What is this Momentum all about??
I’ve spent the last couple of months working harder, and more excitedly, on something than I ever have, at least so
far as my aging, addled memory can recall. It is, believe it or not, all about a repurposed conference that Tides has done a couple of times before. Momentum. Now, you might ask, why in the world would a normal person get so exercised about organizing a conference? Here’s why.
I graduated from college in 1970 in the middle of Nixon’s first term (he was impeached during his 2nd). At the time, the Woodstock generation was in ascendancy and grinding through a social change agenda as though ordained by the gods. Civil rights had finally come to people of color, farmworkers had succeeded in forming a union (still hard fought by agribusiness), the women’s movement was emerging as a force to change seemingly intractable traditions, and the Vietnam War seemed to linger just to remind us why attaining and exercising power was so important. For me personally, Bobby Kennedy’s race in 1968 inspired a sense of what was possible, despite his tragic assassination. Looking forward, at 21, to the coming years, I was so certain that our generation was going to transform American society into an enlightened, tolerant, moral force in the world. How could it not? America had learned the foibles of overreaching internationally, our economy was globally dominant, and social movements were attacking all the intransigent elements of the social fabric that hindered opportunity for so many. The future looked brilliant and bright.
Thirty eight years later, I look back and wonder how I could have gotten it so wrong. The simple truth is that, for progressives, things peaked in the early 70’s. We eventually stopped the war, groundbreaking environmental legislation passed, the Cold War ebbed, women slowly became accepted for all they had to offer, and government had resources to invest in the alleviation of poverty, an Interstate highway system, and a broadening access to education. My brothers spent time, as did thousands of others, in the Peace Corps – forever transformed by the experience. And the famous innovative spirit kicked in quite regularly: everything from culture to technology was regularly touched by “out-of-the-box” thinking. Stewart Brand coined the notion of “co-evolution” which seemed to capture things so well. Except for politics.
Quite below the radar, conservatives gained the upper hand. Save the anomalous candidacies of Carter (post-Watergate) and Clinton (post-Gulf War ennui), my entire adult life has witnessed the slow accretion of conservative power in all three branches of government until very recently when the winds of change returned inside the beltway. Now no one knows what is going to happen in the fall elections, but one can hear the restless cadence in every newscast, every prognostication, and every analysis worth a listen. The landscape is changing. Treat it as a given that this next decade is not going to be the linear projection of the last. If this is true, then it’s time for us all to perk up and focus on what is going to come around the corner. For progressives, this is a particularly important time, for it represents the first time that there seems an openness to real change in how we think about the role of government, the programs government is likely to craft, and the way social progress will be achieved.
So, this is where Momentum comes in. Here at Tides, what we think is vital is to create a forum for ideas. Not just our ideas, but the best of ideas out there about policies we could advocate, strategies we can employ to seek their acceptance, or tools that help those strategies get traction. We would truly delight if it became one of many crucibles where ideas were advanced, tested, and refined. Progressives have been hanging out in the wings for so long, we are not practiced in this art of leadership. Opposing the boneheaded things done by others is a cakewalk compared to the challenge of leading, of governing.
What our conference proposes is hardly revolutionary, but it is different. We have chosen 35 of the most interesting folks out there to share their passion for new thinking and new approaches to problems we all know about. We have no way of covering all the bases, so we decided not to try. Instead, what the speakers will have in common is a commitment to new thinking that is grounded as well as visionary. And….we are going to insist that we also have a good time. Music, humor, and art all have a role in the creating a successful movement for change. And I’m not just talking about having a great late night DJ. Come and see. The 35 speakers will each have about 20 minutes to share their newest thinking, as well as something about themselves and why they committed to this work.
I hope you will come. If you haven’t yet received an invitation, email me and we will get one out to you quickly.
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