In any social movement, public opinion has to be won – not once, not twice, but three separate times. First, the public must be convinced that there is a problem. Second, they need to recognize that the current powerholders and their policies are part of the problem, and reject them. Finally, the public has to buy in to the alternative vision and solutions offered by the movement. Each of these steps requires its own process of awareness raising and grassroots organizing, and each of them is punctuated by a trigger event, a watershed moment that seizes public attention and sympathy – the Montgomery bus boycott, for example, or Three Mile Island.

Today’s progressive movement, which encompasses a broad range of issues, has progressed so far through these stages quite normally. The foolhardy invasion of Iraq and the debacle of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina were twin triggers that made the public aware of the terrifying consequences of a government that serves the interests of a military-economic elite and no one else. The 2006 and 2008 elections subsequently manifested the majority’s rejection of the conservative politicians and ideology that had so distorted our democratic institutions.

Today, the economic elites – the true powerholders in our society – are still pursuing their agenda, and they are shifting their strategies in order to succeed in the new political landscape. The job of the progressive movement is to counter these new strategies effectively while mounting a broad campaign to win public support for a new, progressive vision for our economy and our society.

Promoting a new vision while fighting back means relentlessly reinforcing in the public consciousness the connection between the dire state of our economy and the market fundamentalism that dominated Washington for over a decade. It means proclaiming a new purpose for economic policy: an economy and a society that works for the benefit of everyone, not just a privileged few. It means evaluating policy proposals on the basis of our shared progressive values: a responsible balance between economic freedom and security; strong and healthy communities, using our shared resources sustainably; and commitments to truth and justice. All of these activities mean that when the next trigger event comes, we will be ready to win the public over to a progressive worldview.

The Commonweal Institute is leading these efforts: as the home of the Progressive Ideas Network, we are building a coalition around an economic vision built on fairness and community values. You can read about this vision in the network’s latest book, Thinking Big: Progressive Ideas for a New Era. We are convening this network again in May to continue to flesh out these ideas. Then in August, we’ll bring this coalition together with key groups of grassroots activists at our Progressive Roundtable, where we’ll focus on advancing this vision through local policy change.

You can help us keep this movement moving. Read Thinking Big. Speak up for economic justice. Tell the truth about how we got into this mess. Put new policy solutions to the test of our values, and hold all of our leaders accountable. Support movement organizations like ours.

We've come so far already – ain’t no stopping us now!