The America! Coalition Launches

[owillis]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4/14/05
The America! Coalition Launches
New group seeks to "Make freedom work"

The America! Coalition (TAC) launches today, a non profit organization focused on advocating forward-looking ideas that build on the progressive foundation that has made America great. "Our nation was built on the idea of shared national responsibility in order to reduce risk and increase freedom for our citizens, and TAC will aggresively present that perspective to the nation any way we can," said co-director Shant Mesrobian, 24.

"The conservative movement, at it's core, is about abandoning the responsibility to keep America free and vibrant. Their policies cater to those who wish to abstain from building America's common foundation of opportunity and freedom. We're going to reject that and put America back on its progressive course," said Oliver Willis, 27, TAC's co-director.

The organization will use the full arsenal of communications tools - video, print, internet, and audio - to continually educate and advocate the application of freedom to American lives.

The America! Coalition: http://www.americacoalition.org
Contact: [e-mail]

[OneBlueSky]

1. "It is time to defend and renew the America we built" . . .

I'm not so sure about that . . . the "America we built" is the America controlled by corporations and the people who own them . . . since their mission statement doesn't mention the most critical issue in America today -- restoring citizen authority over corporations -- I'm not sure what to think . . .

[KoKo]

2. Thanks for the announcement. The site looks interesting.

Keep us posted...:-)'s

[northamericancitizen]

3. Thanks for the Link

I have bookmarked it and sent them an Email congratulating them for their new "baby".

We all need hope and should encourage those who create different opportunities for preserving an open and democratic society in North America.

lise

[cprise]

4. Not another one. n/t

[owillis]

5. Response

Well, we don't plan on being just "another one". We aren't going to be focused on myopic issue-oriented things, but rather using the media - tv/radio/web/print to spread the progressive "brand" and forward the entire movement.

[cprise]

6. Your site is a tad negative

If you're going to spout anti-conservative propaganda that's fine. It looks like you have good ideas there.

But I doubt you have the conceptual tools to further the "progressive" cause. To Americans today, progress is the next new thing they can buy; a gadget or a new type of mango that's genetically engineered to whiten your teeth. Your other buzzword "freedom" will ensure that the frame of reference your audience uses to evaluate "progress" will be the libertarian one.

Month in and month out I see Democrats fall into this trap. They wipe their mouths with the word "freedom" more prolifically than they use TP in the bathroom. Then they are caught sinking in verbal quicksand when a neocon or libertarian attacks their pro-regulation and public enterprise policies.

The underlying narrative you are conjuring up is a provincial, founding-fathers breaking away from the crown and setting out to explore a vast continent story. And that is not good enough. What is missing is the language evoking a responsible and fulfilling society, where trust is assumed and the admiration of our neighbors may be won.

Can you cut through the consumerism and the overstimulation? Can you promote equal opportunity without implying that everyone's values are equal? Does your approach help people to take an interest in each other and the human condition? And do you realize this all requires a cultural movement that could hardly be fit into the cold porridge of "progress and freedom" and "reduce risk, increase freedom"?