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January 29, 2008 at 13:34:32

Progressives Need to Write for Different Audiences

by Timothy V. Gatto     Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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What alternatives do we a Progressives have left to thwart the corporate-owned politicians that seen sure to win the election? Most of our fellow citizens have “bought” this Obama movement, hook line and sinker. We all know that he isn’t going to bring any type of real change, just look at who is funding his campaign. I have read people that have stated writing about it is useless. I have read that demonstrations are useless. I have read that writing to Congress is useless. So what kind of recourse do we have? What could we possibly do to stop things from progressing as they are?

This is where imagination comes in. One thing that the corporate machine lacks is any real imagination. Sure, they sell their products and agendas with a constant repetition of phrases and “talking points”, but this is expensive and way beyond our means. There are ways to get our message out to more people in more ways than writing articles on Progressive websites and letters to a Congress that isn’t listening. Talking to friends and relatives is one way, but we have been doing that and these people we talk to are as brainwashed as the rest. There are however, a few groups and organizations that have basically the same goals that we do: protecting their jobs, stopping the outsourcing of American industry, treating workers as a valuable asset to the corporation that employs them, and stopping the assault on our environment that is killing our planet.

Our natural allies are the Unions and the environmental groups. I’m not talking about the leadership of the Unions; I’m talking about the rank and file members that have been more than disillusioned with their corporate controlled leadership. We already have people that belong to the Progressive community that are members of Unions. If these people can’t write about Union issues that dove-tail with Progressive interests, than they should write to Progressive writers and ask for help in getting articles into trade and Union publications. If we are going to be engaged in fighting for this country of ours, and we are going to be doing it for the long-haul, we need to begin to write for people outside of the Progressive choir.

Environmental groups are not exactly enchanted with the corporate controlled Federal Government. There are many issues in which our two groups agree on. Many Progressives belong to environmental groups. We need to do the same thing as with the Unions, people that can bring out salient points that both groups agree on need to be writing on the environmental media.

We need to get organized and push past the Progressive media. One way we could do this is to create a group of writers that can be used as a resource to break into areas where we have common cause with groups other than Progressive political writers. There are so many areas that people are concerned about that if we became involved, we could influence people that might have otherwise never heard our message. It is only when people see a direct threat to their lives that they become involved.

I welcome comments and ideas that would get our message outside of our insulated group of Progressives that realize how close we are to losing our liberty and our freedom of choice. Working together we could come up with a writer’s advisory group that could take some of the concerns of other groups and tie them into the larger picture of corporate control of the government and the media. This is a time where we all need to roll our sleeves up and become aware of the opportunities we have of making alliances and other venues to get our message across more effectively.

That’s the way I see it.

 

http://liberalpro.blogspot.com

Tim was banned from the site for posting private email from the publisher to him on his blog, and then attacking the publisher and the site in emails and articles. OEN has no responsibility to publish articles from people who attack the site. Tim's accusations that he was banned for his political positions are untrue. Check his articles. He repetitively wrote about and had published exactly the things he claimed he was banned for doing.
Former Chairman of the Liberal Party of America, Tim is a retired Army Sergeant. He currently lives in South Carolina. A regular contributor to OpEdNews, he is the author of Kimchee Kronicles and is currently at work on a new novel.

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8 comments

My name it means nothing, my age it means less. My deeds of activism are mine to enjoy and share as I feel necesary, not as some clown in a small forum's administration thinks I must..This place gets worse each and every visit.
Member banned on June 3, 2008 for repeated abuse of editors.

ardee D.My name it means nothing, my age it means less. My deeds of activism are mine to enjoy and share as I feel necesary, not as some clown in a small forum's administration thinks I must..This place gets worse each and every visit.
Member banned on June 3, 2008 for repeated abuse of editors.

I admire your earnest efforts, Mr. Gatto

Environmental groups are generally already filled with progressives, thus you would be preaching to the choir so to speak. Most work for progressive agendas in addition to a cleaner environment.

As a long time union member I would speak to a trend that has long disturbed me regarding such groups. While the union leadership themselves are solidly democratic, if a bit to much in the camp of the employer these days, the rank and file has strayed from the ranks of the democrats. I have been an active member, during various points in my working life, of the Teamsters, the SEIU, TWU and currently am a member in good standing of the IBEW. Thus I speak from a certain experience.

Union members are increasingly leaning republican, support the Iraqi war and voted, in a too-large part, for George Walker Bush. They see the Democrats, as do I frankly but without the reaction of voting GOP of course, as ineffective, incompetent and inept. Which they certainly are.

You may not agree with this assessment, and it may not be universally true, but it is certainly based on my experiences in the State of California and in those unions listed above. I fear that progressives face an uphill battle in winning converts these days. Not that I am adverse to such fights, nor do I shy away from debates with working class guys who have been tricked into support for things they do not fully comprehend. Tricked mainly because the Democratic Party has the backbone of a snake these days and has abrogated its responsibility to these working class folks, thus they are easily swayed to the dark side.

by ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 5:10:01 PM
 


Tim was banned from the site for posting private email from the publisher to him on his blog, and then attacking the publisher and the site in emails and articles. OEN has no responsibility to publish articles from people who attack the site.

Tim's accusations that he was banned for his political positions are untrue. Check his articles. He repetitively wrote about and had published exactly the things he claimed he was banned for doing.

Former Chairman of the Liberal ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Timothy V. GattoTim was banned from the site for posting private email from the publisher to him on his blog, and then attacking the publisher and the site in emails and articles. OEN has no responsibility to publish articles from people who attack the site.

Tim's accusations that he was banned for his political positions are untrue. Check his articles. He repetitively wrote about and had published exactly the things he claimed he was banned for doing.

Former Chairman of the Liberal ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Progressive Need Not Support Democrats

What we need to do is expalin Progressive principles that coincide with Union goals. IE; good working conditions, Pension Security, Outsourcing of manufacturing jobs and Union leaders that work too closely with management. Forget about the Demorrat Vs Republican argument. Both parties mean nothing anymore. We need to talk about ideas, not parties.

by Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 574 comments) on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 6:03:22 PM
 


Ed Encho is a free lance writer, activist and consultant who resides in West Central Florida and author of the upcoming "A Monolithic and Ruthless Conspiracy".  
Ed EnchoEd Encho is a free lance writer, activist and consultant who resides in West Central Florida and author of the upcoming "A Monolithic and Ruthless Conspiracy".  

Here is My Two Cents

The Democratic party should no longer be viewed as a vehicle for either change or the protection of worker's rights, the environment, civil liberties or an end to the warfare state. The progressive movement is going to be stalled and turned back by the Praetorian guard of a corrputed shell of a so called opposition party and a complicit media that shills for a sham democracy.

So why not reach out to the libertarians and principled conservatives? As Scott Ritter suggested in his book Waging Peace the antiwar movement needs to rally around restoration of the constitution which no American can be against. There is already a growing number of independents who are in on the ugly fact that the system has been rigged, renounce the wars and are losing economic ground by the day while the political establishment continually bails out the Wall Street looters who send our jobs to third world shitholes and then sell us out for pennies on the dollar to foreign sovereign wealth funds. This is intolerable.

There is also a movement out there right now that has coalesced around Ron Paul who is a flawed messenger but he is the figurehead of that movement nonethess. Paul though has no political future, he has already been lynched by the establishment and his positions make him anathema to liberals and progressives anyway, his time is passing but the movement will still be there.

Why not seek common ground with that movement in order to eradicate the menace of fascism from this land? We can all deal with our differences later on but truly nothing else matters until this rogue system gone cancerous has been cleansed.

Peel away the antiwar base from the Democratic party which cares nothing for it anyway, also focus on an anti-corporate message that is primarily based on rolling back globalization which is beggaring us all and making the oligarchs ever more powerful and able to fund private armies like Blackwater which will soon be coming home in order to protect their interests.

This is a critical time in history and it may be our last chance to at least slow this damned juggernaut down before we are all crushed.

Why let pride get in the way? Time to make alliances and expand the choir to include others who have a common enemy. That is where I feel the future is and astute bloggers need to get out in front of this and leave the rank partisanship behind.

That is how I see it at least.

EE

by Ed Encho (7 articles, 17 quicklinks, 56 diaries, 391 comments) on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 5:32:50 AM
 


Tim was banned from the site for posting private email from the publisher to him on his blog, and then attacking the publisher and the site in emails and articles. OEN has no responsibility to publish articles from people who attack the site.

Tim's accusations that he was banned for his political positions are untrue. Check his articles. He repetitively wrote about and had published exactly the things he claimed he was banned for doing.

Former Chairman of the Liberal ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Timothy V. GattoTim was banned from the site for posting private email from the publisher to him on his blog, and then attacking the publisher and the site in emails and articles. OEN has no responsibility to publish articles from people who attack the site.

Tim's accusations that he was banned for his political positions are untrue. Check his articles. He repetitively wrote about and had published exactly the things he claimed he was banned for doing.

Former Chairman of the Liberal ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Yes

This is exactly what kind of comment I was asking for. I'm sure that we can come up with specific sites and organizations that can used to rachet up the level of awarness. We need to divirsify and find other audiences for our concerns. This doesn't mean we stop writing on Progressive sites, it just means we tone the rhetoric down a bit and state our views to some fresh minds that are ready to recieve information that just might add some allies in our fight to stem the tide of corporatism and extremism.

by Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 574 comments) on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 8:49:39 AM
 


Ed Encho is a free lance writer, activist and consultant who resides in West Central Florida and author of the upcoming "A Monolithic and Ruthless Conspiracy".  
Ed EnchoEd Encho is a free lance writer, activist and consultant who resides in West Central Florida and author of the upcoming "A Monolithic and Ruthless Conspiracy".  

Agreed Tim

I have given this quite a bit of thought lately and need to work at toning down my flaming hot rhetoric, bombastic denunciations of the corrupt system and vicious attacks on the political prostitutes of corporate America.

Please feel free to email me with any ideas, I would be glad to start working towards building coalitions with others in the fight against fascism.

EE

by Ed Encho (7 articles, 17 quicklinks, 56 diaries, 391 comments) on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 4:59:11 PM
 


Ed Encho is a free lance writer, activist and consultant who resides in West Central Florida and author of the upcoming "A Monolithic and Ruthless Conspiracy".  
Ed EnchoEd Encho is a free lance writer, activist and consultant who resides in West Central Florida and author of the upcoming "A Monolithic and Ruthless Conspiracy".  

Thanks but tonight isn't good...

Tim,

I am honored for the invite but have got something else going tonight.  

 I'll check it out though and let's stay in touch, this is the cutting edge right now and ther is a hunger for unity against this rotten system which I keep trying to expose to those who are disgusted with the status quo.

Stay in touch, the email is eencho@yahoo.com, I post a lot at MyLeft Wing at Station Charon which is my own blog, drop by some time.

EE 

 

by Ed Encho (7 articles, 17 quicklinks, 56 diaries, 391 comments) on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 6:34:09 PM
 


My name it means nothing, my age it means less. My deeds of activism are mine to enjoy and share as I feel necesary, not as some clown in a small forum's administration thinks I must..This place gets worse each and every visit.
Member banned on June 3, 2008 for repeated abuse of editors.

ardee D.My name it means nothing, my age it means less. My deeds of activism are mine to enjoy and share as I feel necesary, not as some clown in a small forum's administration thinks I must..This place gets worse each and every visit.
Member banned on June 3, 2008 for repeated abuse of editors.

I would agree with dialoguing with conservatives

but to believe that a progressivce would share any common ground with Libertarians is much to much of a stretch for me....

I think that the activist who would seek to alter the face of Americanpolitics woudl gravitate to the third party, whether Populist or Green.....

by ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Friday, February 1, 2008 at 5:08:18 PM
 

 

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