From MoveOn to Movement-Building

[BigBearJohn]

The crushing defeat suffered by Democrats and their presidential candidate last year inspired many party loyalists to reconsider their political strategy and their funding priorities. It was a healthy, if overdue sign, and some hopeful new work has commenced. But despite the needed questioning of business as usual, there's little evidence of any widespread shift away from the failed paradigms that have dominated liberal activism for many years.

A handful of visionary organizations tackle the root issue of government of, by, and for corporations and the very rich. Grassroots organizations like ReclaimDemocracy.org, and Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy, along with regional groups like Democracy Unlimited in Eureka, CA, and the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund in Pennsylvania, have worked for years to shift people's energy from damage control to taking the offensive against corporate dominance.

Both ReclaimDemocracy.org and Democracy Unlimited, for example, are advancing campaigns to strip corporations of the power to corrupt ballot initiatives with corporate cash. While starting with local and state-level campaigns, their sights are clearly set on overturning the court-created fiction of "corporate free speech" that overwhelms citizens' ability to govern.

In the meantime, all of us have a choice to make with our own contributions of time or money that can lead the way to change. One great success of MoveOn is proving that average citizens can collectively raise funds that, if properly channeled, could change the future of our country.

Now we all must choose. Will we continue to give our money to damage control and fighting one crisis after another or will we fund those groups capable of shifting the balance of power from corporate elites back to we, the people?

SOURCE: http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Nov05/Frant1108.htm