How to Turn Your Red State Blue — In These Times
Last fall, I spent seven weeks in the suburbs of Madison, Wisconsin, canvassing undecided voters for John Kerry. Driving back one day from a long session pounding the pavement, our car passed two young Mormon missionaries on bicycles. They were dressed in their standard garb: grim but oddly stylish black suits, white shirts, skinny ties and backpacks, all of which were getting soaked in the rain as they struggled up a hill, standing on their pedals for extra leverage.
“Now that,” said a fellow organizer sitting in the backseat, “is canvassing.”
This article by Christopher Hayes is a much-read for any progressive activist. He argues that the only way progressives can win elections is not to be more “Republican Lite” or to activate the progressive base more. The way to win is to convert more progressives. With an eye toward the successes of religious missionaries and the recent conservative revolution, Hayes articulates some strategy for building a larger progressive base.
