Progressives should take a page from the inside-outside strategy embraced--

[eridani]

--by the far-right movement.

http://www.thenation.com/article/its-time-for-a-tea-party-of-the-left/

For progressives, the biggest lesson to be learned from the Tea Party’s playbook is that they don’t work for the Republicans—they make the Republicans work for them. Bernie has already begun to do the same with the Democrats, and his primary race should encourage others to challenge establishment Democrats from the left. The progressive formation that has perhaps made the most headway in this regard is the one I work for: the Working Families Party. The WFP is a coalition of community-organizing groups and labor unions that push progressive policies, like paid sick leave, and help elect a new generation of leaders on the state and local level. While we’re proud of what we’ve built, we’re a long way from the ideological and electoral power that the Tea Party exercises. The WFP has figured out how to maneuver inside and outside the two-party system without falling prey to the usual failures of third parties, and is now organizing in 11 states. But the Tea Party has taken over Congress, and done so without an institutionalized party apparatus. Neither the WFP nor a prior, important effort to launch a Tea Party of the left—Rebuild the Dream—have generated the kind of momentum and mass participation of the Tea Party.

? Decentralized movements like Occupy and Black Lives Matter have similarly enabled mass participation among millennials by giving away ownership of the movement brand for anyone to run with. But more established progressive institutions have been reluctant to turn over the keys to party-building and electoral organizing to a mass base.

While no existing progressive organization has the capacity to adequately absorb and engage the base that has coalesced around Sanders, his supporters could get behind the new formations that will inevitably emerge. None of the existing organizations could sustainably fund the number of organizers to manage and direct a volunteer base of this magnitude–but more importantly, many of the millennials that are driving the Sanders campaign wouldn’t join a traditional organizational structure; it’s not what they are looking for. They are looking for channels that allow them to unleash their creativity and passion through self-organization and co-creation.

? Such a party would limit itself if it resonated only with a small set of constituencies. It requires not a laundry list of grievances and identities but a new collective identity and compelling narrative—an “us”—that is much greater than the sum of its parts. It means conveying a new sense of “the people” not solely on the basis of shared suffering but through a shared will to craft their own democratic destiny. It must give its base a real sense that they are the creators of the path toward a democracy that works toward freedom and justice for all Americans against those in our country who have in every era stood by the belief that freedom and justice were only meant for a select few.

[silvershadow]

1. The difference, though, is his will actually work, and do what we need to do. nt

[eridani]

2. Yep. Helpful that the general public is against economic oligarchy n/t

[ancianita]

3. Reality: corporate/oligarchic propaganda lump these left/right orgs together, discredit them all.

They become delegitimized scapegoats -- even targets -- for the next leader's blame game narratives.

The OP is much appreciated. Van Jones has been putting up videos about networking, and has also pointed out that Obama gave an eight year window to help these orgs get grown. Stay vigilant, nip political aggressions, rollbacks in the bud, and neutralize infiltrations.

There will be big moves to control the Internet. If you let that succeed, you lose your last mass communications tool for organizing.

Each new generation tends to forget that it happened to the labor movement and it can happen again.

[democrank]

4. The fact that Bernie Sanders generated so much enthusiasm

tells me there is solid interest in a new way of doing things.

Although I abhor the Tea Party`s political positions, I found their willingness to defy RNC commands quite interesting. Both the RNC and the DNC have miscalculated the amount of citizen`s disgust with the status quo. I can`t imagine that disgust simply melting away after the election. The task for Progressive`s is finding a unified step forward. While that might difficult, I can`t help but think back to the protests of the Vietnam War. Millions of people came together long before everyone had access to simple, instant forms of communication. There were no emails, no cell phones, no social media that could produce instant results, yet millions of voters managed to unite for a common purpose and get their message on the front pages of newspapers and on the nightly news. We did it then, we can do it now.

Citizens fed up with the status quo are not going to go away. Those in opposition to this Progressive movement can continue to believe it`s driven by a bunch of pie-in-the-sky twenty year olds, but that is so, so far from the truth.

[Wellstone ruled]

5. When our Party was taken over by the Lobbyist

and the New Rich Elitist Ivy League Liberals,that in self was the end of Working Class Issues. As a old acquaintance who was a Aide to a Senior Democratic Congressman put it,it's all about Power and Money and today's Political Consultants run the show.. Just throw enough raw meat to your base and you are good to go.

[mmonk]

6. What if we get a coalition of groups to join together

and have or produce persons and or lists of persons to run for elective office across the country?