Progressive Vision
Top Stories
How Government Won on Election Day
November 9th, 2009
Here's a story you may have missed because it flies in the face of the dreary conventional wisdom: When advocates of public programs take on the right-wing anti-government crowd directly, the government-haters lose. This is what happened in two statewide referendums last week that got buried under all of the attention paid to the governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey
Featured Issues
Rush and Newt Are Winning
A media environment that tilts to the right is obscuring what President Obama stands for and closing off political options that should be part of the public discussion. This was brought home at this week’s America's Future Now! conference.... more »
Obama Shows His Progressive Spine
In a plain-spoken, at times tough, and masterful address to a joint session of congress, President Obama spoke in pragmatic and moral terms about the importance of health care reform as a test of our nation's character. The speech still had a bipartisan flavor, but with a progressive spine.... more »
The Explosive Growth Of The Progressive Movement
By Bill Scher
August 26th, 2008
The immense amount of progressive activity outside the convention hall, compared to 2004, shows how far the movement has traveled. (Plus, interviews with Arianna Huffington and more.)... more »
The Case
Progressives Have A Mandate To Govern
In hotly contested 2008 congressional races on November 4, 2008, the Democratic winners were—overwhelmingly—real progressives who campaigned and won on progressive platforms. Voters didn’t just elect Democrats, they elected progressives. more »
More Prisoners Does Not Mean Less Crime
It's not that simple. A 2005 report by The Sentencing Project noted that while increased incarceration rates were accompanied by a decrease in crime between 1991 and 1998, crime rates had increased between 1984 and 1991, a period in which the rate of incarceration was even higher. The director of the Pew Center on the States recently wrote, "Rigorous studies show that increased imprisonment can claim credit for only 25 percent of the nation's crime drop over the past 15 years. The other 75 percent comes from a wide variety of factors, inside and outside the criminal justice system." Those factors include support for improved policing and community crime prevention programs—federal support for which was cut by the Bush administration. We already lock up a larger percentage of our population than any other country in the world. We need to invest more in the programs and techniques that we know prevent crime and lead to healthier communities.more »
The Facts
NETROOTS: HEALTH CARE TOP PRIORITY, SESTAK OVER SPECTER FOR SENATE
» Download the complete poll
The News
Poll Shows Democrats Lead On Issues
September 4th, 2009
White House To Shift Efforts On Civil Rights
September 1st, 2009
The Case
A Party is Not a Movement
Parties, bluntly, exist to win elections — and that usually means the next election. They form as parties around ideologies or policies, but the impulse to win elections is always primary. Movements, on the other hand, come together around issues, and, to be maximally effective, have to always remember that their interests are not identical to those of parties. more »
Who Are You and What Have You Done With the Community Organizer We Elected President?
Why is Barack Obama allowing some retreads from the Clinton era who went on to great riches on Wall Street to set economic policy for his administration? The fatal hallmark of this president’s financial policy is that it is being designed by the very people whose previous legislative efforts created the mess that enriched them while impoverishing the nation, and they now want more of the same. more »
Latest from our Bloggers
nov
23
2009
9:26 am
9:26 am
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day
Talk Of Public Option Compromise After Initial Senate Vote
CQ sizes up the state of play on public option: "Four senators — independent Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut and Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana — who voted to begin debate on the bill have said they will likely later oppose any move to end a filibuster and pass the measure unless the public option proposed by Reid is significantly altered or removed. On the other side of the issue, Bernard Sanders, an independent from Vermont, released a statement Sunday saying that there are a 'number of senators, including myself, who would not support final passage without a strong public option.' A compromise could emerge from talks on a proposal by Thomas R. Carper, D-Del. He has suggested a public option available only in states where private insurers fail to offer insurance plans that meet yet-to-be-defined cost standards, or in states that choose to offer a public plan in competition with private insurers."
Wonk Room's Igor Volsky notes that Sen. Lincolin's website still says she support public option: "Individuals should be able to choose from a range of quality health insurance plans. Options should include private plans as well as a quality, affordable public plan or non-profit plan that can accomplish the same goals as those of a public plan."more »
nov
21
2009
5:44 pm
5:44 pm
Judge David. F. Hamilton was confirmed Thursday in the Senate to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals 59-39, after breaking a conservative filibuster Tuesday and persevering through a painstakingly delayed process. more »
nov
20
2009
12:23 pm
12:23 pm
Whether the Stupak amendment ends up in the final health care reform bill or is replaced by the more moderate compromises in the Senate bill, both the passage of the amendment and the almost immediate response that women and pro-choice progressives should "take one for the team" hold a lesson and a warning for both progressives and Democrats.more »
nov
20
2009
10:07 am
10:07 am
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day.
Paul-Grayson Fed Audit Plan Clears Committee
NYT on House committee vote repudiating Fed: "Mr. Paul, a libertarian Republican who has called for abolishing the Fed entirely, has introduced a version of his bill in every session of Congress since the early 1980s and never made any progress. But the Fed’s trillion-dollar efforts to bail out major banks and rescue the financial system provoked a popular firestorm that ignited both right-wing Republicans and left-wing Democrats. Mr. Paul’s amendment would instruct the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to carry out audits of all the Fed’s operations. Those include an array of emergency lending programs, bailouts of giant financial institutions, dealings with foreign central banks and the central bank’s efforts to drive down interest rates by intervening in bond markets. Mr. Frank had already agreed that the G.A.O. should be authorized to audit all of the Fed’s rescue programs, but he had wanted to wall off the Fed’s more basic job of setting interest rates to steer the economy."
Vote on overall financial reform package stalled by Black Caucus members demanding more action on economy. The Hill: "Frank delayed the panel’s final vote after Congressional Black Caucus members said they would withhold their votes. 'It has nothing to do with the underlying bill,' said Steve Adamske, Frank’s spokesman. 'It has to do with larger economic issues with the African American community.'"more »
nov
19
2009
10:05 am
10:05 am
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day
Senate Health Care Bill Cuts Deficit more »
nov
18
2009
10:03 am
10:03 am
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day
Senate Bill And CBO Estimate Today (Really, Maybe, We Think) more »
nov
17
2009
10:09 am
10:09 am
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day
Obama Mentions Currency, Hu Doesn't more »
nov
16
2009
9:45 am
9:45 am
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day
Currency, Trade, Climate Focus of China Trip more »
