I've got one last work-related trip this week before a blissful break from airports. Well, I have to visit my family in El Salvador next month, but other than that, I'l get to spend quality time at home.
At this point it takes a bit more than sweet talking to get me out of the house, and this trip features two cool events. The first is the annual Drum Major Institute gala. What is DMI?
The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to challenging the tired orthodoxies of both the right and the left. The goal: progressive public policy for social and economic fairness [...] [DMI seeks] to change policy by conducting research into overlooked, but important social and economic issues, by leveraging our strategic relationships to engage policymakers and opinion leaders in our work, and by offering platforms to amplify the ideas of those who are working for social and economic fairness.
Originally called the Drum Major Foundation, DMI was founded by Harry Wachtel, lawyer and advisor to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the turbulent years of the civil rights movement. DMI was relaunched in 1999 by New York attorney William Wachtel, Harry's son, Martin Luther King III, and Ambassador Andrew Young.
It is organizations like the Drum Major Institute that are the building blocks of the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy.
After this Thursday event I will head down to DC for NDN's annual meeting. NDN has done a stellar job of transforming itself (under Simon Rosenberg's leadership) from a "centrist" organization backing "centrist" candidates (with roots at the DLC), to a real incubator of new progressive tactics and policies.
NDN, and it's new think thank the New Politics Institute, have helped legitimize the blogosphere inside the DC bubble, they've engaged in stellar research on the changing face of politics today (check out the stuff on exurbia, the milenial generation, and mastering new media trends at their site), and are at the forefront of efforts to modernize the Democratic Party to adapt to the changing political and media landscapes.
NPI has sponsored blog-related research by Chris Bowers and Matt Stoller and even helped incubate Glenn Greenwald's book How Would a Patriot Act. And I'm a founding fellow of the joint.