I had a the honor last weekend of leading two breakout sessions on online organizing at Camp Courage East LA. I also participated in the full Camp Courage weekend event as a "camper" and would highly recommend attending Camp Courage to anyone who cares about the fight for marriage equality or wants to see cutting-edge grassroots community organizing in action.
A thought occured to me looking back out of the car as we drove to LAX after our weekend of organizing. I was amazed to see the entire San Gabriel range stretching as far as the eye could see behind downtown Los Angeles in the August evening light.
There's a useful insight in there for all of us going forward in 2009...
That air quality and striking view reminded me of an innovative program Los Angeles ran that was a precursor of the "Cash for Clunkers" program. This program involved trading in leaf blowers, but the concept was essentially the same. Whether trading in leaf blowers or polluting cars, there's real potential in programs using immediate small scale win-win outcomes that build a long-term big win for everyone.
A clear view of the San Gabriel mountains in August and less ashthma for Los Angelinos saves everyone money and adds to everyone's quality of life. However, that result took time, and the biggest benefit, strikingly clear August days in Los Angeles, occurred long after the immediate short-term investments were paid. The same may be said, with Meteor Blade's tempered criticisms, of the potential long-term benefits of the cash for clunkers program.
In fact, the same can be said about most of the progressive agenda...whether it's universal health care, public education, energy independence or investing in global diplomacy. The people-centered agenda of the progressive movement involves long-term investments that pay long-term dividends.
In fact, our agenda is most politically powerful when we can point to innovative short-term win-win programs that pay off both now and down the road. The biggest benefits of a healthier nation, an energy-independent nation, a nation whose children and adults are educated to their full potential, a nation at peace with its neighbors and committed to working with the global community on shared goals occur long after the initial investments were made.
Politically, however, the folks who drive the national debate in the U.S. are focused on the short-term.
In America we used to believe in the philosophy of Johnny Appleseed, who was a real person by the way. Plant apples trees and you can grow apples. Eat an apple a day and you can keep a nation healthy. Too often today, aided and abetted by a media that should know better and to the advantage of the corporations that increasingly control the levers of political power, our politics are driven by Johnny Instantseed. American politics in 2009 is quick, it's immediate, and too many bad actors realize that if you can disrupt the national discussion and scare people, nothing will get done. Or worse, the corporations who pull the strings behind the scenes will get the outcome that benefits them.
That's junk food politics.
It's happened once before with health care and now it's happening again this summer.
And, yeah, that's the crux of our political challenge in 2009. Barack Obama is advancing a policy set that will pay its richest dividends at the end of his term in office, and some of his reforms, like we saw with previous progressive programs like Social Security and Medicare and the public university system, will benefit our nation most only decades from now. Our job right now is to find ways to focus the nation on the immediate short term "win-win" inherent in Obama's proposals and then lead our fellow citizens to see the potential and much greater reward for everyone when our initial investment pays off.
To do this we need to break the cycle of junk food politics and focus the nation on policy sets, like environmentally-friendly trade-in programs...or planting apple trees, that are proven and that work. However, to do that, Barack Obama needs robust state-level and municipal-level laboratories to develop these programs in all 50 states. (Get involved locally! I know that I say it all the time, but it is true.) Further, we in the netroots need to use our online soap box to highlight proposals that are innovative and that have a proven track record of success.
Americans are pragmatists. We like ideas that work. We understand that, like Johnny Appleseed, there are long-term gains to be made when we invest in our future. The pay-off for our sweat and effort can be sweet. Culturally, that's where progressive thinking and "American values" meet.
Progressive ideas are better ideas. That's why they we call them progressive; they lead us forward and pay off in the long-term.
Sometimes it takes a clear August day in Los Angeles to remind us of that fact.