Introduction- Re-Building American Progressivism

The left in America has failed to win the votes, hearts, and minds of far too many citizens. Over 45% of eligible voters didn't even cast a ballot[1], and movements like Black Lives Matter and the fight against Dakota Access Pipeline have far too few supporters. This is something we can change. It won't be easy, and it will take trust and cooperation, but with a country that is desperate for a change, this is an important time to stop that change from going right. Currently this blog and facebook page are merely vehicles to share information about progressivism across the country, but that will change in time.

One of the factors that has made the left ineffective is the fractured nature of progressive causes. There are people fighting for environmentalism, racial justice, lgbtq rights, economic justice, animal rights, and many other causes. These are all incredibly important, and we should not attempt to make one amorphous movement, as that would not increase effectiveness.

I have a vision for a possible way to at least partially solve this problem. I'm focusing currently on college campuses, as this is often an area where these movements are most fractured- various clubs, all important, but too many for progressives to join all of them. My idea is a group to facilitate communication and cooperation between these groups. This organization would reach out to leaders in each group, and be notified of any major events or projects each group is working on. This information will then be disseminated to the other groups as necessary. There are two main instances I have thought of where this is necessary. First, if two groups are working on the same or similar issues, fostering communication would prevent duplicate work. Second, if a group has an event (protest, rally, etc.), this central group could draw on the other progressive groups' members to maximize attendees.

An eventual plan (perhaps a good ways in the future) would be to bring this organization off campuses, to coordinate between national organizations and movements. If you are interested in helping to develop this group at your college, message me. It may be a while before this gets going, but I want to gauge the number of people willing to work towards this goal.

[1]: http://mashable.com/2016/11/09/voting-poll-numbers/#7eyH8D0sZqqj