In many areas, progressives feel blocked and on the defensive. But there are, in fact, far more open spaces on the political checkerboard than we often consider. The American system allows for political initiatives that can take the offensive across a range of scales and locations. Some squares on the board are currently closed, but others may be open for doing something interesting. A serious checkerboard strategy could lead to longer-term national solutions as well.
The city-by-city, state-by-state Progressive Era buildup to national women’s suffrage offers a well-known example of a checkerboard offensive. Another involved the state-by-state buildup of work and safety regulations prior to the New Deal. In more recent times, numerous places on the checkerboard have demonstrated how progress on social issues can be made as well, square by square, over time, even in a very conservative era.
Prior to 2004, for instance, no state in the nation allowed same-sex marriage. Today, less than 10 years later, same-sex marriage is legal in 11 states and the District of Columbia. Moreover, broader public opinion is slowly turning in favor of equal rights for same-sex couples. Step by step, further progress is all but certain.
Similarly, fed up with the harsh repercussions of the failed drug war, a majority of Americans now favor legalization or decriminalization of marijuana—and two states, Colorado and Washington, recently voted in favor of legalization. (Many more already permit the use of medical marijuana.)
Just below the surface of public awareness, other important economic and environmental advances have long been developing in cities and states occupying different squares on the board. Although the national press rarely covers state and local issues, the advances include little-noticed progressive policies in support of cooperatives and worker-owned firms, publicly and neighborhood-owned land development, public power and internet delivery, new environmentally sustainable energy strategies, even public enterprise, including publicly owned health care facilities.
Numerous additional policies operating in various parts of the country could also be turned to progressive advantage and expanded over time—if there were a clear strategic determination to do so (and a lot of hard work). Among others, these include: municipal investing strategies, state venture capital investing, pension and retirement fund investing, move your money and bank transfer efforts, land and mineral revenues for public benefit, and municipal methane-capture efforts. On a larger scale, public banking efforts similar to the Bank of North Dakota and progressive health care reforms similar to those recently adopted in Vermont are being pursued in dozens of states.
Even more important—as the long developing pre- history of women’s fight for the vote, the long developing pre-history of the New Deal, and now the developing state- by-state changes in connection with same-sex marriage and marijuana all suggest—much larger national change is likely ultimately to build upon the experience developed by local and state work done now, square by square, across the national checkerboard.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
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With love, rage, and solidarity,
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