The question is not whether the economy is operating well, or even adequately, for the most Americans. The question is, what happened over the years to make it such an abysmal failure? By failure,...
Except from the book by Meaghan Winter (pages 181-182) I first saw Leslie Herod at work in the summer of 2017, when she appeared on a panel at a conference sponsored by the Public Leadership Institute—a...
Except from the book by Meaghan Winter (pages 20-21) Many of the foot soldiers advocating for social change today are not explicitly working within the party structures; they are community groups, advocacy organizations, lobbying...
James Carville famously made economics central to Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, insisting “It’s the economy, stupid!” The mainstream media thinks that the American economy is roaring and that will help GOP campaigns. But...
Any political or policy campaign is fundamentally about persuading people that you, or your cause, are “on their side.” Progressive activists tend to respond that, sure, we’re going to show Americans that we are...
Progressives should decide where they stand on issues based on values, not on polls. At the same time, it is smart politics to lift up our more popular issues. The most important thing is...
The purpose of political action is to change public policy. Those of us who are involved in politics and policy are familiar with the legislative and electoral processes. But, do progressives really understand what...
In 1997, legendary Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee gave a speech about truth and lies in politics. He explained that newspapers “don’t tell the truth” when they (a) don’t know the truth, (b) quote someone who is...
Most Americans are progressive on most issues. By margins of at least two to one, our fellow citizens: believe corporations and upper-income people are paying too little in federal taxes; oppose repealing the federal...
Liberals, lefties, environmentalists, unionists, consumer advocates—all progressive types—suffer from negative stereotypes. Some of these stereotypes were invented by the right-wing messaging machine, and others are self-inflicted. By using progressive values, we address and reverse...