PDA 2006 Election Video
» 56K modem
» broadband
Stop Funding War Video
» All formats
"PDA gets the job done. Their commitment to promoting progressive values has brought results at the local and national level. PDA organized grassroots support for my resolution calling for American troops to be brought home from Iraq, andpresented me with a petition that I delivered to the White House of over 20,000 signatures. Every day that I am on Capitol Hill fighting for economic justice, environmental protections, and a more peaceful and secure world, I know that PDA is right there with me."
- Rep. Lynn Woolsey, US House of Representatives
Click here to join the "Million Doors for Peace Campaign."
Like thousands of people we encountered in Denver last week, we felt energized by the events surrounding the Democratic National Convention. The formal proceedings had their share of powerfully moving speeches (and some blue-dog clinkers too). But the most uplifting momentum came from the diversity of the delegates and activists who gathered inside and outside the convention hall.
Inside and outside. That's the spirit that galvanized the gatherings at Progressive Central during the convention week. Participants at this five-day PDA event ran the gamut, including delegates and other activists--and Democrats in Congress ranging from majority leader Steny Hoyer to Progressive Caucus luminaries (and PDA advisory board members) John Conyers, Barbara Lee, Jim McGovern and Lynn Woolsey. Watch this informal interview and this riveting panel on poverty with Rep. McGovern. See Rep. Keith Ellison in another fascinating interview and panel on the Constitution and Accountability. [more]
Published September 4, 2008, on Truthdig.org.
“This is a David-and-Goliath confrontation, but we believe we’ll have enough stones in the sling to knock this out.”
That is a recent statement from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce when asked whether business lobbyists will defeat the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)—a labor-backed bill that cribs from Canadian law and makes joining a union a tiny bit easier. In the imminent confrontation over this almost embarrassingly modest proposal, corporations are actually billing themselves as the underdog—the poor, overmatched peasant David against the Philistine monster Goliath. [more]
PDA believes that registering new voters in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida is one of the most important things that activist citizens can do to walk the talk for Obama and "change" between now and election day.
As a consequence of that belief, PDA is actively engaged with the vast coalition committed to Obama's election (which is in no way guaranteed) and to continuing to build the Progressive Movement during and after this election period. To this end, PDA has formed a New Voter Registration Team (NVRT). We are seeking your support.
The efforts of the NVRT will be coordinated by PDA state leaders, state coordinators, chapter chairs, and CD point people, along with a National PDA NVR coordinating team. The point person on that team is Bruce Taub (bruce@pdamerica.org). [more]
With varying degrees of confidence or even complacency, many people have assumed that the jig is almost up for the horrendous political era that began when George W. Bush became president. Always dubious, the assumption is now on very shaky ground.
The Bush-Cheney regime may be on its last legs, but a new incarnation of right-wing populism is shadowing the near horizon.
Much as modern capitalism is always driven to promote new products in the marketplace, the corporate-fundamentalist partnership must reinvent and remarket itself. We’re now seeing the rollout of a hybrid product under the McCain-Palin brand. [more]
The choice now is clear. With his pick of Joe Biden as his running mate, Barack Obama sharpened the contrast with the policies of George Bush and John McCain that leave you on your own. With his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain bowed to the will of the right wing of his party. Americans will have a profound choice of direction to make this November.
The challenge for Obama is clear. With Americans yearning for change, can he build the bridge--across our divides on race, on region, on religion, on ideology--and bring Americans together? The challenge for McCain is clear. Can he campaign as a “maverick” while his negative campaign is run by Karl Rove’s protégés, and his agenda is even more bellicose, more extreme on social issues, more dedicated to the failed ideas of trickle down economics? [more]
Published September 2, 2008 by truthout.org.
Hearing Barack Obama speak last week in Denver, I found it hard to avoid bittersweet memories of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington in August 1963. How far our country has come! And how much further we have yet to travel on Dr. King's road to peace and social justice! For me, one memory stands out, a small piece of history that throws new light on why many progressives find themselves faulting Obama for moving toward the right wing of the Democratic Party.
A few days before the march, a battle-scarred hero of the civil rights movement came to the University of Michigan to practice the speech he planned to give in Washington as chairman of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). John Lewis was - and is - an Old Testament prophet, and his words heaped moral fury on President John F. Kennedy, a man whom young civil rights activists at the time did not see as on our side.
If JFK wanted to support meaningful political and economic rights for the poorest black share croppers, that was good, said Lewis. If JFK did not, the movement would rise up without him like Sherman marching through Georgia. [more]
Published September 1, 2008, by The Nation.
Barack Obama's right. The families of candidates for high office ought generally to be "off limits." And that is especially true when it comes to their kids.
So let's put aside the discussion of whether her child's out-of-wedlock pregnancy raises any questions about the whether it was wise for Alaska Governor Sarah Palin--the presumptive Republican nominee for vice president whose name John McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds continues to mispronounce--to promotion abstinence education.
Pay attention, instead, to the wholly legitimate--and rapidly evolving--scandal known as "Troopergate." [more]
The past week was like a roller coaster ride. Delegates, visitors, panelists, participants, coalition partners, members of Congress and the press were coming and going at Progressive Central all through the day, followed by meetings at night—punctuated by moments of calm.
With the whirlwind of activity, I was unable to take in the breadth and scope of what we have accomplished together since our emergence in the midst of the 2004 DNC Convention. During the seven-hour drive back to my home in Utah, I had a lot of time to think. We’ve come a long way in four years! [more]
Published August 30, 2008, by BlackCommentator.com.
The evening of August 28th, 2008 I put aside my reservations and criticisms of Senator Obama. In fact, I refused to do an interview with a media outlet because I did not wish to critique Obama's speech. I wanted to sit there and take it in; I wanted to sit there with my wife and feel the currents of history.
During Senator Obama's speech, CNN posted the fact that in 1888, 120 years ago, Frederick Douglas received one vote in the Republican Party Convention when his name was put in for nomination for President of the United States. So, here we are in 2008 and a Black man has finally, and quite proudly, secured the nomination for President of the United States of America. [more]
George Bush promised America "an ownership society... where more Americans than ever will be able to open up their door where they live and say, welcome to my house, welcome to my piece of property."
And the Republican ticket of 2008 realizes that promise.
Presidential candidate John McCain and newly-selected vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin can open up their doors where they live and say: "welcome to my house, welcome to my piece of property."
Then they can open the next door and say: "welcome to my house, welcome to my piece of property." [more]
August 28--On the forty-fifth anniversary of Rev, Martin Luther King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech and the fourth anniversary of PDA’s emergence, visitors to Progressive Central witnessed an array of speakers and surprise visitors who articulated the energy and efforts that constitute the progressive antiwar and accountability emphases of PDA.
The day started with a surprise visit by Reverend Jesse Jackson, who made possible a new rainbow politics in America. Jackson reminded the crowd at Progressive Central that no matter how progressive the American president or congress is or will ever be, there will also always be the need for citizen activism. Jackson, who picked up King’s torch to lead the Rainbow Coalition, talked about the advancement of civil rights in the U.S. in the past forty years. [more]
Published August 26, 2008, by The Nation.
Twenty years ago, at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Jesse Jackson began his historic speech by bringing Montgomery bus boycott heroine Rosa Parks up to the podium with these words: "All of us who are here think that we are seated. But we're really standing on someone's shoulders. Ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. Rosa Parks--the mother of the civil rights movement."
We should keep that thought in mind Thursday night, as we watch Barack Obama accept the nomination of the oldest political party in the world in a stadium in Denver--because Senator Obama, as he himself has often said, is also standing on lots of shoulders.
And one of those sets of shoulders belongs to Jesse Jackson.
I know what you're thinking--didn't Jackson criticize Senator Obama on Fox recently? Yes, he did, a bad mistake for which he has repeatedly apologized. [more]
August 27--After eight years of disdain and inaction in the U.S. House and Senate, Congressman and PDA Board member Jim McGovern (D-MA) (Co-chair of both the House Hunger Caucus and the House Human Rights Caucus) urged the audience of 200 rapt listeners to demand that the President once again put the issues of the poorest among us back on the front burner of governmental responsibility. In McGovern's view, if we actually win the presidency, and win enough seats in the House and Senate, we can quickly be on the edge of truly dramatic opportunities to end poverty in America. The audience stood for five minutes applauding his courage and efforts. [more]
Published August 26, 2008, by The Wall Street Journal.
Walk into almost any hotel here this week and you can find an odd sight: Liberal Democrats starting their day by lobbying moderate and conservative Democrats.
The lobbyists are members of the Progressive Democrats of America, an activist group working to keep the party true to liberal priorities, and they have been assigned to every hotel housing Democratic convention delegates.
"At breakfast, where they go to get their talking points [from the national party], we will be there," says Tim Carpenter, a veteran of Democratic campaigns and national director of the PDA. [more]
The U.S. election system is in crisis, and American voters can no longer trust or verify the results of public elections, in large measure because of the increasing privatization of our public elections. That was the unsettling conclusion of each speaker on the PDA Progressive Central Panel on clean, fair, transparent elections. As panel moderator PDA Board chairperson Mimi Kennedy asked, if the election of 2004 has not been stolen would we be in Iraq today and would 4000 Americans and countless tens of thousands of Iraqis have died for a lie? It is axiomatic that election results matter.
So how do we ensure election integrity, including the tamperproof unbiased maintenance of voter registration databases, the tallying of votes, and the means whereby we audit and recount election outcomes when proprietary software is involved and when the Diebold Company itself admits that their tabulation software--in use for years in dozens of states--actually loses votes? [more]
Published August 26, 2008 on The Nation.
Even the Obama delegates were reaching for Clinton signs.
Such was the intensity of the moment, as delegates of every political stripe grabbed up the white signs -- "Paid for by Obama for America"--with the dark blue "Hillary" script that were distributed just before the senator from New York took the stage.
On the Tuesday night when no one at the Democratic National Convention talked about anything except New York Senator Hillary Clinton's speech before, during or after the defeated presidential candidate addressed the convention that might have been hers. [more]
Published August 26, 2008 by The Nation.
Asking the wife of a candidate for president to address the national convention at which her husband is to be nominated is a relatively recent phenomenon.
And the history is a mixed one.
Hillary Clinton did a good job of it at the Democratic conventions of the 1990s.
Elizabeth Dole was scary bad at the Republican convention of 1996, and Teresa Heinz Kerry did her husband no great favors with her address to the 2004 Democratic convention. [more]
Over 400 PDA members and progressive stalwarts jammed the Progressive Central meeting hall in Denver on Sunday evening committed to the proposition that by working together to elect a progressive Congress and a Democratic president we can create a more harmonious, collaborative, and just world. Hosted by Mimi Kennedy, PDA's Advisory Board Chairperson, speaker after speaker evoked standing ovations and treated the audience to inspiring, informative presentations.
Representative Barbara Lee (CA), Co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) and PDA Advisory Board member spoke about the critically important role PDA plays in supporting members of the CPC in their efforts to advance progressive legislation and toward ending the war in Iraq. John Nichols, Washington correspondent for the Nation magazine, spoke about the ways in which PDA "gets it," and how vital a role PDA plays in helping to inspire and influence the work of Congress. Long time peace and justice activist Tom Hayden spoke about the demands and challenges we face as we work to realize our vision of a more peaceful and equitable future. Jim Hightower, the most recent member of PDA’s Board, described PDA as a vehicle for the expression of the genuine populist and small "d" democratic nation we all desire. And James Zogby, Director of the Arab American Institute and a member of the DNC, spoke about why and how a revised and more accurate United States government view of the socio-political dynamics in the Middle East would benefit both the people of the region and the people of the world. Live music was interspersed throughout the program with songs written and sung by the talented soulful Dan Reed. [more]
Tim Carpenter appeared live on Washington Journal this morning to discuss events leading up to the start of the Democratic National Convention on Monday August 25.
Pedro Echeverria questioned Carpenter about Obama's rumored vice presidential choice, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware. Carpenter responded by saying progressives are happy that the choice was not Evan Bayh, and that we can now get back to the work of electing a governing progressive majority.
In response to the open letter to Barack Obama in The Nation magazine, Carpenter said “It is our goal to move Obama away from nuclear power, towards single-payer health care, and to end the occupation of Iraq.” PDA will work to create the grassroots movement to push Obama to become a progressive president, just as Roosevelt was moved by progressives to create the New Deal. [more]
A coalition working to end the war in Iraq announced it is organizing the year’s largest anti-war mobilization. Million Doors for Peace, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 20, will ask one million Americans to sign petitions urging the next Congress to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq within one year.
The action combines the best of grassroots activism and support from the netroots. The campaign will allow tens of thousands of volunteers to download a neighborhood “walk list” for the coalition website. The volunteers will then use this public information talk to and identify neighbors who oppose the Iraq war and will join the efforts to end the war. Please join this effort, click here. [more]
PDA's Orange County, CA, Chapter met July 22 and voted unanimously to endorse Democratic Party nominee Debbie Cook CA46 in her race for Representative to the U.S. Congress. The Chapter vote was ratified later that week by the National PDA “Inside the Party” working group on our national conference call, again without objection.
Debbie Cook is an outstanding progressive Democrat, and as the current mayor of the city of Huntington Beach she has been an avid protector of our coastal environment. Moreover, she is a noted local authority on the topic of reducing dependence on fossil fuels and is a member of the board of directors of both the Post Carbon Institute and the Association for the Study of Peak Oil.
Cook considers reducing America’s dependence on fossil fuels an environmental and national security imperative.
Along with many other National PDA-endorsed candidates for Congress, Debbie has signed on to “The Responsible Plan” for ending the U.S. occupation of Iraq. She believes that our country should care for our veterans by making sure that they are paid well for their service, that their medical needs are taken care of, and that they have opportunities to make a living and care for their families when they return from duty. [more]
For several years now, the news media have identified healthcare and the war in Iraq as key issues in American politics. But very little of the reporting or the punditry goes beneath the buzz-word surfaces to the human realities that span from local hospitals to a faraway war.
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift,” Martin Luther King Jr. said 40 years ago, “is approaching spiritual death.” Today, nearly one in six Americans has no health insurance, and tens of millions of others are woefully under-insured--while the war in Iraq continues to further skew the U.S. government's budget priorities.
By launching the national “Healthcare Not Warfare” campaign, Progressive Democrats of America is moving ahead with a grassroots opportunity to turn from warfare to healthcare for all. While growing ever since it came into existence four years ago, PDA has been working with--and, more often, pushing--Democrats in Congress to end the occupation of Iraq. And, integral to its progressive program, PDA has been mobilizing support behind H.R. 676, the bill to create a universal single payer system to guarantee healthcare for all. [more]