WE NEED POWER, PROGRAM, AND PROGRESS
Jackson, Jesse L.
We Need Power, Program, and Progress BY JESSE L. JACKSON In the 1990s, as in the past, there will be conservatives, liberals, and progressives. Conservatives want to maintain the status quo or...
...Progressives need power in order to implement their program, in order to make progress...
...Thus, we must fight not for a tax increase but for fair taxes...
...We should fight hard for passage and implementation of the Voter Registration Act of 1990...
...Progressives should be critically concerned about the drop-off in democratic participation in the United States, and about who is voting (the educated and economically well-off) and who is not voting (the poor, the young, the minorities, and the least educated...
...Two primary issues of empowerment should concern us—voter registration and statehood for the District of Columbia...
...Currently, the planning and intervention are tilted toward the few—the wealthy and the big corporations...
...The principles I articulated during the 1988 campaign should be helpful in that debate...
...The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, a candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, is the president and founder of the National Rainbow Coalition, Inc...
...We need a plan for redevelopment at home...
...That means a progressive partnership between government and the private sector...
...We must fight for planning and intervention that benefit the many—the poor, the workers, and the vast middle class...
...Wherein lies our national security...
...After empowerment, progressives must concern themselves with economic justice...
...Liberals want to change things a little, incrementally...
...The only question is the nature of the intervention and who benefits...
...Progressives must embrace the struggle for statehood by the District of Columbia and hold their states' Congressional delegation accountable for it...
...The struggle for same-day, universal voter registration, as in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Maine, or no registration as in North Dakota, must continue...
...The first order of business for progressives is to fight for empowerment...
...For example, two Senators from New Columbia would have made the Civil Rights Act of 1990 veto proof...
...Government A progressive agenda and program mean a partnership between government and the private sector—planning and intervention that benefit the many, rather than the few...
...That plan should include, but not be limited to, a national energy policy, a national industrial policy, a national health plan, a national urban policy, a national housing policy and program, a national rural recovery and family farm policy, a national educational policy and plan, a national war on poverty, and a national policy on children and youth...
...We need to reinvest and rebuild America...
...Fair taxes will force those who had the party in the 1980s to pay for the party in the 1990s...
...Two new Senators and a voting Representative from New Columbia would increase support for progressive causes and programs in Congress...
...As of now, a Presidential veto may not be overridden...
...Conservatives want to maintain the status quo or turn back the clock...
...These principles should be applied consistently everywhere...
...Too often, progressives focus almost exclusively on ends (programs) and not enough on means (power...
...What we need in America today is a domestic summit conference...
...Second, even though we may disagree with Senator Sam Nunn on some of the details, he is raising the right question concerning military spending: What constitutes our national interest...
...Finally, we must fight for a progressive agenda and program...
...We need power, program, and progress—in that order...
...We have dreams, but we must be able to pay for our dreams...
...The political order determines who gets what, where, when, and how...
...We must participate and be involved in the strategic debate...
...We must fight against the present regressive tax system, and for a more progressive one...
...The struggle for empowerment, balanced economic growth, a comprehensive economic plan, and a humane agenda should be enough to keep progressives busy through the 1990s...
...intervention and economic planning already exist...
...I argued that our national interest and security could best be served if it were based on the following principles: self-determination, human rights, strengthening the rule of international law, and economic justice—raising the standard of living of the developing nations rather than lowering our own...
...What will a military defense built to achieve those purposes cost...
...Progressives want rapid, significant change...
Vol. 54 • November 1990 • No. 11
