help Van Jones/RebuildtheDream.com-- with AFL-CIO, MoveOn, SEIU, Campaign for America's Future!...

[live in Dutchess County?...want to help us http://www.RebuildtheDream.com ?...let us know; pass it on; anyone else out there inspired by Van Jones talkin' 'bout this on Keith Olbermann's new show on Current TV last night?...we'll be strategizing tonight at our house party on how to help launch these locally here in Hudson Valley-- join us if you can at 7 pm at 324 Browns Pond Rd. Staatsburg 12580; here's hopin' that, together w/Clearwater's Manna Jo Greene, that we can bring Van Jones to our area!]

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"Along with MoveOn, some of the most influential groups in the progressive community have signed on to Van Jones' 'Rebuild the Dream' campaign, including the AFL-CIO, SEIU, Campaign for America's Future and the Center for Community Change. The goal is to move beyond dependence on President Obama and the national Democratic Party by building and boosting independent sources of power, which can then persuade elected officials to support a progressive economic agenda."


[from "Van Jones Previews the American Dream Movement" by Ari Berman:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/161617/van-jones-previews-american-dream-movement ]


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[recall-- back in late Oct. '08 we distributed tons of copies of Van Jones cover article for The Nation then-- "Working Together for a Green New Deal"-- 200 came out to our Rally for a Green New Deal at Holy Light Pentecostal Church with Scenic Hudson's Ned Sullivan, Sustainable Hudson Valley's Melissa Everett, more; article here-- http://www.thenation.com/article/working-together-green-new-deal ;
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2008/12/check-out-350org-200-came-out-to-our.html ]


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["Anguish in American Dream" by Robert Jensen-- http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/23-5 ]


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From http://www.RebuildtheDream.com ...


[Van was on point last night on Olbermann-- "time for peace and prosperity-- not war and austerity"!]


THE AMERICAN DREAM MOVEMENT


In the coming weeks, people all across the country will come together for American Dream house meetings. Let's talk about what a new American Dream looks like and commit to stand together to make it happen.


We grew up hearing about the American Dream. It's the dream of a country where, if you work hard and play by the rules, you can live with dignity, provide for your family, and give your kids a better life. A country where we strive for greatness-and take care of each other when times get hard.


Right now the American Dream is under siege. Tens of millions of willing workers can't find jobs.


Millions of homeowners have lost their homes to foreclosure and millions more are underwater. Instead of investing in our shared future, politicians are giving tax breaks to the rich and then slashing vital services families depend on. Rather than expanding protections for the middle class during these difficult economic times, they're trying to gut workers' rights.

But a new movement is rising all across America to fight back.


It was born among the teachers, students, firefighters and nurses of Wisconsin who took over their Capitol to stop to Governor Walker's power grab. Now it's spreading as millions of other Americans-inspired by the events in Madison, Wisconsin-stand up to say "No" to right-wing attacks on the middle class.


Van Jones called this new wave of energy the "American Dream Movement." It's growing stronger by the day, and it's not going away until Americans can find jobs, afford to go to college, retire with dignity, and secure a future for their children and their communities.


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From http://www.thenation.com/blog/161617/van-jones-previews-american-dream-movement ...

Van Jones Previews the American Dream Movement
Ari Berman
June 23, 2011


[Ari Berman is the author of Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics.]


Economic justice was a major theme at last week's Netroots Nation conference and Van Jones's keynote speech previewing a new "American dream movement" was widely considered the highlight of the progressive summit.


Jones and MoveOn.org will officially launch the new "Rebuild the Dream" campaign in New York City tonight. This morning I interviewed Jones and MoveOn executive director Justin Ruben about what the campaign will look like and what they hope to accomplish in the coming year.

Jones, a former green jobs adviser to the Obama administration, envisions "Rebuild the Dream" as a progressive response to the Tea Party. "The entire DC establishment, in both parties, has been captured by the bad logic of war and austerity, and the gravitational pull of the Tea Party," says Jones.

"The peace and prosperity agenda that most of us voted for in 2008 doesn't have a center of gravity anymore and that's why people feel so demoralized. But we're about to re-establish that center of gravity." The aim is to "change the conversation" by building a movement for economic justice that will advocate on behalf of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, college graduates who can't find a job, Americans who've lost their homes or whose mortgages are underwater, and embattled cops, firefighters, nurses and teachers.

The pushback to the nation's austerity craze began in Wisconsin, which inspired Jones and MoveOn to launch their new campaign. "Madison is bringing out a new sense of hope and determination among people in the political process," says Jones. Adds Ruben: "We were seeing energy after Wisconsin, from our members, that we hadn't seen in a really long time, especially on anything related to the economy." Now they want to connect what is happening in Wisconsin to the rest of the country under one common banner. "There will be more moments like Wisconsin," says Ruben. "And we'd be crazy to try to predict what they'll be. Part of what we're doing is creating a context so that if Wisconsin happened now, there would be even more mobilization in the country around it. It won't just be solidarity with Wisconsin, but will spark more energy around the country that will be locally and nationally focused."

Along with MoveOn, some of the most influential groups in the progressive community have signed on to the "Dream" campaign, including the AFL-CIO, SEIU, Campaign for America's Future and the Center for Community Change. The goal is to move beyond dependence on President Obama and the national Democratic Party by building and boosting independent sources of power, which can then persuade elected officials to support a progressive economic agenda. David Dayen of Firedoglake summarized this nicely after watching Jones's speech at Netroots Nation:

It's also a moment to create a movement based on principle. In a very telling moment in Jones's PowerPoint presentation, he described how the issue groups filtered up to the Obama meta-brand in 2008, and in one move, he wiped out Obama from the picture in favor of the American Dream Movement. In other words, an icon or a symbol of progress won't cut it anymore. The movement is sustained not based on an individual but on an idea. It's a movement that says "I support Democrats when they support me." It's the only way for a movement to endure, rather than become subservient to a personality. And we've seen proof of this just this year in places like Wisconsin and Ohio.


The first step, Jones says, will be to create a giant crowd-sourced document and hold thousands of house parties over the summer to solicit ideas for a new "Contract for the American Dream." The coalition will then use that document as an organizing and activism tool, pressing elected politicians to support the "Dream" agenda, possibly as early as over the August Congressional recess. These efforts will be bookended by the national Take Back the American Dream Conference in October. Maybe by that point, Washington will start to take notice.


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From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-jones/american-dream-movement_b_826477.html ...


Introducing The 'American Dream' Movement
by Van Jones


In the past 24 months, those of us who longed for positive change have gone from hope to heartbreak. But hope is returning to America -- at last -- thanks largely to the courageous stand of the heroes and heroines of Wisconsin.

Reinvigorated by the idealism and fighting spirit on display right now in America's heartland, the movement for "hope and change" has a rare, second chance. It can renew itself and become again a national force with which to be reckoned.

Over the next hours and days, all who love this country need to do everything possible to spread the "spirit of Madison" to all 50 states. This does not mean we need to occupy 50 state capitol buildings; things elsewhere are not yet that dire. But this weekend, the best of America should rally on the steps of every statehouse in the union.

Moveon.org and others have issued just this kind of call to action; everyone should prioritize responding and turning out in large numbers.

On Saturday, the powers-that-be (in both parties) should see a rainbow force coming together: organized workers, business leaders, veterans, students and youth, faith leaders, civil rights fighters, women's rights champions, immigrant rights defenders, LGBTQ stalwarts, environmentalists, academics, artists, celebrities, community activists, elected officials and more -- all standing up for what's right.

Take Movement to a Higher Plane: Defending the American Dream

And we should announce that our renewed movement is more than just a mobilization to back unions or oppose illegitimate power grabs (as important as those agenda items are). Something more vital is at stake: our country needs a national movement to defend the American Dream itself. And the fight in Wisconsin creates the opportunity to build one.


After all, it is the American Dream that the GOP's "slash and burn" agenda is killing off. We need a movement dedicated to renewing the idea that hard work pays in our country; that you can make it if you try; that America remains a land committed to dignity, justice and opportunity for all. Right now, this very idea is on the GOP chopping block. And we must rescue it now -- or risk losing it forever.

America will not make it through this crisis healthy and whole if -- at the first sign of trouble -- we are willing to throw away millions of our everyday heroes. Our teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses and others make our communities and country strong. Their daily work is essential to the smooth functioning and long-term success of our nation. An attack on them is an attack on the backbone of America.

Nobody objects to politicians cutting budgetary fat. But the GOP program everywhere is so reckless that it would actually cut muscle, bone and marrow, too. This approach is both shortsighted and immoral. We should rise up against it -- in our millions.

GOP Cuts Muscle, Fat and Bone -- Republicans Attack American Way


Both parties should be taking steps to solve the country's problems in a balanced, fair and rational way. If deficits are truly the issue, then raising taxes and cutting spending both should be on the table, as tools. But Wisconsin's governor recently handed out massive corporate tax breaks, reducing the state's revenues. That move greatly added to the problem he now wants to fix by attacking essential services with a meat axe. A slew of GOP governors in places like Ohio are gearing up to take similar approaches.

If a foreign power conspired to inflict this much damage on America's first responders and essential infrastructure, we would see it as an act of war.

And if a foreign dictator unilaterally announced that his nation's workers no longer had a seat at the bargaining table in their own country, the U.S. establishment would rightfully go bananas.

If Republicans would oppose that kind of thuggery abroad, how can they champion it here at home? How can they accept for the American people what they would denounce for the people of any other nation on Earth?

GOP governors in multiple states are advancing schemes to erase the long-standing rights of American employees to choose a union and bargain collectively. We need to call these outrageous plots what they are: un-American and unacceptable. They are not just assaults on workers; they are assaults on the American Way itself.

This Is Our 'Tea Party' Moment -- In a Positive Sense

It is time to draw a line in the sand -- nationally. Someone has to stand up for common sense and fairness. It is time to use all nonviolent means to defend the American people and our American principles from these abuses.

If we take a bold and courageous stand, over time, we can win. Make no mistake about it: this is our "Tea Party" moment -- in a positive sense.

In fact, we can learn many important lessons from the recent achievements of the libertarian, populist right. Don't forget: even after the Republican's epic electoral defeat in 2008, a right-wing uprising was still able to smash public support for "new New Deal" economics. Along the way, it revived the political fortunes of the GOP.

A popular outcry from the left could just as easily shatter the prevailing bipartisan consensus that America is suddenly a poor country that cannot possibly help its people meet our basic needs.

America Is Not a Poor Country -- We Suffer From Poor Leadership

The truth is that we don't live Bangladesh or Malawi. America is not a poor country. The public has just been hypnotized into believing that the richest and most creative nation on Earth has only two choices in this crisis: massive austerity (as championed by the Tea Party/Republicans) or SEMI-massive austerity (as meekly offered by too many DC Democrats). It is ridiculous.

Fortunately, the people in Wisconsin know that. So they are fighting courageously. Their efforts could blossom into a compelling, national force for the good -- offering a powerful alternative to those false choices.

And while our re-born movement needs to be as clear and bold as the Tea Parties, we must base our efforts on a deeper set of American values.

The Tea Party attached itself to only a single American principle. And it identifies itself with only one moment in our distant past: the Boston Tea Party, symbolizing "no taxation without representation."

'American Dream' Movement Rooted in a Deeper Patriotism

That is an important moment and concept. But the notion of "negative liberty" ("don't tread on me!") is only one principle among many that make our country great. Other equally vital American values and ideals (like justice, opportunity, fairness and democracy) have gone largely undefended and unheralded, in this recent crisis. That ends -- now. Our rising movement should stand for the full suite of American values and principles.

And the American ideal most in need of defense is our most essential one: the American Dream.

The steps needed to renew and redeem the American Dream are straightforward and simple:


* Increase revenue for America's government sensibly by making Wall Street and the super-rich pay their fair share.

* Reduce spending responsibly by cutting the real fat - like corporate welfare for military contractors, big agriculture and big oil.

* Simultaneously protect the heart and soul of America - our teachers, nurses and first responders.

* Guarantee the health, safety and success of our children and communities by leaving the muscle and bone of America's communities intact.

* Maintain the American Way by treating employees with dignity and respecting their right to a seat at the bargaining table.

* Rebuild the middle class - and pathways into it - by fighting for a "made in America" innovation and manufacturing agenda, including trade and currency policies that honor American workers and entrepreneurs.

* Stand for the idea that, in a crisis, Americans turn TO each other - and not ON each other.

A Return to the Moral Center

These are not radical notions. They are the common sense ideas that form the core of who we are as a nation. We can rally Americans, once again, to stand up for these values. We can make America, once again, a land where it is safe for everyday people to dream.

We will prevail because -- in truth -- we are not in a right-wing period of American history, nor are we in a left-wing period. We are simply in a volatile period.

And during times like these, we can take comfort in knowing that a great nation will ultimately pull its answers -- not from its ideological extremes -- but from its deep, moral center.

By standing up for dignity, equal opportunity and fair play, the Wisconsin workers have found their way to America's great moral center. They have shown us all, at last, the way back home. By standing with them, we reclaim what is best in our country.

April 15, 2009, marked the beginning of the national movement to remember the Tea Party and pull America to the ideological right.

Let Saturday, February 26, 2011, mark the beginning of the national movement to renew the American Dream and return us to the moral center -- where everybody counts, and everybody matters.

Join the American Dream Movement on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Rebuild-The-Dream

Follow Van Jones on Twitter: www.twitter.com/VanJones68


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[note re: below-- noted local folksinger Pat Lamanna has already indicated an interest in joining us to perform at our Real Majority Jams this July and August-- Friday nights at Waryas Park-- any other musicians out there interested?...(again-- need your help to build coalition of organizations to make this happen, folks as, frankly, City of Poughkeepsie requires $1,000,000 liability insurance for these events)]


GOP ignore how momentum for progressive change-- polls showing real majority on Dem side(!):


Again-- now more than ever we in the grass roots need to organize together-- to stand up proudly as the true Real Majority-- in recognition of the fact that we ARE the real majority-- as poll after poll after poll still proves that the vast majority of Americans are FOR progressive taxation, AGAINST massive budget cuts, layoffs, and cuts to Planned Parenthood and EPA, FOR our troops to come home from Afghanistan and Iraq, FOR health care for all, FOR a $10/hour minimum wage, FOR a constitutional amendment to make it clear that corporations aren't people-- and FOR Clean Money Clean Elections campaign finance reform...(scroll down below to again see poll links that have proved this repeatedly)...

We need to stand up for this now (and make it fun and easier to do this with music and food together)-- because (if you didn't know-- but I think you do)-- it's not just GOP and too many Dems in power that ignore simple common sense above-- mainstream progressive stands on all those issues above...

[what's the alternative?...rolling over and playing dead while political "center" moves even more to right]

It's just too many pols in power-- but it's also practically every large newspaper and TV/radio station...

Here's more inspiration, too...(these four: aside from all the other polls I've been emailing you all about):

[from "Vision: How to Make Media Reflect the Popular Views of Americans, Not Those of Elites"
by Paul Rosenberg, AlterNet Posted on May 30, 2011, Printed on May 31, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/151062/vision%3A_how_to_make_media_reflect_the_popular_views_of_americans%2C_not_those_of_elites ]

"Fact #1: 62 percent believe the government should focus on creating jobs, even if it means increasing the deficit in the short-term, according to a Lake Research Partners poll in March, 2011.

Fact #2: 76 percent believe cutting Medicare to help reduce the budget deficit is mostly or totally unacceptable, and 67 percent believe the same about Medicaid, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll in February, 2011.

Fact #3: 68 percent believe that phasing out the Bush tax cuts for families earning $250,000 per year is mostly or totally acceptable to help reduce the budget deficit, according to the same poll.

Fact #4: 65 percent oppose changes to Social Security as a way to reduce the budget deficit, according to a Pew Research poll in March, 2011."

[thx again to 200+ already signed on to our new Dutchess Progressive group on Facebook; see:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=151387038233489 -- join our new FDR Democratic Club of Dutchess too: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_149905961729495 !]

And again-- besides those four just above, check out these ten polls-- this is what democracy looks like:

Fact #1: ABC News/Washington Post poll in April-- 72% of Americans for millionaires tax to solve deficit; 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll in January prove 61% of us prefer new taxes on rich to budget cuts.
[see: http://www.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/20/paul-ryan-wealthy-tax-breaks/ ;
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7022AK20110103 ]

Fact #2: Marist/YNN, Siena, Quinnipiac, Hart polls show most NY'ers (even GOP!) for millionaires tax:
http://www.capitaltonight.com/2011/02/groups-band-together-to-push-millionaires-tax/ ;
http://www.hungeractionnys.org/Poeple%20SOS%20release%202011.pdf ;
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=940073&category=state ;
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2010/08/16/100816ta_talk_surowiecki

Fact #3: NBC/Wall St. Journal/Quinnipiac Feb. polls found most Americans FOR Planned Parenthood.
[see: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/node/15708 -- both Gibson and Hayworth voted Feb. 18 to cut $$$:
http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=127041 ; http://www.PlannedParenthood.org ]

Fact #4: USA Today poll 59% of Americans "U.S. mission in Afghanistan done; troops come home."
[USA Today poll May 2011-- http://www.thinkprogress.org/2011/05/11/afghanistan-get-out-59-percent/ ]

Fact #5: Harris poll in February finds 54% Americans vs. GOP cuts to Environmental Protection Agency.
[see: http://www.techcrunch.com/2011/02/16/harris-poll-epa-budget/ ]

Fact #6: 67% of Americans support support raising the minimum wage to $10/hour to end the recession.
[see: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/06/americans-minimum-wage-poll_n_752921.html ]

Fact #7: CBS poll this Feb. found 55% of Americans oppose GOP plan to cut funding from Obamacare.
[CBS poll this Feb.-- http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20032114-503544.html ]

Fact #8: A 2009 NYTimes/CBS News poll and 16 other polls since 2003 prove that the vast majority of Americans support expanding Medicare to cover all of us through a single-payer health care system
[also CNN, AP-Yahoo, Quinnipiac, Washington Post/ABC, Kaiser Family Foundation, Civil Society Inst.]
[see: http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-payer_health_care ]

Fact #9: 70% of New Yorkers (Oct. 2000 Zogby poll) support Clean Money Clean Elections reform.
[see: http://www.CitizenActionNY.org -- CMCE reform already in Maine, North Carolina, New Mexico]

Fact #10: 80% Americans oppose Supreme Court ruling last year equating corporations w/people.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/2010/02/in-supreme-court-ruling-on-campaign-finance-the-public-dissents.html ; http://www.freespeechforpeople.org/node/75 ; 70% New Yorkers for CMCE reform too!]

Recall what Michael Moore told ralliers recently in Madison-- how "the richest 400 people in this country have more wealth than half of all Americans-- 150 million people" ( http://www.MichaelMoore.com ):

Fact: Even the Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 8th, 2007 that "The nation's top 1% of households own more than half the nation's stocks, according to the Federal Reserve. They also control more than $16 trillion in wealth-- more than the bottom 90%." (from Robert Frank's "Plutonomics")
[see: http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2007/01/08/plutonomics/ ]

Fact: "Citigroup's research department wrote three memos for investors concluding that wealth and power in the U.S. were increasingly concentrated in the hands of the top 1%, stating the top 1% of the population now have more financial wealth than the bottom 95% combined."
[see: http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/facts/capitalism-love-story (Michael Moore's last film)]


Fact: Millionaires used to pay a 91% federal income tax rate in '50's under Ike; they now pay 35%.
[sign: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ILikeIke ; http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/151.html ]

Fact: Even GOP state Senator John Bonacic has come out with Assembly Dems for millionaires tax.
[see: http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/61649/mcdonald-doesnt-slam-door-on-millionaires-tax
http://www.capitaltonight.com/2011/03/assembly-dems-may-make-millionaires-tax-just-that-bonacic-agrees/ ]

Fact: The richest 1% of NYS households increased their share of all income statewide from 10% in 1980 to 35% in 2007; we in the middle-class here in NYS now pay over 11% of our income in state and local taxes-- while millionaires pay only 8% of their income in state and local taxes.
[ http://www.FiscalPolicy.org ; http://www.ITEPnet.org/wp2009/ny_whopays_factsheet.pdf ]

Fact: Millionaires used to pay a 15 1/2% state income tax rate in the 1970's under Rockefeller-- but now pay only 8.97% (see: http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/taxhistory2.htm ).

Fact: "Top earners have seen a four percentage point decrease in their federal income taxes, thanks to the Bush Administration tax cuts extended for two years by the Obama Administration."
[see http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/FPI_NewYorkShouldContinueTheIncomeTax.pdf ]

Fact: All of the following members of the statewide Growing Together NY/Better Choice Budget Coalition stand in strong support of extending the currenty tiny millionaires tax surcharge-- NYS AFL-CIO, NYSUT, CSEA, PEF, AFSCME, Working Families Party, NY Jobs with Justice, Dutchess Outreach, NY Statewide Senior Action Council, NYS Alliance for Retired Americans, Interfaith Alliance of NYS, Interfaith Impact of NYS, Environmental Advocates, Citizen Action, NYS Community Action Association, Green Party, Fiscal Policy Institute, Hunger Action Network of NYS.
[see http://www.ABetterChoiceforNY.org ]