.

We need to return to a more progressive tax system.

And we need political candidates who can explain why a progressive tax system is more fair and beneficial to the country as a whole than a regressive one.

[pm247]

Yes, and what about campaign finance reform?

Legalized bribery by lobbyists must be stopped.

[GiGiOne]

"We have to make sure that every member of Congress understands that they will not return to Washington in 2010 if they don't deliver on health care reform, a path towards energy independence, regulatory reform, and immigration reform in 2009".

No,Sir, the make-or-break issue (re-election) with me is universal (Medicare for everybody) health care. The other issues are not as important as giving Americans, finally, what the rest of the planet has. Decent health care.

[pm247]

Immigration reform / citizenship for illegals is a wedge issue and a loser for progressives. We don't need to be mobilizing the right. When people say they favor immigration reform what they mean is tightening it, not liberalizing it.

[twogunmojo]

notice he didn't mention those pesky assault weapons either...looks like progressives can learn after all....and what about a private option for social security...one that can't be raided...we would have lost money like everyone else in this crisis but when the marker goes back up so will our accounts...or do progressives believe they know how to spend my money better than me....

[pm247]

Still clinging to guns and greed, I see.

Thanks to 30 years of Reaganomics, Wall Street and corporate criminals have succeeded in robbing the middle class blind. And you're still begging for more -- what a chump.

[SageFire]

Great article. Years ago I worked on a campaign for a candidate for state representative. The person we were running against was the incumbent’s ex-wife, and the incumbent was running for the state senate in the same district, therefore double the lawn signs and fliers with the same name. They also got all the endorsements and frankly we were a couple of college kids. We however went to every single door in the district twice and lost by only 2% of the vote in spite of the odds.
Most people are not engaged because they don’t have the time or inclination to understand how it relates to them personally and it is up to us translate the talking points into real life consequences. The more we do this kindly and without drama the more people will understand how they have been played by the monied class.

[noneIn2008]

Those in the movies and TV could lead the way by setting example. We should pool all entertainment dollars and evenly split across all SAG members. It takes a full community to deliver good entertainment. All those contributing should share equally.

[toggan]

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Inspiring article with practical instructions for debate and action; to mobilize supporters toward meaningful legislation on Health Care Reform.