Also posted on Washblog
We find ourselves in a time when democratic institutions are under coordinated siege -- and injustice and unreason are publicly celebrated as right in line with American values. In the words of Gara LaMarche of the Open Society Institute, these threats to open society call for "a serious and coordinated response."
I've been wondering about the role of progressive bloggers in that response -- particularly in relation to that emerging phenomenon so engagingly known as the progressive infrastructure -- and particularly in relation to Washington State and the Pacific Northwest. The idea of a consciously devised architecture that is making a place not just for progressive policies, but also for progressivism as a whole, that is designed to help us transcend our current dynamic of continual reaction to assaults on sustainable society from the right, is attractive indeed. It does seem past time to get better grounded in some strategic meta-collaboration.
Looking at what has been happening in Washington State (a story echoed in many states and across the nation) -- with victories for the public good won against great odds -- and then continually challenged or even overturned over the past several decades, it's evident that, to the extent that we may be working at cross purposes, duplicating effort, or are not strategically communicating, progressive organizations are dissipating their energies and resources and failing to take the best advantage of natural connections and synergies.
Washington and the northwestern region have a rich network of organizations with progressive missions, some explicitly devoted to strengthening progressivism. For example, Institute for Washington's Future, founded in the early 1990s, is devoted to renewing the progressive movement in Washington and has produced important analysis and completed numerous projects, recently focusing on sustainable development in rural areas and bridging Washington's rural to urban divide. Despite our progressive resources, however, our state is considered to be missing key elements of the architecture of a coordinated movement. As far as I know, we don't have a multi-issue think tank with adequate funding, or organizations producing model legislation across the progressive spectrum, or devoted to progressive messaging.
But the structure is emerging. New organizations have been established. Progressive Majority has taken on a key infrastructure role of leadership development and also provides technology assistance. Northwest Progressive Institute has created a clearinghouse and organizing platform for the Northwest progressive blogosphere with its portal that links to over 200 progressive political blogs in four Northwest states. Daniel Kirkdorffer of On the Road to 2008, has created Northwest Topics Hot List, a tool for scanning the topics of the day and linking to the stories on all the area blogs. Recently a group of Washington philanthropists has conducted an in-depth needs assessment of the state's progressive infrastructure that I believe will be released later this month.
And existing organizations are changing approaches. Washington Environmental Council now powerfully leverages the resources of state environmental organizations in a way that some see as a model for the larger progressive community. Progressive funders, which have been faulted for focusing too much on projects to the detriment of funding for operating and coordinating expenses (conservative funders have long focused on providing resources to infrastructure), appear to be reassessing their role. This April the Tides Foundation -- along with 6 other foundations -- will be holding a conference entitled Momentum 2006 that will explore how they can
support the progressive movement itself.
A look at two national organizations of progressive state legislators may give a snapshot view of the increasing influence that this idea of infrastructure has within the evolving progressive movement. The Center for Policy Alternatives, which has been operating at least since the early 1990s, provides training, networking opportunities, policy analysis and model legislation. A new organization, Progressive Legislative Action Network -- or PLAN -- intends to go beyond these roles into a more nimble "action tank" role. Both organizations attend consciously to movement building. PLAN appears to be more explicitly organizing itself around that role across issues and interest groups.
There is an interesting paradox in the role of bloggers in this new infrastructure. The existence of Northwest Progressive Institute shows that bloggers have the larger picture in mind. And yet the blogosphere is a classic example of a self-organized phenomenon -- its genius residing in its distributed, decentralized nature. It is also worthwhile to note that the quintessential diverse "liberal/progressive character" -- independent, creative, focused on many issues, valuing dissent, which has been a stumbling block for the larger progressive movement in the face of the disciplined Republican Noise Machine – has actually been an advantage for progressive bloggers in the establishment of a "communal social phenomenon" which successfully mobilizes for political action. According to Bowers and Stoller in The Emergence of the Progressive Blogosphere, it is just those qualities of creativity and grassroots diversity that have allowed the progressive blogosphere to come from behind – and surpass the conservative blogosphere in readership, participation, activism, and fundraising. The authors also characterize progressive bloggers as more motivated by partisan loyalty than conservative bloggers and more ready to take action in the community.
I believe that it is this function, reaching beyond the base, where bloggers can make some of their most important contributions. Bloggers, maybe more than any other players in the progressive community, are in a prime position to help ground the progressive movement in grassroots relevance. We are living in a poisonous political climate in which there is a discernible trend toward promoting individual rights in isolation from the larger social realities -- and in isolation from the reality of the physical world, from nature itself. At its spookiest, this right-wing ideology promotes a vision of a world in which our existence has little physical or social dimension and we progressives (and everyone else who won't go along with the program) are disdained for living in the reality based community..
I see this as a politics of solipsism that has helped lead to an alienated public. We have seen clearly here in Washington how people in such a political environment will close their eyes while regressive policies are put into place - or even applaud while key elements of the civic infrastructure are dismantled.
At its best, progressive blogging counters this trend by making politics more relevant to daily life -- first by bringing important political realities home to people, calling attention to their real impact on how we live. Second, by helping to connect the dots between what can seem like a welter of confusing progressive issues - by showing that, really, progressive ideals are all linked to deep values like justice and sustainability. Third, given that activism we are known for, by bringing new participants into the process. Fourth, even at our most edgy and confrontative, by breaking through the spell of that humorless right-wing hate talk, exorcising those daemons running in the background of our civic dialogue that are helping to drive it into the margins. And, finally, by building and leveraging bloggers' connections with other players in the larger movement -- being conscious of how diverse efforts and organizations support each other.
These are creative enterprises, the progressive blogosphere and the other elements of progressivism in Washington, including this collaboration to establish a strategic architecture to promote the public good. It seems to be something new in our world. I'm, yes, curious indeed to see it unfold and looking to help.