Challenge Corporate Power, Support Obama to BE the Obama Americans Thought They Elected, and Build a Movement Capable of Challenging the Tea Party Reactionaries who Seek to Dismantle Needed Social Programs. We had a wonderful conference of close to 600 people on February 15 in San Francisco. Now we need to build on that energy and the shared understanding that we cannot allow our disappointmens at the Obama Administration turn into passivity and cynicism--the stakes are too high, the chances of this moment of despair (about the power of corporations and the capitulation of Obama on so many fronts to policies and interests that he seemed to be saying he would challenge) becoming the moment in which reactionaries retake control of the government and make things considerably worse.

Yet we know that to change this dynamic, we need to work together around a visionary approach, not allowing the media (which didn't even bother to cover our conference despite the fact that it was larger than many "tea party" gatherings that seem to mesmerize them) and even our friendly liberal elected officials define for us what is or what is not "realistic" in politics. We know that what is realistic can never be known outside of the struggle to change "what is" to "what ought to be," and that the claim that serious change is "unrealistic" is just part of the way that the forces of wealth and power manage to disempower those who want significant social change. But we need YOU to be part of this effort.

Our Network of Spiritual Progressives is not only for religious people--it is for anyone who supports our New Bottom Line: judging efficiency, rationality and productivity of corporations, government policies, our educational and legal and heatlh care systems, our laws and even our personal behavior not just be how much they produce money or power (the Old Bottom Line), but by how much they tend to foster our capacities for love and caring for others, kindness and generosity, ethical and ecologically-sensitive behavior, and enhance our abiitis to respond to other human beings as embodiments of the sacred and to respond to the universe with awe, wonder and radical amazement at the grandeur of all that is. There are many people who call themselves atheists or secular humanists or "spiritual but not religious" and who are in the leadership and membership of the Network of Spiritual Progressives--because they agree with this New Bottom Line.

Please join us--even if you can't come to our meeting Monday night March 1: go to www.spiritualprogressives.org, read out Spiritual Covenant with America, our Global Marshall Plan, the various versions of the Amendment to the Constitution to require corporations demonstrate ethical and environmental responsibility and which limit their power to influence elections and legislation, and our petition to Obama and the Congress. And then join the NSP at that site--by becoming a paid-up member, or make a tax-deductible contribution.

    The Next Step in Building a Bay Area Movement with a Coherent Vision of What We Want, not just what we are against!

Monday Night, April 5, at first unitarian chruch in San Francisco, on Franklin just south of where it intersects Geary Ave.  6:30  Vegetarian pot-luck (bring a main course vegetarian dish to share--we'll supply the matza and juices)  7:00-9:30 Forum and Training on How to Outreach to Neighbors, Friends, and Elected Officials.

We face 3 or 7 years of an Obama Administration which, while far superior to the likely alternatives, will frustrate liberals and progressives over and over again, and by failing to present a coherent alternative to the Right, will unintentionally create the conditions for the re-invigoration of a Right-wing movement in the U.S.

 Tikkun and the NSP have a strategy and specific projects to work on, and we invite you to be part of that strategy. It includes a focus on challenging corporate power, promoting the idea of corporate environmental and ethical responsibility and overturning the Supreme Court's ruling to automatically assign to corporations the rights the Constitution assigned to American citizens e.g. the right to influence legislation and elections without constraints (hence we advocate for some version of an Environmental and Ethical Responsibility Amendment to the Constitution). It also includes advocacy for Medicare for Everyone (universal health care--which will still be on the agenda of people's needs no matter what happens with the current flawed plan the congress may or may not pass, though we will advocate this week for its passage); the adoption of a Global Marshall Plan to end poverty, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education, inadequate health care and to repair the global environment; an End to the War on Terror in all of its misguided forms; educational reform and educating students in accord with the New Bottom Line; and a campaign to  have our elected officials articulate a fundamental worldview of caring for others, generosity and environmental responsibility and to challenge the capitalist-market-driven indivdiualism and materialism and "look out for number one" mentality both on the individual and national level,  and  make it obvious at every step along the way how their policies and legislative paths  flow from that worldview-knowing full well that that worldview is going to put them into conflict with some of their funders and many of the corporate interests that have up till now shaped media coverage and political discourse.

Our message to all those who seek our support:  DON'T BE "REALISTIC"-go for the ideals of a world based on environmental sanity, peace and nonviolence, social justice, love, generosity, caring for others, and a recognition that our well being depends on the well-being of everyone else on the planet-- and they will find people across all normal left/right divisions rallying to support them to the extent that those values are reflected in what they actually support in legislation and social policy.

The next step:   We will be creating action groups to move toward these goals.

And we will provide you with on-going training to help you begin this direction, starting this Monday evening, March 1 at the Unitarian Fellowship, 1924 Cedar in Berkeley.

Two important points: 1. this is not a short term project. Our goals can be achieved only if people are willing to engage in sustained activity for many years to come. But they are achievable. What it will take is the kind of massive efforts made by the civil rights movement, the women's movement, LGBT movements--all of which understood that the central issue was to change consciousness and to overcome the "certainty" that their goals could not be achieved and were "unrealistic."  2. this will not happen if we passively wait for others to start the ball rollling. We need YOU to help make it happen. And if for some reason you can't come Monday evening, but want to be part of this movement, please let RabbiLerner@Tikkun.org know of your interest, what part you'd like to play, and whether you can come to the 2nd meeting (the first Monday night of April in San Francisco).

People who were not at the Conference Feb. 15th are also invited to come to these meetings iff they 1. Read and agree with the direction of our strategy (these meetings are not the place to debate the fundamentals) as articulated in the Petition to Obama, US Senators and Congressional Representatives, the various versions of the Amendments to the Constitution (though you don't have to agree with the wording of any of them) and the Global Marshall Plan.

Finally, if you have not yet joined the Network of Spiritual Progressives, please do so now--we need your financial support to go forward with this project, and most importantly, we need to know that you are actually with us, not just cheering us on from a few miles behind, but in it with us as our allies! To join: You'll find a "JOIN NSP NOW" click at the top of the page.