My observation over time is that progressive organizations tend to be isolated from other progressive organizations. What do I mean by this?
When it comes to getting a message out, rallying behind a particular issue, or even having a conversation: all occur separately from group to group, failing at integration. Unions have their own activities, social organizations have their own activities, political organizations have their own activities, and so forth. Instead of this isolationism, everyone needs to come together at the table and talk about what progressives need to do in order to accomplish their goals. Forget the idea that there are Democrats separate from Greens separate from Socialists, and other left-wing ideologies forging their path out there in the public spectrum. Forget the idea of union people versus non-union people. Also, forget the idea of being well-trained in campaigns versus having practical experience. Everyone can benefit from each other. Everyone has their own resources that can be tapped into.
The 2010 mid-term elections showed the right side of the political spectrum doing significant damage across the US. From taking over the US House of Representatives to taking over entire state legislatures, like the case in Wisconsin. Up against this “red tide”, progressives across the board did poorly. This failure speaks to the lack of unity. While progressive organizations and leaders point fingers every which way, they need to look within themselves and simply ask why it happened. Again, it was not a financial issue, nor it was a support issue. Bottom line–it is a unity issue.
For far too long, progressives have been blaming other progressive organizations and trying to pick up the slack from other, who they view, are not being effective. What is happening now to progressives is the same thing conservatives had to face as an issue during the 40s-early 60s. During that era, all the conservative organizations and groups went in their separate ways and operating in an isolated fashion. There were fiscal conservatives, moral conservatives, social conservatives, and many others. It took people like William Buckley to bring them to the table and discuss what needs to happen in order to be successful. This unification is what led to Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
I would like to see progressives come to the same table and discuss what is going on and what they need to do as progressives in order to get people elected into office.