Imagine
Is everyone familiar with Utne magazine? It’s a cool progressive rag, for those who may not know it. The current issue has a picture of the Statue of Liberty on the cover. The main story is “Imagine The America You Want: 14 Creative Ways to Make It Real.” I don’t want to plagiarize anyone, but maybe I can summarize enough information to encourage interested people to pick up the magazine.
The cover package makes one primary assumption, namely that the Conservative Right has been better at selling its message than the Liberal Left has been during the last couple of decades. The series of stories enumerates the ways the members of the conservative mindset have gone about getting their message out. It seems to me that these are good methods to get any message out, not just political ones.
Anyway, here are the points in the order listed in the magazine: Think Long-Term; Be Populist, Not Elitist; Embrace Institutions; Support What’s Working; Court Unlikely Allies; Socialize; Get Personal; Listen with All You’ve Got; Ask Questions; Don’t Try To Convince Anyone of Anything; Take the Next Step; Be the Change You Want to See; Think Pink; and Make Protests Fun.
Some of those points are ambiguous, which I suppose gives readers reason to pick up the magazine. There is one in particular, though, that struck me as interesting. It’s “Embrace Institutions.” Basically, the argument is that the Right had a lot of success by motivating the Religious Right (although that seems like a chicken-or-egg assertion to me), while the Left has largely ignored the Religious Left.
I’m not a religious guy, but that argument resonated with me. If progressive people are going to make the most of this Administration’s abdication of the moral high ground, those social gains are going to come in large part from the pulpits, the pews and the Moral Left.