[cross-posted at Shouting Loudly]
Last night was the kickoff of the Rebuild The Dream movement. Spearheaded by Van Jones, Natalie Foster, and Billy Wimsatt, Rebuild The Dream is designed to be a progressive "meta-brand" -- a counterweight to the Tea Party movement, that helps unite a variety of progressive causes under a shared banner. The kickoff went well, and there's some real buzz within the broader progressive community that this could be something special.
I'm cautiously optimistic about Rebuild The Dream, for three reasons: the stakes, the players, and Van himself. For it to be successful, however, they're going to have to overcome one traditional dilemma which I'll call "the college progressive alliance problem."
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At one point or another, every student activist has been invited to join a "progressive alliance." College campuses are full of activist groups, all of which have overlapping values and none of which have enough members. This naturally gives rise to the suggestion that "we should all work together!" A meeting is called, group leaders show up, enthusiastic conversations about power-building and support happen, and everyone genuinely agrees that they're going to work together more. Depending on the decade, a listserv or website might be established. Somebody offers to publish a calendar of events.
Depending on the quality of the organizers, this alliance lasts anywhere from one to six months before the inevitable happens. People get busy. Competing challenges and priorities set in. Each group leader has to prune some worthwhile ideas from their to-do list. The progressive alliance simply isn't urgent enough, or immediately salient enough, to make the cut. Note that these alliances rarely fall to infighting between competing groups. There isn't much infighting, because the alliance doesn't make resource allocation decisions. It's just there to be supportive. But that lightweight support is also what makes it so easy to discard.
Back in my Sierra Student Coalition days, I took part in a half-dozen of these alliances before realizing that they were all plagued by the same systematic problem. At that point, I started focusing more resolutely on campaigns. Campaigns are designed to "challenge the balance of power, give people a sense of their own power, and make real, concrete improvements in people's lives" (According to the Midwest Academy and Saul Alinsky. And they're dead-on about this one). They are comprised of tough, grueling, meaningful work. And they require constant attention -- they're the item that stays on your to-do list, even as you start cutting out items like "homework," "friends," and "sleep."
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Rebuild The Dream is not a campaign (nor should it be). It's also not a coalition. Van calls it a "meta-brand." It's one part social movement, two parts meme, and one part enabling technology. But what will that mean in practice? How, when organizations get busy, will it avoid the College Progressive Alliance Problem?
For starters, they have three things working in their favor.
1. The Stakes. Rebuild The Dream is forming in response to an ongoing assault on the middle and working class. Authors like Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson have effectively outlined just how serious the stakes are. Between Citizens United, "the other 98%" campaign, the Ryan budget plan/assault on social security, and the Wisconsin labor fight, there is a lot more interest among progressives in uniting under a single banner than would usually be the case. I'm primarily an environmentalist, but I'd be happy to work on tax reform these days, because the system is so profoundly broken and that breakage so clearly affects the issues I care about. In that sense, I'd say that the time is ripe for something like this. Timing isn't everything in politics, but it sure does help.
2. The Team. Natalie, Billy, and Van are held in the highest regard within the broader progressive movement. These are savvy, veteran organizers. From top to bottom, the other staff that they've recruited are solid players, with experience in the netroots and experience in older, legacy organizations.
The list of organizations that have agreed to put muscle behind this project is also pretty damn impressive. SEIU and AFL-CIO, Change.org and Move, Center for Community Change and Campaign for America's Future. Let me say that again: SEIU and AFL-CIO. Those are two labor giants who don't always see eye-to-eye. Having all those groups at the table means that Rebuild The Dream doesn't need to worry about building its list or creating a drumbeat among the activist base. They're already provided.
3. Van. This is the x-factor. Most people know Van Jones as "that guy who Glen Beck got booted from the White House because of a truther petition." Long before he joined the White House as Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones was being hailed as a singular voice among environmentalists and labor activists. He has a once-in-a-generation oratorical gift. Frankly, without Van Jones, I would dismiss this meta-brand without a second thought. But so many progressive activists have been deeply and personally inspired by the man (myself among them), that it deserves a much longer look.
Those are the reasons why it might work. Now here's my $.02 on how it needs to work.
First, to avoid the college progressive alliance problem, Rebuild the Dream has to give people regular, meaningful activities to engage in. The infrastructure is there already, so Natalie and company should focus on highlighting shared activities that all of the supporter base can engage in. They're off to a good start, with a July 5th event and an October conference. I'd suggest having one nationwide, distributed activity per month. This can be activism or service-oriented, reflective practice or mobilization. But it has to be regular. Otherwise Rebuild The Dream becomes "that great speech that Van gave that one time." And this movement needs to be something more.
These events should mostly be proactive, rather than reactive. The Netroots are optimally built for reactive politics (I call this "headline chasing" in my book). The day-to-day work of fighting the Ryan plan, pursuing the Wisconsin recalls, and battling the next crazy idea that our opponents roll out should be left to the existing organizations. Don't try to play in that sandbox, that isn't the movement's niche. Instead, focus on proactive -- building the vision, demonstrating its mass appeal, creating a shared narrative of what the American Dream means to populist progressives.
Second, put Van out there as much as possible. There is no such thing as "overexposure" where he's concerned. He is your greatest asset, use him accordingly. I mention this because Van has tried to make clear that "this is not about one charismatic individual. It's about all of us." ...Well, yes and no. He has to say that, and I know he believes it to be true. But strategically, it kind of is about a charismatic individual. Van Jones has a gift like no other for giving voice to deeply held progressive patriotism. If Rebuild The Dream is going to overcome the college progressive alliance problem, it will be in no small part because of that gift.
Here's hoping it succeeds. God knows we need something like this, now more than ever.