The DU THINK TANK Proposal Needs Your Support [View All]

[ulTRAX]

Some of you may remember the proposal for a DU THINK TANK.....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2744460

It was received with a great deal of enthusiasm. In fact some from another forum http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/ that I proposed it to have created a prototype http://www.broadbandcooperative.com/zope/ThinkTank but the original goals were so watered down I could not be associated with it.

Well the proposal's gone nowhere here so I'm making a direct appeal to the Admins....

If you have any thoughts on the proposal or would like to support it, the thread is here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=121x3304

Here's my proposal from last November:

The Democratic Party is on the retreat. It has issues but no bold vision of where it wants to take this nation. I believe it suffers from intellectual stagnation. For example, in this last election Kerry worked ENTIRELY within the Right's framework of irresponsible fiscal policies. He did not challenge their assumptions or expose the Right's "strangle the beast" agenda. He did not educate the public on the shell game that is the federal budget. He did not educate the people on how the debt poses a risk to Social Security. Kerry did not even use the correct Bush deficit numbers! He did what he thought was politically expedient, yet his failure to challenge the big issues means the Right's framework becomes more entrenched.

If there’s no compelling Progressive vision that sells well to the average American, then 10-20-30 years from now the Progressive movement will STILL be on the retreat, relegated to tweaking a dysfunctional political and corporate system created by history and the Right instead of trying to reform it. Of course we could just hope the Right implodes but that doesn't solve the lack of vision problem.

So what are those ideas we WISH the Democratic Party would represent? What ideas are worthy of fighting for even if there's little to show for it in the next 5-10 years? What should the role of this forum be in helping creating that vision?

Currently DU is a place to rant or discuss events/ideas. It’s a place to network. The frantic pace at these forums prevents ideas from ever being fully developed. There's constant reinventing of the wheel and no conclusions are drawn.

I believe DU should aim higher… to harness our immense grassroots energy and talent to reshape if not reinvent the Democratic Party, American politics, America itself.

To work towards this goal I propose DU should become an on-line Progressive Think Tank... a place where ideas can be generated efficiently and not just lost in the shuffle of endless rediscussion… but a place that can have some structure focuses on creating a "product". The DU Campaign Underground project is an example of such collective effort.

How do I envision this being accomplished? I propose three things. The first is the expansion of the topical forums to reflect issues not given priority here. The current forum structure tends to encourages discussion along traditional lines while ignoring the issues that REALLY shape our lives: constitutional reform, federalism, property rights, corporate rights, wealth distribution, taxation, markets, democracy, morality, US role in the world, etc. These are issues too important for the Democratic Party to ignore.... yet it does. Most other issues are merely subsets of the above.

Secondly, I propose adding a mechanism that can provide continuity in brainstorming. Many of you already heard of wiki…. essentially collective authorship. If not check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page It's a community encyclopedia. Anyone can edit it or return a page to a previous state. It seems chaotic but it does work. I think such a feature here connected to each forum could help in developing more focused strategies, talking points, ads, whatever. Those principles/mission statements could be collected for a new Progressive Manifesto... a Common Sense for the 21st Century…. a logically consistent paradigm that will serve as the bedrock of Progressive thought.

I have to add I STONGLY believe there has to be some structure to the project. The first stage would be to create forums/wiki space to discuss the basic values we believe in…. rights, freedoms, the purpose of government, democracy, inequality… etc. Statements would then be drawn up that crystallize each principle into a coherent argument. If you’re not sure just what I’m suggesting please read the Rights of Man… http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/rightsof.htm In the second stage additional forums would have to be created based on a list the community draws up. Most of these forums already exist. They too would need a wiki component.

I have to add… that proposed this idea here a few weeks ago and it went nowhere. But another forum LOVED the idea then rushed to sabotaged it. Those who participate MUST BE WILLING TO LEAVE POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS BEHIND. This is not a proposal for Democratic Party politics. This would be an intellectual exercise to find or create core principles upon which we’d base a vision of the America we’d like to see in 20-50 years. I strongly believe that working with the basics first will be liberating and a source of great creativity. The process will point out contradictions in the Progressive message. Consider it political psychoanalysis. New ideas flow once we’re back in touch with basic values. If we REALLY believe in civic equality where all votes weigh the same then we have to abolish the EC. If we REALLY believe in that forgotten 9th amendment then we have to prevent lawmakers from exceeding legitimate intent.

I strongly urge such specific proposals and long-term strategies be left for a time AFTER the Manifesto.