Wellstone Action!

A week or so ago – Halloween weekend, actually – The New York Times stepped up its holiday spirit with a very scary story. The kind you tell while aiming a flashlight at your face.

Dissent Magazine asked a number of organizing scholars and practitioners, including Wellstone Action's Erik Peterson, to comment on Zelda Bronstein's "Politics Fatal Therapeutic Turn" (and exchange with Marshall Ganz) from the Summer 2011 issue of Dissent.

We hear the same story repeated across the country. The mythic couple sitting around their kitchen table - not able to pay their bills - making the tough choices about what to cut.

Wellstone Action's work is all about helping new waves of progressive leaders-leaders who reflect our values--win elected office and start turning this country back around. 

During my Lenten journey this year, I will be looking to my Muslim brother, Congressman Keith Ellison, to understand what it truly means to live a life grounded in love, respect, inclusivity, and justice.

Increase competitiveness.

Focus on maximizing short-term output over long-term investment.
Layoff workers.
Squeeze more productivity from the remaining beleaguered workforce.
Demonize unions that oppose the changes.
And when the enterprise collapses, shut it down and outsource the work.

 

Sound familiar? 

Last month I wrote about the 2010 legislative and governor takeovers in many states by conservative forces. They've wasted no time pushing their ideologically extreme agenda. Count on the forces to overreach, as they've already begun to, and invite a backlash by a public that does not buy in to their radical agenda.

At Wellstone Action we believe in and train out of a progressive story.

This past Friday in Wisconsin, Governor Walker made good on his promise to try to strip away worker's rights.

We all have seen the impact of social media, but have we ever seen it done in the likes of Egypt's revolution? The brave women and men on the ground reported back to the rest of the waiting world moments of sheer terror, confusion, empowerment, and pride for the Egyptian people.