A Movement in Search of a Message?

After some soul searching, John van Hecke at Minnesota 2020 laments just that:

It's pop quiz time, folks. Question #1: what's the progressive message? Question #2: what's the conservative message? Question #3: Was question 1 or 2 easier to answer?

Unfortunately, the answer to question 3 is question 2. Everyone knows the conservative message: no taxes, no gay marriage, no immigration, and no abortions. The conservative message isn’t the problem.

No, the problem is the progressive message. We don't have one. It's not a degree of cogency, either. Progressives lack a single, coherent message.

A great many progressive activists will disagree with me, citing human rights, reproductive rights, civil rights, single-payer healthcare, and green transit. They're correct but they make my point. A panoply of diffuse issues, no matter how well intentioned, is not a broad, resonant progressive message.

For the past forty-odd years, conservatives have managed message creation, moving from fringe to mainstream. Looking toward the 2008 legislative session, I was curious about their policy and political positioning. So, I toured Minnesota's conservative advocacy organizations’ websites, studying their issues and message.

Frankly, it's what I expected.

The Minnesota Family Council and Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life oppose gay marriage and abortions while obsessing over sexuality. The Center for the American Experiment's most recent pieces advocate for school vouchers and employer-based health insurance. Minnesota Majority exhorts an anti-immigrant enforcement agenda. The Free Market Institute, the 501c3 arm of the Tax Payers League, opposes taxes and proposes "borrow and spend" transportation funding.

The conservative policy advocacy organizations are parts of a whole. They could be a divisive, disastrous mix yet they create a cohesive conservative message. While conservative cooperation is straining at the seams, their political leadership maintains their centralized message.

Mind you that Matt Entenza's "Minnesota 2020" prides itself as being a "non partisan" progressive think tank, yet somehow goes out of its way to make it a point to bash Republicans.

But hasn't the message, "Whatever it is, I'm against it!" been the democrat "progressive" message all along?

Yet all is not lost for our democrat progressive friends. For if the democrats err..."progressives" at Minnesota 2020 can't come up with a cohesive message, then by golly they'll steal one:

A smart message starts with a smart goal: moving Minnesota forward. When our message exceeds the sum of its parts, we succeed. Until that moment, it's just wishful thinking.

Now where have I heard that one before?

Glad you joined the club, folks.