The Voices

Spoken Word

Lunch Session - Take Back America

Speaker(s): 

Michael Tomasky
Representative Mel Watt, D-NC
Barbara Ehrenreich

Closing Rally: Building a New Majority for Real Change - Take Back America 2007

Speaker(s): 

Howard Dean
Anna Burger
Jesse Jackson

Howard Dean speaks at the Closing Rally at Take Back America 2007.

Progressive Opinion

Moguls Steal Home While Companies Strike Out

From our offices in Manhattan, we look out on the tall, gleaming skyscrapers that are cathedrals of wealth and power -- the Olympus ruled by the gods of finance, the temples of the mighty, the holy of holies, whose priests guard the sacred texts of salvation -- the ones containing the secrets of subprime lending and derivatives as mysterious and elusive as the Grail itself. read more »

Where Is The Outrage, Where Is The Debate?

All the economic pain and uncertainty leading up to what may still become a catastrophe had before now had mostly been buried in the business section. But even now, media coverage is tepid, superficial and misleading. Here's what we need to do. read more »

Tackle Wealth Concentration

Not since the era of the robber barons have so few held such a large piece of our economic pie. We are unlikely to achieve the policy changes that will benefit working people as long as our country tolerates extreme levels of wealth concentration. read more »

Tackle Wealth Concentration

Not since the era of the robber barons have so few held such a large piece of our economic pie. We are unlikely to achieve the policy changes that will benefit working people as long as our country tolerates extreme levels of wealth concentration. read more »

The Winning Frame has Emerged

Sometimes, people think of framing in presidential elections as a tug of war.  We set our frame, they set theirs; whichever side pulls the hardest wins. 

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Who Will Be In Obama's Cabinet?

alternet.org — For a clue as to what kinds of people either Sen. John McCain or Sen. Barack Obama would carry into office, look at the top campaign advisers, fundraisers and staffers already around them, for they're likely to move right along with their man. If progressives look at Obama's team through the conventional political lens, they'll get worried. Before panicking, however, let's note that little about the Obama campaign is conventional.

What Really Scares Us About Barack Obama

haaretz.com — What an expatriate finds after returning to the United States: America now seems to be eroding under the pressure of its fears, and as that happens Americans appear to be valuing mediocrity over excellence, turning a blind eye to facing hard truths full on.

Moving Obama Left

inthesetimes.com — These questions still haunt progressives about Sen. Barack Obama. Does an Obama presidency promise dramatic and progressive change, as his rhetoric sometimes suggests? Or will Obama simply shift from Bush’s neoconservatism back to the confused — if slightly less conservative — perspective of the Democratic Party establishment? The answer may depend on how progressives respond to the challenge of building the expectations and organizations that put demands on an Obama presidency. Here's an in-depth look at what progressives face.

What Patriotism Is

Details of Sen. Barack Obama's speech on patriotism got buried in the wake of General Wesley Clark's politically lunkheaded comment that "riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down" doesn't qualify Sen. John McCain to be president. But over the Fourth of July weekend, it might be appropriate and enlightening to take a few minutes to read or watch the whole thing. read more »

Creating New Progressive Narratives

The character John Rambo says in the movie, "First Blood," “In the field, we had a code of honor. You watch my back, I watch yours. Back here there's nothing!” That Nothing is what movement conservatives are selling. It is time we said so. read more »