[Dialogue] Fwd: Announcing the Progressive Manual Project

[Karl Hess]

Rather than wringing our hands, or sticking our heads in the sand, 
this might be the most useful thing to do.

Karl

>Delivered-To: khess at apk.net
>Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 17:28:33 -0700 (PDT)
>From: The Rockridge Institute <info at rockridgeinstitute.org>
>Reply-To: The Rockridge Institute 
><reply.47931.39940252.7046149846648609178-khess_apk.net at en.groundspring.org>
>To: <khess at apk.net>
>Subject: Announcing the Progressive Manual Project
>
>Rockridge Institute Updates
>
>
>August, 2005
>
>Dear Friends,
>
>As we pass midsummer, Americans struggle with a jobless recovery, an 
>intractable war in Iraq, continuing environmental damage, assaults 
>on progressive achievements, and an extremely conservative but 
>stealthy Supreme Court nominee.
>
>Now more than ever, Americans need tools to convey the progressive 
>vision and agenda for our country, and to do so honestly, 
>energetically, and persuasively. The Rockridge Institute has been 
>busy building an effective institution to serve this need.
>
>The Institute has gained support from people across the country 
>because we understand the stakes and because we are committed to 
>making a critical contribution to the progressive movement. We are 
>pleased to announce the Progressive Manual Project: an essential and 
>strategic initiative that will be our major focus for the next 
>several years.
>
>The Progressive Manual Project
>
>Conservatives benefit from a powerful idea factory, a system of 
>dozens of think tanks, created over 40 years with more than $2 
>billion in cumulative funding. These think tanks have done 
>tremendous intellectual work to develop a foundation of conservative 
>ideas and ideology. Conservatives use this foundation of ideas to 
>argue their case across a wide range of individual issues. 
>Conservatives' effort to promote their ideas is equally impressive; 
>in addition to their influence on talk radio and television news, 
>the think tanks themselves spend nearly as much to market their 
>ideas as they spend to create them.
>
>Even though the scale, structure, and mission of the conservative 
>think tanks has been widely reported, nothing comparable exists to 
>develop and consolidate core progressive ideas and help explain them 
>to the public. This debilitating void is precisely what the 
>Rockridge Institute seeks to fill with the Progressive Manual 
>Project. Using techniques from cognitive science, the project will 
>build a foundation of the most important progressive ideas, and 
>provide a practical toolkit for people working day-to-day to advance 
>the progressive policy agenda.
>
>Much of the work of Progressive Manual Project involves analysis of 
>the foundation of political ideas that supports the policy agenda of 
>conservatives and progressives:
>
>Analyzing the full range of values, principles, and ideas that 
>provide the conceptual foundations of both conservative and 
>progressive policy.
>Identifying the many conceptual gaps in progressive arguments and 
>suggesting ways to fill them, consistent with progressive values.
>Working out the values-based reasoning that motivates progressive policies.
>With such results in hand, the Rockridge Institute will produce a 
>Progressive Manual. The manual will provide those working in policy 
>and advocacy with a concise summary of core progressive concepts and 
>values. It will show how those concepts and values support a broad 
>range of policy directions involving environment, education, health 
>care, jobs, security, and other areas. It will provide practical 
>tools, ideas, and suggested language for those working day-to-day to 
>build support for the progressive agenda.
>
>The Progressive Manual Project will lay out the sophisticated system 
>of conservative ideas expressed in simple terms by their slogans 
>(e.g. limited government, lower taxes, strong defense, traditional 
>values, and free markets). It will draw on the most useful features 
>of guides such as the Heritage Foundation's Mandate for Leadership 
>and the manuals of Frank Luntz, while maintaining the highest 
>standards of intellectual rigor, honesty, and truth.
>
>The project will deliver its results in several forms:
>
>The manual itself, given away free over the internet, 
>chapter-by-chapter, to progressive organizations and individuals.
>A multi-chapter hard-copy reference book
>A dynamic, interactive on-line resource, updated regularly with 
>examples and additional analyses
>A robust support infrastructure to train, support, educate and 
>empower issue advocates and activists across the country.
>Our approach to the Progressive Manual and the research behind it 
>will be highly collaborative, to bring together the best ideas from 
>across the progressive community and building alignment among the 
>important constituencies involved. We're borrowing approaches proven 
>in the open source software movement to do this. By collaborating 
>with people who work day-to-day for progressive change, we will 
>validate the ideas as they are developed, and ensure the usefulness 
>and relevance of our written product. This open-source approach 
>distinguishes Rockridge from many think tanks in which the research 
>and writing is done by a small, closed group. We will begin 
>soliciting participation in the upcoming months.
>
>In the first phase of the projects, underway now and through spring 
>2006, we plan to complete two chapters of the manual and the idea 
>analysis on which it is based. One of these chapters will focus on 
>the foundation of ideas from which all progressive policy follows; 
>the other will focus specifically on the environment. Once the first 
>phase has been completed successfully, we aim to ramp up our 
>organizational capability to work on four to six chapters 
>simultaneously. Because we will release chapters as soon as they are 
>finished, there will be a fairly regular stream of results from 
>Rockridge Institute as the project proceeds.
>
>Recent Successes
>
>The past 12 months have been a time of tremendous growth and 
>excitement for the Rockridge Institute.
>
>George Lakoff's book, Don't Think of an Elephant, became a hit in 
>its genre (more than 200,000 copies sold), making its way on to 
>several best seller lists.
>The New York Times recently ran a cover story on George Lakoff in 
>its Sunday magazine, a strong statement of his impact and influence.
>George Lakoff has addressed millions of Americans through 
>television, radio, and live audiences. He's appeared on Bill Moyers' 
>Now!, Air America, Talk of the Nation, On the Media, Morning 
>Edition, CSPAN and dozens of local radio shows. He's been 
>interviewed or written about in Time, Newsweek, Washington Monthly, 
>Washington Journal, Atlantic Monthly, and New Republic.
>Lakoff has delivered keynotes at leading activist and advocacy group 
>meetings across the country. He's spoken to sell-out crowds in 
>multiple cities including Austin, Dallas, Seattle, Denver, San Jose, 
>San Francisco, and St. Louis.
>The Rockridge Institute has made "framing" a household word, making 
>progressives everywhere conscious of the ideas they emphasize and 
>the words they employ to advance their policy goals.
>Journalists have begun to recognize that their choice of words in 
>reporting is a critical political decision. They have started to 
>write stories specifically to decode the use of language in 
>politics, such as how words like "privatization" and "personal 
>accounts" influence the social security debate.
>And, perhaps most important, progressives across the country, both 
>individuals and groups, have been given an enthusiastic sense of 
>hope. They now understand how conservatives have framed the debate, 
>and they feel they can fight back effectively. The Progressive 
>Manual Project will give them the tools.
>Building Organizational Capacity
>
>Both our recent success and the start of the Progressive Manual 
>Project led us to make some important changes that strengthen our 
>organization.
>
>First, despite many requests to do short-term, targeted messaging 
>work on a fee-for-service basis, we affirm a strategic commitment to 
>develop an overall platform of progressive ideas and values--a 
>focused and pro-active approach that is needed by progressives 
>everywhere.
>
>Four new researchers have joined the institute to help with the 
>research and writing for the Manual: Nancy Urban, Jessica Stites, 
>Kenton deKirby, and Erik Sahlin, joining Alyssa Wulf and Dan Kurtz. 
>This team brings tremendous expertise in cognitive linguistics, as 
>well as background in American history, political science and other 
>relevant areas. We have also trained five new interns who have been 
>making valuable contributions to our research.
>
>Lastly, in order to improve our focus and alignment, we separated 
>the original Rockridge Institute into two independent organizations. 
>The Rockridge Institute continues the ground-breaking linguistics 
>work of George Lakoff and will be responsible for the Progressive 
>Manual Project. The Longview Institute will analyze public policy 
>primarily from a sociological perspective. The separation will 
>improve focus, and maximize the success of both endeavors. As you 
>can see, we've been busy. We've been building a smoothly functioning 
>and productive think tank, putting together an outstanding research 
>staff, and diving into the work of analysis and development of the 
>manual.
>
>We Need Your Help
>
>The Rockridge Institute is a critical piece of the progressive 
>infrastructure and it needs funds from the progressive community to 
>operate. We need to raise roughly $500,000 in additional funds to 
>complete the first two chapters of the progressive manual. So, at 
>this point, the most valuable contribution you can make to the 
>Rockridge Institute is a financial one. Chapter sponsorship is 
>especially helpful: you can support specific issue chapters - on the 
>environment, education, feminism, and other areas. Please visit our 
><http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=39940252&u=367062>secure 
>donation page to make a contribution. We also enthusiastically 
>welcome any advice, suggestions, introductions, etc. that you can 
>provide to help us raise the necessary financial support.
>
>* * *
>
>In closing, let me offer our sincere thanks for your continued 
>interest in the Rockridge Institute, for your advice and 
>encouragement, for your thoughtful and constructive criticism, for 
>your patience with us in our first year, and for the financial 
>support you have provided. Without your help, we would not have 
>achieved our current solid intellectual foundation, broad public 
>awareness, our small but excellent staff, and the ability to start 
>work on a project of critical importance to progressives everywhere.
>
>If you didn't receive this letter via email, please sign up at 
><http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=39940252&u=367063>http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/newsletter/subscribe 
>for future announcements. I welcome your ongoing comments and 
>suggestions about the directions outlined here. Please feel free to 
>e-mail us at: 
><mailto:info at rockridgeinstitute.org>info at rockridgeinstitute.org or 
>call me directly at 510-204-0646 extension 222.
>
>Best regards,
>
>
>David Brodwin
>
>Executive Director
>
>
>
>You received this message because you are subscribed to this 
>Rockridge Institute mailing list as khess at apk.net. Click 
><mailto:unsubscribe.47931.39940252.7046149846648609178-khess_apk.net at en.groundspring.org>here 
>to unsubscribe, or send email to 
>unsubscribe.47931.39940252.7046149846648609178-khess_apk.net at en.groundspring.org.
>
><http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=39940252&u=367064>The 
>Rockridge Institute
>
>
>2140 Shattuck Ave. Suite 801
>Berkeley, California 94704
>United States
>
>