Just a brief diary to alert folks to some good news regarding progress in assembling the kind of left-wing infrastructure we need to mirror the monster assembled by the right over the last generation. As reported at Truthout, the New Progressive Coalition has been formed in California as “a `marketplace of ideas’ in which donors of all sizes can be connected with `progressive innovators and organizations’ crafting long-term ideas to rebuild the left.”
Details below the fold…
Initial funding for the group comes from a $1,000,000 donation by Andrew and Deborah Rappaport, a Silicon Valley couple who gave at least $4.7 million to liberal causes in the 2003-2004 election cycle. Here are some details:
The group lamented on its web site that the right has been better at funding a movement rather than merely focusing on individual campaigns: “The so-called ‘vast right-wing conspiracy’ is a powerful $300 million network of conservative policy think tanks, grassroots organizations, advocacy groups and media entities that took decades to build. For too long, progressives have failed to develop our own infrastructure and make these investments in our future.”
Executive Director Kirsten M. Falk and a staff of seven at the Redwood City, Calif., offices are setting up a Web site where prospective donors can examine proposals from various liberal activists or organizations. Groups seeking donations will pay to sign up on the NPC site, using a sliding scale from $100 to $5,000, depending on the size of their budget.
In a statement, Deborah Rappaport, the group’s president, said, “It’s time to look beyond next election . . . and invest in people and ideas.”
An organization with similar long-term goals, the Democracy Alliance, was started earlier this year, geared primarily to major donors who commit to giving $1 million over five years.
Brick by brick, we’re building for the future. Please use this as a diary to report on any new ideas or projects you’ve heard about in the development of the “vast left-wing conspiracy.” With the right’s operation at $300 million a year we have a lot of work to do, and part of the job is keeping each other informed. Thanks!
