Progressive Democrats of America has come the closest to such a vision, and for that reason I am pleased to come on board and offer whatever input I can in advancing a progressive approach to electoral work. This does not mean that PDA has succeeded in overcoming all challenges. That would be unrealistic to expect. Yet, PDA has been fearless in challenging the Democratic Party mainstream from its left. It has been pushing the Democratic Party and not falling prey to those who encourage silence and caution for fear that to do otherwise will support the idiots of the Tea Party movement. PDA knows better.

We need PDA to do three major things. First, it must have a stronger strategy to reach out to social movements of people of color and unite with them. A large part of the vitality of the Rainbow effort was that it was grounded in the African American movement but was not exclusive to the African American movement.

Second, the PDA approach is one that should ring true within the ranks of organized labor. Union activists aligned with PDA need to gain a hearing for PDA within the various levels of the movement including the rank and file, but also top leaders. The electoral strategy of organized labor has, for all intents and purposes, run its course and the need for programmatic and organizational independent politics within the movement is needed more than ever. PDA can help point in the right direction.

Third, we need PDA to inspire local counterparts that can operate at the state, county and municipal levels. We need a progressive electoral movement guided by a strategic objective of strengthening social movements and winning power. The local is critical to that approach.

The other day I received an email from a young woman I have never met. She expressed her disappointment that President Obama has not accomplished all that she hoped. She indicated that she will probably vote for a 3rd party candidate in 2012. She asked my opinion. What struck me is that this woman is illustrative of the people that PDA needs to reach. She despairs with the current state of US electoral politics, a completely understandable reaction, but what she is missing is a sense of electoral strategy. She is looking at the electoral arena as both a location for ‘salvation,’ (i.e., why has Obama not turned everything around and done all that we—progressives—have asked) and/or an arena for an expression of dissatisfaction (i.e., protest candidacies that have no chance of winning). What she is not considering is the electoral arena as a location for a fight for political power. In other words, she has not yet been won to a progressive electoral strategy that gives her confidence that we can actually win change that we can believe in AND realize.

PDA must be part of providing those answers. I look forward to helping out. *Bill Fletcher, Jr. is an editorial board member of BlackCommentator.com, a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum, co-founder of the Center for Labor Renewal and the co-author (with Dr. Fernando Gapasin) of Solidarity Divided. He can be reached at ** This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it * *.*

Written by :

Andrea Miller