When it rolled out its three previous alternative budgets, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, to be charitable, didn't do a very good job of spreading the word. What little media coverage appeared was awful. But mostly it was non-existent. That lesson seems to have been learned. This time around, with the Better Off Budget—which was
reported on here at Daily Kos last week—the CPC has put together a
website with videos, links to the proposal and to articles and commentary about it, and other relevant material. The budget has been given its own hashtag, #betteroffbudget. The caucus has scheduled a webcast of its March 19 roundtable on the budget and encouraged "citizen sponsors" to publicly endorse it. There is a concerted effort under way to spur local media coverage.
This is a marked improvement over past efforts.
But getting the word out on this progressive alternative to both the Republican budget being put together by Rep. Paul Ryan and President Obama's budget shouldn't be left to the 73-member caucus alone. Like any good progressive project, this one requires citizen activism. Letting people know that this fiscally smart, job-creating, oil-subsidy smashing, infrastructure-building budget exists can be an important aspect of mid-terms campaigning this fall.
As you can see over on the right, one thing you can do to build support is sign our petition to Congress favoring the Better Off Budget. We've already surpassed our 10,000-signature goal, but there is no reason that number can't be doubled or even tripled over the next couple of weeks.
If you've got the time, one very important way to spread the word is to ensure that your local media cover the budget. One way to accomplish that even in this era of mega-concentration and propaganda disguised as journalism is by helping print and television reporters by doing some of their work for them.
Read more about the Better Off Budget campaign and website—which was put together by the Progressive Congress—and how you can help spread the word about it, below the fold.
An example: The Better Off Budget proposes to spend $820 billion on infrastructure repair and upgrading. There isn't a community in the country that doesn't have unmet infrastructure needs, some building or program that's falling down from deferred maintenance or some project that has been on everybody's mind for years but never makes it into the county or municipal or state budget. If you don't already know, find out what it is. Track down a couple of people who would be positively affected doing those repairs or building that project and willing to talk to reporters about it. Then track down a likely-to-be-sympathetic state legislator who would talk about the benefits on camera or in print. Even if you live in a red state, there will be such lawmakers. (Of course, you may have to educate him or her on the Better Off Budget first.) Voilà, half the story is done. Now you can pitch it to a reporter, editor, producer or publisher. Be polite, but be persistent.
If you've got the time and courage, you can write a commentary on the budget yourself and deliver it to your local newspaper. If they won't take an op-ed, turn it into a letter to the editor. Or you can encourage that state legislator to write such an op-ed. Maybe you're lucky enough to have a member of the Progressive Caucus in your state who you should have an easy time getting to write an op-ed or sit for an interview. Every member of the caucus ought to be writing these as a matter of course, but some will need nudging.
Then there is the matter of your local members of Congress who aren't in the Congressional Progressive Caucus. You're probably not going to persuade any Republicans, but there are plenty of Democrats who need your efforts. None of the previous three CPC budgets managed to get 100 votes in the House. That means a
majority of Democrats didn't vote for it. Let your own representative or one in a district near yours know that you want them to take the Better Off Budget seriously.
The CPC is doing its job at presenting a solid alternative to budget business as usual. It's our job to help the caucus give it a fair and thorough hearing in the media and in Congress.