Welcome to the Progressive Platform Project!

The Progressive Platform we are building will be a sort of blueprint that we believe all progressives, especially candidates, should follow. It will be our beliefs as progressives, where we stand on various issues, and in many cases, what we believe needs to be done on those issues.

In the first post, the idea of creating a Progressive Platform was introduced. I had posted links to various political platforms, so everyone could get an idea of what we are trying to accomplish. Then you were asked to vote on what planks we should include in our platform.

This week we will briefly discuss planks for our platform.

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Welcome to the Progressive Platform Project!

In the past few months, there have been a lot of discussions in the media and on the blogs about what a progressive is. Many, especially in the media, are of the opinion that a progressive is the same thing as a liberal. But is that really the case? Chris Matthews considers himself a liberal. The DLC folks consider themselves liberal. Most Democrats consider themselves liberal. But are those folks progressive?

Is a progressive the exact same thing as a liberal? If not, what is a progressive? And better yet, what does a progressive, in this day and age, stand for?

These last questions are ones that we will be answering over the course of the next several months while we draft our Progressive Platform.

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As many of you know, a diverse group of your fellow netroots compatriots collaboratively drafted a progressive political platform in hopes of articulating their shared goals and influencing the national platform process.  We sent it to Michael Yaki, the head of the National Platform Committee, and scheduled a conference call to discuss it.  After an hour of freewheeling conversation on the phone, Yaki had to cut out to attend to a call for his "paying job," but he was interested and excited enough about the project that he suggested we reconvene afterward.  We then spent another hour brainstorming ideas about where we might take this kind of project in the future.  

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the process, we used a completely open (anyone could join), transparent (you can see exactly how it was collaboratively built), and democratic (you can vote different original and remixed versions up or down) system to craft the platform.  We think the final, 29-page platform is pretty good for a first try, though we definitely came out with some lessons learned for next time.  But even more exciting than discovering our collective policy writing skills was embarking on a bold experiment in "open-source democracy."

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Marc Ambinder snagged a copy of the draft platform that the 186-member DNC Platform Committee will review and vote on this Saturday in Pittsburg.

Click here to download the drafted document entitled "Renewing America's Promise."

C-SPAN will be providing live coverage of Saturday's platform committee meeting beginning at 9:30AM Saturday, August 9th.

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More than 100 members of the Democratic National Convention's Platform Committee in Cleveland, Ohio this weekend as they begin work on the national platform of the Democratic Party.

According to the Democratic National Committee, once adopted by the National Convention delegates in Denver,  the Democratic Platform will define the clear choice between the new ideas for national renewal of Barack Obama and the Republican policies of the past.

On Friday, August 1, the Committee will hold a National Platform Hearing from 2:00 - 7:00 PM, during which national experts will contribute to the Party's platform on a host of issues, including the economy, health care and energy.

On Saturday, August 2, the Party will hold a "Listening to America Session" roundtable from 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM, during which regular Americans, including Ohioans and participants from the more than 1,300 community platform meetings, will discuss local economic and health care concerns with the committee members.

Also on Saturday, the Platform Drafting Committee will meet from 2:00 - 6:00 PM to prepare an initial draft of the platform.

On Sunday, August 3, the Platform Drafting Committee will continue drafting the platform from 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM.

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