Kirstin Falk

Time to wire progress

Progressives are feeling this every day...

"The beauty of the Republican network is that it is stronger than the sum of its parts."

Conservative power broker Grover Norquist - the head of the antitax group Americans for Tax Reform - recently said that if he were run over by a bus, someone else would take his place. Many thought G.O.P. cohesion would collapse when Newt Gingrich fell from grace. It didn't, and all signs are that it will also survive the loss of the House's latest strongman, Tom DeLay.

As we know and experience, "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."

Conservatives understand more than anyone that it takes a long term, network centric approach to politics. Why is that concept so difficult for progressives? We have failed to develop our own infrastructure and make these investments in our future, and it is more evident than ever.

Across this country, there are pockets of entrepreneurial progressive activity, yet how would someone in New York know what someone in Austin is doing? We are a highly fragmented movement that is more focused on its parts, and not the sum.

It is time for progressives to get wired. New Progressive Coalition seeks to connect our best political people and organizations with the capital to turn our ideas into action.

Kirstin Falk: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 6:09 AM, Nov 23, 2005 in Progressive Agenda | Progressives
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