by Brian Nedweski
Progressives must find ways to not give money to Conservatives. Conservative minded owners and managers dominate in the financial, energy, and business fields. They end up taking most the profit in these areas. So when Progressives pay mortgages, pay insurance premiums, and buy gas the lion’s share usually goes to Conservatives: banks, insurance companies. and oil companies. These folks usually use some of their profits to shore up their enterprises, even when these enterprises are detrimental to the well being of Progressives and the nation.
The campaign against health care reform provides a good example. Progressives for the most part backed a sensible government ran health program, a "one payer" system, but would have settled for a lesser alternative, such as the “public option”. They, just as others, were spending hard earned money on health insurance policies and saw that rising prices were blocking access to healthcare. Private medical insurers used some of this policy money they profited on to support and hire individuals and groups bent on stopping any attempt to create a government ran public health insurance program, directly against the interest of Progressives. They used money from Progressives to work against the Progressives’ interest. Insurance companies employed an army of lobbyists to influence congress and stop serious health care reform. These same lobbyists, in turn, hired PR agencies to help them do their work, in some instances by stirring up public sentiment with phony facts and arguments to create public opposition against Progressives, e.g. the tea party.
It isn’t of course only health care, many of the same players who have been enlisted to thwart health care reform also have had a hand in blocking pro-environmental legislation and financial reform. No surprise, some of these guys are former legislators, for example Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich.
One important thing Progressives can do is find a way to create a Progressive "economic loop" by exchanging their money and resources with like others who will provide them with needed services. It should be more than paying admission at the small independent cinema that dares to show movies with a point of view not sanctioned in corporate boardrooms, though this certainly is a start. It must be more substantial. Progressive folks should use banks and institutions with a Progressive view and agenda when they seek loans for homes, shop for food and goods at farms and stores owned by Progressives. This will help form the backbone of a new community.
I don’t know where all the alternatives can be found and even if they exist. Obviously there are not any major Progressive oil companies out there, and the same can be said of financial institutions and health care insurers. Perhaps Progressives need to create their own institutions. This would do several important things. It would at least stop some of the economic support that Progressives provide Conservatives with. More importantly I think it would create a larger power base for Progressives. Obviously, money talks. Progressives need to talk more. They don’t need to argue with their redneck neighbors, they need to become a financial force.