Wellstone Action!

posted by Elana Wolowitz

JUNE 19, 2008

Al Gore tells me elections matter. Author David Sirota tells me that not to believe the hype that candidates and elections are the same thing as a social movement. In the thick of the summer in a presidential year, what's an activist to do?

We've been doing a lot of thinking about this at Wellstone Action HQ, and I was reminded how important it is that we figure it out quickly at a recent event we co-sponsored with David to promote his new book, The Uprising. Calling it "an unauthorized tour of the populist revolt scaring Wall Street and Washington", Sirota provides an insightful look at different movements - from both right and left ideologies - that are challenging entrenched and powerful interests in favor of the rights and opinions of the little guy.

David thoughtfully answered audience questions, many of which centered on a common theme: What, specifically, can the propagators of the populist uprising do to advance the cause in this Presidential election?

His answers were nuanced, but overall he maintained that we cannot rely exclusively on elections to make change in this country. At some levels, institutions of government themselves (like the rarefied US Senate) can be roadblocks to popular will. And candidates (ahem, ahem) in and of themselves can never be social movements.

Folks can go back and forth on the merits of those arguments, but what I find heartening is that for the first time in over a decade, progressives are talking about how to move a policy agenda. And they are talking about this DURING an election year.

Of course, we here at Wellstone Action believe you need both elections and community-driven movements to make long term change. The dialogue sparked by David Sirota's book reminded me how hungry people are to know HOW to accomplish that. How can we bridge the short gap between Election Day and Inauguration Day, making sure that there is a seamless transition from campaigning to governing, all done in the public interest?

We're putting a lot of thought this year into figuring that out, because it will be so critical in 2009, but we want your thoughts as well. Please post them here as comments, or here.

PS - Check out David's book here!

PPS - In book-related news, the Progressive Book Club launched this week, and you can support Wellstone Action by joining!