Democratic progressives have launched a new organization to counter ALEC at the state level. It is called the State Innovation Exchange, or SIX.
Its goal is to advance a “people’s agenda,” not a corporate agenda.
An article in politico.com called it an ALEC-killer.
The question is whether this group will detach itself from the neoliberal slant that have put so many Democrats (think Cuomo of Néw York and Malloy of Connecticut and Arne Duncan) in alliance with the right.
ALEC–the American Legislative Exchange Council--is an organization underwritten by major corporations, whose members are state legislators. It writes model state legislation to reduce taxes and regulation on business, to eliminate unions, to promote vouchers and charters, to reduce environmental controls, and to advance a far-right agenda.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Keep an eye on this one.
Newspapers report ALEC “wines and dines” legislators. How will SIX get the representatives’ attention?
Rhetorically, will SIX be, cyberspace-only, like Democrats for Public Education?
Ha! Ha!
Good observation, Linda.
Don’t know if this is feasible without big bucks and talent to write ready-to-use state legislation on “alternative” policies as comprehensive as those of ALEC (multiple topics, not just education) and with a coherent and consistent understanding of “the people’s agenda.” I am also troubled by the “State Innovation Exchange” title, given that “disruptive innovation” has been thoroughly embraced by ALEC and many supporters.. The preferred disruptions are deregulation and more tax breaks for corporations and wealthy people, including their tax havens, notably foundations.
I have also spent most of the day looking at the Pew surveys of the voting public, sample size 10,000 plus, and a typology of voters–eight clusters–based on the values they claim to hold on a range of matters that surface in political discussions. We are not yet a completely bipolar nation but the Pew surveys suggest that there is no “unified” opposition that will make it easy to offer clear alternatives to the state legislation from ALEC.
Conclusions based on Pew info. may be warranted, or not. Their pension research, presented in state capitols and to the media, was later found to have received funding from the anti-pension, Arnold Foundation. A failure to disclose a funder (with a targeted agenda), of high-profile research, that intends to change political policy, is troublesome.
A recent Pew finding indicated Americans had greater worries about the deficit than they did about income inequality. All evidence shows the latter is of greater threat. If the polling isn’t biased, the result may indicate the oligarch-media told the public what issue was important (Fox). Given, better communication, the public’s position may not be fixed.
Agree with your points on funding and I am really familiar with, alert to the use of surveys to push an agenda–push surveys. I have condensed some of the Pew survey information below. Take it or leave it. Some answers confirm stereotypes.
I watched Bill Moyers’ show this morning with John MacArthur. http://video.pbs.org/video/2365385923/ It was great. The basic idea is the same as we in Ohio used to fight off SB5. We gathered a million signatures to show that a million people in Ohio were against what the Senate tried to shove in our faces. We were of the mind set that a million people with a million voices, even if they donated $10, would have more impact than 10 corporations with $100,000 each. It worked. But, it is now being opposed because the ALEC message is being phrased in a way that simply masks the truth and tries to hide what is going on. They turn the tables all the time, simply because they do have the money to slap down the truth with their money. But, if Progressives want to be effective, it is going to take the poor and the middle class who have been slapped down by the outsourcing of manufacturing to stand up with their $10 each. We are being sold down the river.
Democrats for Public Education, did they even commit to a single desk location in Washington, N.Y.C. or anywhere?
Democrats for Education Reform leased prime real estate in N.Y.C.,Washington and, developed 13 branches.
The unproductive financial sector gave Pres. Obama’s campaign, 4 times the amount he received from worker dues (the hard-earned money of people who generate GDP).
How does SIX plan to change the dynamic?
Gotta start somewhere. Sign me up!
ALEC raises funds nationally. SIX’s plan is, to raise funds regionally, in states where Democrats have a chance? SIX’s model legislation will then, face governors like New York’s and R.I.”s, who are funded nationally, by the financial sector.
I think small donations will have better effect at the Center for Media and Democracy. The organization has proven success, in eliminating corporate support for ALEC.
I found this:
Democrats swear the newly created State Innovation Exchange is not the progressive counterpart to ALEC, but they admit there are some things progressives would be happy to borrow from conservatives.
This new group called SiX is hosting its inaugural meeting this weekend at the Omni Shoreham in Washington DC. The group is the formal merger of three groups: the Progressive States Network; the American Legislative Issues and Campaign Exchange; and Center for State Innovation.
Kathy Miller of the Texas Freedom Network will speak at a breakfast tomorrow about Sen. Donna Campbell’s religious freedom bill. Democratic stalwart Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, also is expected to be in attendance. But, for the most part, this gathering is about creating the network to win states where winning a Democratic majority is still possible. No one mentions Texas.
http://www.quorumreport.com/Quorum_Report_Daily_Buzz_2014/taking_a_page_from_conservatives_progressives_laun_buzziid22990.html
“for the most part, this gathering is about creating the network to win states where winning a Democratic majority is still possible. No one mentions Texas.”
Appears that this is a group set up for 2016 presidential run to win the blue states that will lead to Hillary’s electoral victory.
The Dems have written off the south completely http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/08/dems-it-s-time-to-dump-dixie.html
The Democrats should not ignore one red state: Nebraska, because it splits its 5 electoral votes according to the popular vote in the state. Main also splits its 4 electoral votes according to the popular vote.
In addition, 38% of voters voted for Obama in 2012 and 41.6% in 2008. In 2008, Obama got 1 electoral vote from Nebraska but none in 2012.
Every vote counts.
In addition, even in Texas in 2012, Obama still pulled 41.38% of the popular vote and 44.45% in Arizona.
Forget about Utah. No need to campaign there. Utah belongs to the GOP and the Koch brothers, who aren’t even Mormons. They are Catholics.
Mississippi receives more federal money than, the state pays into the system. If Mississippians are unable to understand the implications of that, the state should be encouraged to secede, which would rid the nation of their burden and their unexplainable Koch-supporting electoral votes.
Two Pew surveys–for what they are worth, both September 2014. The first is titled “Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology” based on a survey and follow-up interviews from 10,013 adults (initially identified in the an earlier report Political Polarization in the American Public).
The Pew typology of eight sets of political values and attitudes discloses that most Americans voters today hold consistently liberal or conservative values that reflect and amplify party-line voting. Three groups of voters comprise 43% of registered voters. “Steadfast” Conservatives (15%), “pro-Wall Street, pro-immigrant Business Conservatives” (12%), and “Solid” Liberals (17%).
This typology also identifies four groups of registered voters for whom two-party voting is less predictable. These are called: Faith and Family Left, racially diverse and religious (16%); Young Outsiders, conservative views on government, not on social issues (15%); Next Generation Left, young liberal on social issues, less so on safety net (13%); Hard Pressed Skeptics, financially stressed and pessimistic (13%), and the non-voting Bystanders, about 19% and all of them young, diverse, unengaged.
The Pew analysis of prospects for 2016 elections (made before the midterm elections this year) can be found at the website, including some likely alliances that the two main parties will cultivate from these four groups. The full report includes richer descriptions of the eight groups, their ideological consistency; recent voting preferences, and views on a range of topics from the future of the country to core American values, economic fairness, immigration policy, religion, family and more, including a brief look at political support for the Common Core.
This survey is on-line with some suggested uses of the profiles it generates (while keeping responses anonymous). For example, Diane could invite participants in this blog to answer the survey questions. Her blog-dedicated survey could produce a summary showing commonalities and differences of participants compared with Pew’s the nationally representative sample.
No doubt there are more sophisticated surveys but this seems to have a lot of power for making sense of targeted political messages. I am a confirmed, unrepentant liberal, but not 100% consistent. I knew that before taking the survey at http://www.people-press.org/quiz/political-typology/
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A related Pew Survey examines differences between conservatives and liberals on the importance of teaching 12 different values to children. I did not pursue the reasoning behind the choice of these 12 values, but they resonate with values promoted in character education programs. In any case, the key findings are from a nationally representative panel of randomly selected 3,243 U.S. adults who are part of Pew Research’s new American Trends Panel.
Of the twelve values (traits) in the survey, “Responsibility” is viewed most widely as “especially important to teach children” (93%) and across the ideological/political spectrum.
Large majorities in all ideological/political groups also think it is important for children to learn “Independence,” “Hard work,” and “Good manners.” In addition, three-quarters or more in all groups valued “Helping others.” About equal majorities valued teaching “Independence” and “Persistence.”
Opinions about the importance of these traits in child rearing (and by extension teaching) vary by political ideology. The greatest polarization is evident among groups that the Pew researchers identify as consistent conservatives and consistent liberals.
Consistent conservatives give priority to “Responsibility” (61%) along with “Religious faith,” (59%), followed by “Hard work” (about 40%).
For consistent liberals, “Responsibility” is also first. “Empathy” ranks as the second most important value to pass along to children (34%), along with “Helping others” (28%), and “Hard work” (26%). Consistent liberals rank “Curiosity” among the most important qualities (23%) compared to 2% of consistent conservatives.
Differences by demographic characteristics are modest.. Here are some highlights.
Gender—Women (89%) and men (80%) say that teaching children about “Helping others” is important, but 26% of women, compared with 18% of men, say it is one of the most important values to teach children. “Empathy” is an important value to women (75%) and men (61%).
Age—Among those ages 65 and older, 68% give priority to instilling “Obedience” followed by “Religious faith” (65%). Those younger than 30 value “Obedience” (56%) more than to teaching “Religious faith” (40%). Younger adults value “Creativity” than more their elders: 78% to 68% .
Education—Among college graduates the child-rearing values given higher priority are “Empathy” (76%), “Curiosity,” “Tolerance,” and “Persistence.” persons with no more than a high school education put more emphasis on teaching children “Obedience” (67%), “Religious faith” and “Being well-mannered.”
Race and Ethnicity—(Nomenclature and use of caps is from the original report). A majority of African Americans (69%) say it is especially important to teach children “Religious faith,” compared with Hispanics (54%), and whites (51%). Blacks emphasize the importance on teaching children to be “Obedient” more than other groups in this survey—70%—compared with 63% of Hispanics and 57% of whites. Whites place more importance on “Curiosity” at 67% than Blacks (51%) and Hispanics (48%). Most other values are equally important across racial and ethnic groups.
Religious affiliation—Among white evangelical Protestants, 60% say that “Religious faith” is among the most important qualities to teach children compared to 37% of others who have a religious affiliation. Among those with religious affiliations—and particularly white Evangelical Protestants—higher priority is given to “Obedience” and “Being well-mannered” than ‘Creativity,” or “Curiosity,” or “Tolerance.” On most other qualities there are only modest difference, on none, between religious groups.
Cultural and political values matter across the board. These surveys map some of that territory. For the full report, go to http://www.people-press.org/2014/09/18/teaching-the-children-sharp-ideological-differences-some-common-ground/
Bill Clinton credited his first presidential win, to the marketing concept, “KISS -Keep It Simple, Stupid”. His focus was the economy.
The year 2007 added to, the next 6 years of Pres. Obama’s terms (coupled with the same Congressional incumbents) witnessed a 42% loss of median Black and Hispanic household net worth. One-half of households in both groups, have median worth, that is less than $14,000. Median White households lost, more than 25% of their net worth, in the same period.
Ross Perot had a viable 3rd party candidacy before his selection of a vice-presidential running mate. I think it’s possible to dump both parties and win at the national level by using KISS, focused on the theft of America’s productivity, by the 1%. If not, the oligarchs have created the Banana Republic of North America, in less than a decade.
I am not opposed to this……but I would feel a lot better if I could read something….anything…..regarding education issues….testing…..arne Duncan….Bill Gates….charter schools, both corporate and less than corporate…….
I have not recently looked at the union websites for teachers, but that should be the place where pulse-taking on these matters is happening, and with some of the fine grain on topics that you ( and others) are seeking.
My impression is that the size of “the public” truly concerned about education–and public education– is small and the pulse-taking information rarely makes national news unless that news has been purchased (e.g., Bill Gates and US News and World Report ratings of teacher education; writers at Time rated on ad-friendly content they produce, recently favoring promoters of tech at the expense of blasting teachers; Walton sponsorship of the economist who did NOT deliver the expected “markets-work-better” polemic).
This is just an escalation of the dark money war and further erodes what’s left of our democracy. Just loooking at the D’s behavior in the “CROmnibus” bill only shows again that the power in the Democrats is no different from the Republicans.
Don’t buy into this game. This is just like the Obama administration—Just rainbows and unicorns hiding the neoliberal economics agenda of the ruling élites who don’t need to worry about Republicans and Democrats. This is about preventing real change in the Democrat party by bankrolling the incumbants and avoiding the real issues.
Reblogged this on As the Adjunctiverse Turns and commented:
Follow @DianeRavitch’s advice: hope for the best but keep a close eye on this. More, https://stateinnovation.org/about/
Now that Jeb Bush has announced a run for the presidency, and given his leadership in ALEC, they will be in a full court press. I doubt that any Dem plan such as this one can be built in time, and financed to compete, is feasible. Dems such as Eli Broad will be pouring unlimited donations into ALEC and to Bush.