Over at Docudharma, we have begun very initial conversations on formulating what might be called a Progressive Manifesto. A consensus built statement of goals and ideals the we in the Netroots are most concerned about and most united on.
Everyone is invited to participate.
One of the top ten Bash Democrats Constructions is ….The Democrats don’t stand for anything.
THE top problem with being a progressive is…..Wtf is a Progressive.
As the Mainstream Democrats sail off once again to Never Never get elected Land and leave their base behind…it has become obvious that We The People have to take it upon ourselves to bring about the changes we want to see. IF we can reform the Democratic Party to the point we can do that, that would be the best of all worlds. If not, it is up to ….us.
In either case, in order to do that, the first step is to define who WE are. Of course we cannot describe who we are, because Progressivism is an idea, a way of thinking that cuts across all demographic boundaries. There are progressives of every description….and that is around the world, as well, not just in America.
No, Progressivism is an idea, a world view, a philosophy. So Progressivism can only be described by what it stands for, by what it wants, by what WE want….this world and our nation to be.
In the comments to my recent essay The Big Picture Vol. 1 many folks pointed out that before we can move forward as Progressives we need a manifesto as an organizing principle to define us and to rally around. Go ahead and click that link and scroll down a bit for a list and links to notable manifestos of the past, and some present ones. The list starts with the Declaration of Independence. If I wanted to get grandiose I could say that a new Declaration of Independence is indeed what we need. I think it is safe to say that whatever we end up with as a Progressive Manifesto….enacting it would indeed be revolutionary.
I thought first of writing some poor effort myself and putting it up for criticism and wiki-ing and additions and modifications. But then I realized that the way to go about it was a method more true to the progressive ideal. To have ALL of us writing it from the get go. To have as much input as possible and then start a winnowing effort to get us down to a VERY basic statement….a true distillation. From there we can expand again and add detail as needed so non-Progressives can understand in a deeper fashion, and also add any neato flowery language we want, hahaha.
So here is the idea. We start out with as many folks as possible (This Means YOU!) submitting lists of THEIR top priorities, then through discussion and simple collation (taking the items that appear in the most list and moving them to the top of the discussion agenda) we start to distill. We take as many rounds of distillation as needed until we get down to something that we are reasonably agreed upon. Voila, a manifesto.
This is exactly the kind of long term worthwhile project that unfortunately tends to gets lost and forgotten at DK in the spray of the firehose. One of the advantages of smaller blogs is that we can make things like this a blog wide, long term project, and take our time and hone it well. And THEN submit it over here to get lots of eyeballs, MORE comments and suggestions….and go to the next round of refining.
All of us I think see the need for the Netroots to do a better job organizing using the tools we have. Armando is talking about what the Netroots can and should be, aek all over has just put up a VERY worthy essay on the overall process, ANKOSS is talking about fighting corporatism. I think we all feel it, I think we all are realizing the need for a deep and fundamental change in the way things are done….and I think we all see the Net as a HUGE tool in STARTING to accomplish the changes we all want to see, the changes we all know we need.
So come on over and join in! I will be putting up a diary here whenever we have a new iteration or refinement to discuss, so everyone can stay involved.
