by WhatAre Progressive Values [courtesy of Blog for America]

 "An idea is a feat of association, and the height of it is a good metaphor."  Robert Frost

When I interview people about progressive values, I've also asked them to create a metaphor of those values. Sometimes creating an image to represent some feeling or thought can shed some new light on it. It can illuminate some aspect that you may not have thought of before. I also find metaphors to be fun and creative. Here are several metaphors of what Progressive Values are like.  

Progressive Values are like:

Mimi Kennedy - like a Progressive Flowing River versus Conservative Stagnant Pond

by WhatAre Progressive Values [courtesy of Blog for America]

 

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence.  Martin Luther King, Jr

Mimi Kennedy is an actress and Advisory Board chair of the Progressive Democrats of America. I interviewed her at a conference in Los Angeles, California.  She told me that nonviolence is her most important progressive value. She told me the story about having painfully learned the importance of truth and transparency at a young age as well.

Nonviolence is a flop. The only bigger flop is violence.  Joan Baez

Progressive Values Stories: Mimi Kennedy on Nonviolence
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hBLK8uKRIV0

by dday [courtesy of Calitics: Soapblox California - Front Page]

Conventions are a whirlwind.  You promise to do 50 things and you end up doing 5.  You meet 200 hundred people and can't remember their name afterwards.  You walk more in a day than you would in a week.  But ultimately, that little corner of the convention, that little snapshot, is as illuminating as an omniscient bird's-eye view.

The turnout for the Progressive Caucus was amazing.  I would guess about 400 delegates and supporters packed one of the biggest rooms in the convention center.  I would say that the Progressive Caucus has arrived.  It only started two years ago, and now it's the largest caucus in the Party.  Assemblyowman Loni Hancock gave a report on her Clean Money bill, AB 583, which passed the Assembly Elections Committee.  Mimi Kennedy talked about election protection.  Brad Parker gave a stirring speech about the rise of the progressive movement.  It was great stuff.

As I said, the Resolutions Committee folded a lot of the more contentious resolutions into some more mealy-mouthed ones.  Of particular concern to me is the resolution to form an Audit Committee, so I'll be heading out to gather signatures to bring that one to the floor.

over...