Have you taken the progressive challenge?

Tired of double-talk from the candidates including those who seek the votes of progressives?

Let’s reclaim the debate. . . by confronting them with the Progressive Agenda that we believe in!

Public officials and 2008 presidential contenders can be measured by and challenged to support this agenda, published below.

Be a part of Progressive Challenge 2008! http://www.progressive2008.org/

* Add your name to the list of Progressive Agenda that includes respected artists, musicians, elected officials and other peace and justice leaders.
* Confront presidential candidates through the media or as they come to your communities in search of votes. For example: Do they support full troop withdrawal from Iraq and pledge no attack on Iran? If they claim to be for universal healthcare, why don’t they support single-payer Enhanced Medicare for All?
* Distribute the Progressive Agenda widely face-to-face and via email to friends, neighbors, relatives and fellow activists. Print out a copy and duplicate it. Refer to this agenda in blog comments, letters to the editor and calls to talk shows.
* In general, bird-dog candidates for President, Senate and Congress at their public events, and everywhere you can.

Join the Hunt for Real Progressive Leadership!

“Vote not with a mere strip of paper, but with your whole life.” - Henry David Thoreau

Progressive Agenda

1. End Imperial Foreign Policy, Redirect Funding - All U.S. troops and military contractors must be safely withdrawn from Iraq now with war funding redirected toward social needs at home, and humanitarian and reconstruction aid to the Iraqi people. Under our Constitution, Congress has the power of the purse to cut off funding that prolongs the occupation of Iraq. The disastrous war in Iraq must not be extended into an even more disastrous attack on Iran.

2. Healthcare for All - t is immoral for a country as wealthy as ours to have 47 million people with no healthcare coverage, and millions more with inadequate, overly expensive coverage.

3. Economic Justice - The Bush Administrations enormous tax breaks for the wealthy must be rolled back so that the richest 1 percent of our population (with yearly incomes averaging $1.3 million) will not pocket $300 billion over the next few years.

4. Stop Global Warming - No issue reveals more clearly the flaws of the U.S. political-economic system than global warming the triumph of greed and corporate power over the public good, and the near-sighted focus on the short-term over the welfare of future generations.

5. Reproductive Freedom/Civil Rights & Liberties - A womans reproductive freedom, including the right-to-choose, is essential to personal privacy and gender equality. Equal rights and equal opportunity must be a guiding principle of society, especially in view of historic and ongoing discrimination against women and racial, ethnic and sexual minorities.

6. Clean, Fair, Transparent Elections - The U.S. election system is in crisis, with voters facing political and racial obstacles in casting votes and in getting their votes counted. Big money and entrenched power deform the political process, with incumbents unfairly insulated by district gerrymandering and rules obstructing independent candidates and parties.

7. Media Reform - A half-dozen media conglomerates now sit on the windpipe of the First Amendment, having seized the publics broadcast airwaves; these companies helped facilitate the Iraq War.