New Progressive Alliance (NPA) April Update

(4 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

(NPA is primarily posted at my.firedoglake.com, by New Progressive Alliance. Link for this update is here.. Please see the MyFDL version for more comments, plus embedded hyperlinks.)

There’s much progress to report in the New Progressive Alliance’s effort to leverage the 2012 election to create a unified, uncompromising voice for Progressive ideals and reform at the national level. Your recommends, shares, tweets and facebook likes of this diary will help grow the organization and increase the chances of fielding both a primary challenger to Barack Obama and a viable indie or third-party candidate in the general election.

Thanks for your help.

Anthony Noel, NPA Facilitator

The NPA Update, April, 2011

In this issue…

– Finding A Primary Challenger

– Coming Soon: NewProgs.org

– Spotlight: United Progressives

– Steering Committee Supports Work on a Unified Platform

– Calling All Artists: Design the NPA Logo!

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Finding a Primary Challenger

The New Progressive Alliance has begun contacting prospective challengers to Barack Obama for the 2012 Democratic Party presidential nomination.

A new and growing organization, the NPA is dedicated to shifting the electoral paradigm in America from one that is largely closed, and in which voters are given only two choices – bad and worse, and both beholden to for-profit conglomerates – to a truly open system which enables genuine social democracy.

As the first of its two-stage strategy for achieving this goal, the NPA is actively seeking a 2012 primary challenger who will commit to turning the electoral process, as we know it, on its head.

Readers of the progressive blog “MyFDL” chose ten current and former Democrats as prospective primary challengers to Mr. Obama last fall. Elizabeth Warren placed first, followed by Russ Feingold, Howard Dean, Richard Trumka, Alan Grayson, Cynthia McKinney, Al Franken, Paul Krugman, Dennis Kucinich, and Jane Hamsher.

We seek a challenger who recognizes the rare opportunity 2012 provides for boldly leveraging Americans’ broad support of real Progressive policy and programs. Our challenger must pledge to oppose Mr. Obama throughout the primary season, and to play a key role in the second stage of our strategy, by changing the “traditional” script and throwing their support not to Mr. Obama, but to an as yet undetermined independent or third-party candidate who earns our endorsement.

That endorsement will not come easily. Both our primary challenger and general election candidates must publicly pledge to uphold the NPA’s core values, also chosen by readers at MyFDL last fall: Full Employment, Medicare for All, Civil Rights / Human Rights / Civil Liberties, Fair Trade, and Ending the Wars Immediately. (See related story, “Steering Committee Supports Work on a Unified Platform,” below.)

NPA volunteer Ed has written a terrific recruitment letter customized for each of the prospective primary challengers. We gratefully acknowledge his hard work.

Coming Soon: NewProgs.org

Thanks to the efforts of two more volunteers, Tenisha and Jay, the NPA will soon have an online home!

NewProgs.org will list the members of the NPA Steering Committee; link to every issue of The NPA Update; report on our work toward a Unified Progressive Platform; detail the organization’s short, mid, and long-term goals; list membership and volunteer opportunities, and offer many more features.

We’ll send out a notification when NewProgs.org goes live.

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We Need You

Without the help of volunteers like Jay, Tenisha and Ed, the progress you’re reading

about would be impossible. Survey after survey has shown more than 60 percent of

Americans favor Progressive policy initiatives, but a relatively small number of

professional corporate and political elites prevent those voices from being heard,

and America from joining the global community of social democracies. We will not

change this reality without the help of large numbers of everyday people who are

committed to doing so. The NPA seeks State Founders, writers, organizers, researchers

and legal and accounting pros. To help, write admin_at_themalcontent_dot_com.

And thank you.

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Spotlight: United Progressives

Earlier this year, former Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate and NPA Steering Committee member Jill Stein suggested United Progressives as a potential member of the NPA. Her idea has created what looks to be a promising partnership. From the United Progressives’ “About” page:

“A policy group was formed following the end of the 2008 Presidential bid of Dennis

Kucinich by seven people from his campaign who sought ways to advance the objectives

of progressives through alternative avenues.

“It was clear, through our experience with the campaign and from long experience

with the American system of government, that change was needed. American citizens

are not being adequately represented.

“One of the alternatives our policy project decided to act upon is United Progressives,

a union intended to unite progressives on issues rather than candidates. By uniting

progressives on issues rather than candidates, we believe that the change we seek

in our lives and to our political system of government is possible.”

After representing United Progressives in an observing role during the March meeting of the NPA Steering Committee, Paul Barrow, one of the organization’s founders, received a terrific response to this diary, which he posted both at his organization’s site and here at “MyFDL.”

We urge you to consider joining United Progressives – a group which shares the NPA’s underpinning beliefs of issues over identity and strength in Progressive unity.

Steering Committee Supports Work on Unified Platform

In its March phone conference, the NPA Steering Committee supported efforts to assemble a Unified Progressive Platform.

Jill Stein, Cindy Sheehan, Paul Barrow (see previous story), and Norman Bie (organizer with Independents, Greens, Libertarians, and Others) joined NPA facilitator Anthony Noel via phone March 28th. Labor organizer Alan Maki could not join the call but provided his thoughts via an advance email. Absent due to prior commitments were Richard Winger, Cornel West, and David Swanson.

The Unified Platform is being worked on now by NPA volunteers. Five more simply stated values, incorporating beliefs stated in existing platforms of various Progressive organizations, will be added to the five chosen last fall by MyFDL readers, and all ten will be supported in detailed position papers.

When completed and approved by the Steering Committee and the NPA’s member organizations, the Unified Platform will be housed at the NPA website and presented to other Progressive organizations to encourage their participation in the Alliance. It will be our foundational document, a crucial element in determining whether candidates earn our endorsement, and in assessing their performance while in office.

Calling All Artists: Design the NPA’s Logo!

We’re seeking the definitive graphic representation of the NPA’s mission. If you painted “our” picture, what would it look like?

Take a crack at designing our logo! Submit your design as a .jpg file by June 1, 2011. We’re looking for a strong mark that conveys a theme of unity. It should remain crisp, clear and immediately recognizable when reproduced in a variety of sizes.

The winning design will appear in all NPA communications. Enter as many designs as you like, but each must include the acronym “NPA” and/or the words “New Progressive Alliance.” Five finalists will be chosen by the NPA Steering Committee, with final voting to take place online at “MyFDL.”

The winning designer receives a lifetime membership in the NPA; a one-year Benefactor’s Membership to FireDogLake; and the pride of knowing they’ve contributed to a movement committed to changing how politics is done in America.

Send your design to admin_at_themalcontent_dot_com. And good luck!

(All entries become property of the NPA; entry constitutes assignment of each design’s copyright and ownership to the New Progressive Alliance. Entry period may be extended in the absence of suitable designs, at the sole discretion of the judges.)

Cross-posted at The Malcontent and Antemedius