conservatism
Framing a Progressive Agenda
At time when news of climate change, human rights abuses, the UN's Millennium Ecological Assessment, and the dire state of the half of the world’s population that lives on less than $2 a day should be bringing new adherents, Progressives seem to be losing influence around the world. The work of many of us demonstrates that appealing alternatives exist to the destructive practices of the last century. Yet despite our efforts these lessons remain isolated and largely ignored. We must and we can do better.
A War of Ideas: Examining the Right’s Intellectual Infrastructure The Lewis F. Powell Model
This paper uses Lewis Powell's 1971 "manifesto" as a framework for examining how the Right has gained power over the last 30 years relative to Progressives and Democrats. Particular focus is on think tanks, universities, judicial system, and media and marketing.
Read the white paper here (PDF)
The Elephant in the Room
Read orginal story here.
Americans have been ignoring the elephant in the room. It's that huge thing that's in front of everyone, but that no one mentions by name. Most people can't see it, while others intentionally disregard it, but many people just have a hard time articulating what it is.
Even its opponents direct little attention to the elephant itself; at best they tend to describe its various parts. Its ears are deregulation, its trunk trickle-down economics, its mouth media consolidation, its tail a pre-emptive war in Iraq, its legs record deficits, and its feet cutbacks in education, social security, America's safety net, even veterans' benefits.
Yet, by only describing its individual parts, Americans fail to grasp the massive weight and dimension of the elephant. The big picture is obscured. We can't see that what's in front of us is all part of the same beast: failed conservative policies.
Privatization
The political initiative at the moment lies with the conservatives, who, generally speaking, advocate shifting a variety of civic functions away from government to the private sector, or at least reducing government involvement in these functions. The list includes some of the most important issues of the day: education, prisons, social security, and land use. Listen to some of the more committed privatizers, and you begin to wonder whether they think there should even be a government.
Don’t Let Yourself Get Foxed
You may already have your suspicions about the FOX News Channel. Perhaps you've watched a rigged debate between the telegenic, forceful conservative Sean Hannity and the hapless liberal Alan Colmes. Perhaps you've watched the far-right host of a Fox talk show one day substitute for the regular news anchor the next. Perhaps you've endured a Sunday morning roundtable whose "liberal" voices are those of the moderates Mara Liasson and Juan Williams.
