Almost everywhere you look, the news for progressives hasn't been good. Republicans have been seizing control of state after state, and enacting terrible laws.
That's what makes the victory on Net Neutrality sort of an outlier. And it's worth asking what was different about this issue that led to such a convincing victory, when it was considered all but dead a year ago. Are there lessons for advocates of other causes?
Below are a few thoughts. Add yours in the comments.
What made the Net Neutrality victory possible:
• Overwhelming public support. This was obviously crucial. In fact, public support was so overwhelming that in the end, even the corporate-owned Republicans backed down. OK, so how was that support mobilized?
• Smart use of language. Starting with the "Net Neutrality" name: short, simple, memorable, even alliterative. And by stressing "neutrality" the message sounds middle-of-the-road and nonpartisan. The word suggests fairness and the common good; why wouldn't you support it? Also: describing non-privileged users as being stuck in the "slow lane" was a powerful image that everybody can understand. A complex technical issue was made clear and tangible. (By contrast, Ted Cruz's attempt to brand Net Neutrality as "Obamacare for the Internet" was so lame even Republicans rejected it.)
• Capitalizing on existing resentments against the corporations that run our lives. Who doesn't hate Comcast? By making this about the monopolists and not an abstract technology issue, progressives took advantage of the facts on the ground.
• "Never say die" persistence. I can't recall an issue on which progressives have ever hammered as relentlessly as they did on this one. Even when the picture looked bleak, we didn't give up, but redoubled our efforts. Conservatives have beaten us with sheer dogged persistence many times; it's time to start returning the favor!
• Enlisting natural (and unnatural) allies. Sure, some of the big tech companies were on our side. But so were a lot of libertarians, who saw where paid prioritization of traffic could end up. An open Internet is near and dear to them. There are other issues like this (abortion comes to mind) on which progressives and libertarians can agree.
• Forcing the President's hand. Franklin Roosevelt famously told a group of progressives to "make me do it" regarding an issue he agreed with but didn't want to expend political capital on. We made Obama support Net Neutrality.
That's my list. What lessons do you think progressives can learn from this victory?