Majority Agenda Project

signatories || what you can do || transportation

The NAACP, SEIU 1199, United for Peace and Justice, the AFL-CIO, Green for All, and a broad range of civil rights, labor, peace and social justice organizations around the country are calling upon us to join them on October 2 in Washington. Leading with a demand for jobs, this will be a massive demonstration to blunt the attack from the right and to unify a majority of Americans around a hopeful and inspiring vision of our nation based on social justice, mutual respect and common values.

A Crisis of Democracy/A Vision of Resurgent Democracy

Disquiet and outright anger are rampant across the country. Little wonder.

Fifteen million are out of work. Counting involuntary part-time workers and those who have given up looking for work there are 26.4 million workers who are either unemployed or underemployed. That is 16.9% of the work force – far more than the official 9.7% jobless rate.

The following is the text of presentation to the Deerfield Progressive Forum.

January 23—It was not my intention to begin discussion of the “state of the union” with thoughts on the recent Massachusetts election to fill the seat of the late Senator Ted Kennedy. But given the magnitude of the disaster in my home state, it is a vital starting point for gaining an insight into how much of the public perceives the state of this union.

• Today in the U.S. there is an ongoing, deepening and extremely dangerous economic, environmental and global security crisis that is unfolding before our eyes.
• This crisis consists of a number of interrelated issues (war, environment, debt, jobs, health care, energy, etc.) that are of great importance to everyone who sees their work to be part of a U.S. movement for social justice, social equality and peace.
  

The election of Barack Obama has fueled renewed hope and promise of new opportunities. At the same time, the economic crisis, coupled with a potentially catastrophic crisis of climate change, the nagging war in Iraq and the acute danger of escalation in Afghanistan – all constitute a tsunami of gathering crises that cry out for an effective response from the nation’s progressive majority.

Our country is at a crossroads, facing both great danger and great opportunity. The crisis in which we all find ourselves is a convergence of three major elements: 1) an economic crisis that also extends to health care, education and housing; 2) a unique and catastrophic threat posed by climate change and 3) a complex crisis around issues of war, global security and control over natural resources.