ProgressiveSpirit.com
What are
Progressive Values?
Documentary Project
& Study Group
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ProgressiveSpirit.com |
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Work with us to reclaim the values debate. Conservatives have self-righteously
and hypocritically co-opted the national values debate. It's time for
progressives to take it back and promote an open and honest discussion about
values. Progressive Values YouTube Channel (500+ video clips) See the channel on YouTube for exploring Progressive Values. Focusing on values and the personal stories of how people developed them. We post all our interview videos to this channel. We add all the video clips about Progressive Values that we find on the internet and you can upload your own videos. From the videos posted here we are making a documentary. What are Progressive Values? Study Group
Projects and Initiatives
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Change
Common Good Collaboration Community Compassion Democracy Dignity Diversity Empathy Equality Fairness Faith Freedom Hope Justice Law Liberty Love Non-violence Openness Opportunity Peace Reason Respect Responsibility Security Seeking Strength |
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Creating The Documentary
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Daily Progressive Values Stories Blog
| 55. Rallies & Protests in SF as McCain and Obama Rake in the $$ | ||
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Barack
Obama came to the San Francisco Fairmont Hotel for a fundraiser yesterday on
Sunday, August 17. He raised 7.5 million dollars. Just 3 weeks earlier, John
McCain had braved being corrupted by the dreaded 'San Francisco Values' at a
fund raiser in the same hotel. His campaign declined to state how much
their haul was. See my videos of the
rallies and protests at each event and the San Francisco Progressive Values
McCain had to brave! View @: Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com - Huffingtonpost.com |
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| 54. Progressive Values Stories: Gavin Newsom on Inclusivity and Noah’s Ark | ||
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I interviewed
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom about what he personally feels are the most
important progressive values. He mentioned several progressive values,
such as, Interdependence, Stewardship, Empathy
and Tolerance, but focused on Inclusivity as the most important.
He cautions
progressives not to 'eat their young' and implode internally from all their
differences. When asked to create a
metaphor for inclusivity, he came up with the image of Noah's Ark.
View @:Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com (Poll) - Dailykos.com |
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| 53. Failed Conservative Values: Gavin Newsom on Division & Schizophrenic Tasmanian Devils | ||
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The likes of Bill O'Reilly and Newt Gingrich have long railed
against 'San Francisco Values' as a cause of Americas ills. I sat down with San Francisco Mayor
Gavin Newsom at the Netroots Nation Conference in Austin, Texas to talk about conservative values.
Gavin articulated the case for how the conservative value of division leads to
weakness and failure. Finally he likened the values to schizophrenic and bipolar
Tasmanian Devils. View @: Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 52. Melanie on Progressive Flying Monkey versus Conservative Snail Values | ||
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I attended an anti McCain rally at the Fairmont
Hotel in San Francisco. There I interviewed several people and asked them to
create a metaphor for Progressive and Conservative Values and to create a
dialogue between the two. In this story, Melanie sees conservative values
as snails and progressive values as monkeys with wings. See how the snails and
monkeys get along. View @: Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 51. Presidential Candidate Bob Barr on the Failure of Conservative Values | ||
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At Netroots Nation in Austin, Texas, you can always tell when a VIP is in the
room. Just look for the person with a deferential crowd gathered around
them
and follow the direction the cameras are pointed. While I feel
uncomfortable standing so deferentially in anyone's presence, I have a job to
do, and that's to find out how exactly conservative values have failed. So, when
I saw a crowed gathered in the hallway, I moseyed on over with my video camera
in hand and worked myself into the front of the crowed. There was
Bob Barr, the Libertarian presidential candidate. After patiently waiting for
the other interviewers to finish asking their questions, I asked Bob,
"Have Conservative Values Failed?" View @: Democracyforamerica - Opednews - Dailykos - Huffingtonpost.com |
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| 50. Progressive Values Stories: Zeus Yiamouyiannis on Innovation and Caring | ||
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In this interview
Zeus Yiamouyiannis talks about how innovation is a progressive value. He
also sees caring and nurture as progressive values and talks about having
learned these values growing up on an organic farm and tending to the
animals. On one hand, conservatives talk about traditional values of
self interest and selfishness, on the other hand, innovation, caring and
nurture are some of the traditional progressive values.
View @:DemocracyforAmerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 49. Progressive Values Stories: Jeremy Rothe-Kushel on Caring | ||
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In this interview,
Jeremy Rothe-Kushel talks about the progressive value of caring. He
recounts learning to care more deeply by being with his family at his
great-grandmother's death bed.
It's a
learning process to expand your sense of care beyond just thinking of
yourself - to caring for your family, community, nation and the world.
View @: DemocracyforAmerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 48. Fatally Flawed Conservative Value of Hypocrisy | ||
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Several people I asked about the failure of conservative
values mentioned hypocrisy. Michelle, Owen and Steve brought
up examples of conservative hypocrisy in; family values, education,
finance, the economy, the occupation of Iraq and in human rights. While we
all may exhibit varying degrees of hypocrisy in our lives, it seems that the
conservative movement has embraced and institutionalized this value. View @: DemocracyforAmerica - Opednews.com Poll - Dailykos - Groups.Yahoo |
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| 47. Failed Conservative Values: Congresswoman Maxine Waters on Blame, Hate & Lying | ||
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I interviewed Congresswoman Maxine Waters and asked her about progressive and
conservative values. In this section, Maxine mentions that conservatives have
tricked people with the failed conservative values of blame, hate and
lying. These values are also failing because more people are not
following them anymore and in fact, people are starting to turn toward
progressives values. She goes on to talk about how the occupation of Iraq is a
metaphor for the failure of conservative values.
View @: Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com (Poll) - Dailykos.com |
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| 46. Failed Conservative Values: Gordon Wright on Psychopaths and Fear | ||
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Gordon Wright
values freedom but was raised by a conservative autocratic, dictatorial and
bully of a father. He feels conservatives fear life's changes
and it's spontaneity. An example is how all of George Bush's public events
are totally choreographed and controlled events. He also thinks
that the corporate conservatives value of heartlessness and unfettered
self-interest, are the same values as a psychopaths. View @:Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 45. The Failed Conservative Values of James Dobson | ||
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James Dobson is a
major leader of the social conservatives. He is considered one of the more
moderate of the 'Value Voters' leaders because he doesn't support spanking
any child under the age of 18 months, while other conservative leaders do. Dobson is now attacking Barrack Obama for "deliberately
distorting the Bible" and "dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."
Isn't it time for progressives to start unmasking how the values of the
conservative movement have failed? Isn't it time to ask them some questions
about their values? How about asking your family, friends, neighbors, colleges,
etc, "Have Conservative Values Failed?" View @: Democracyforamerica.com - Dailykos.com -Opednews.com |
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| 44. Failed Conservative Values: Elaine Charkowski on Patriarchy Family Values | ||
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Elaine Charkowski
talked with me about how conservative values have failed. She says,
Conservative Family Values is about patriarchy and fear of authority. It’s
about not using your own mind and woman are to be subservient to the man.
The type of power used is random punishment and reward, which studies show
is the best way to drive animals crazy. View @:Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 43. Failed Conservative Values: Louise Specht on Hierarchy Authoritarian Narcissism | ||
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I asked Louise Specht about the the
failure of conservative values. She addressed the hierarchal and
authoritarian nature of conservativism and how this can lead to
narcissism for the people at the top. Steven Colbert does a great job of
imitating a conservative on the Colbert Report. I just saw him begin his
show lately by saying, "Did I tell you I love me lately?" He hit's the
nail on the head, as does Louise. View @:Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com -Dailykos.com - Groups.yahoo |
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| 42. Failed Conservative Values: Dona Ridgeway on Authoritarianism | ||
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Donna Ridgeway is a blogger living
in the Santa Cruz, California area. She was raised republican and was in the
military, but then started questioning. She says the Failed Conservative
Value is authoritarianism, it's a lose lose situation because if the
authoritarian fails, everything fails. However she sees a lot of problems
with progressives as well. There's a lot of egos with progressives and
herding cats is hard. View @: Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com - Groups.yahoo |
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| 41. Failed Conservative Values: Arianna Huffington on Family Values Hypocrisy | ||
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Arianna Huffington is a well know progressive
speaker and activist. She started the popular Huffington Post website and it
seems you can't turn on a progressive TV show without her popping up on it
and taking a swipe at the conservatives. I saw Arianna at our local
bookstore where she was promoting her new book, The Right is Wrong. During
the Q and A, I asked her how conservative values have failed. She had plenty
to say. View @:Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 40. Failed Conservative Values: They're Not Working - George Lakoff | ||
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George Lakoff is a
linguistics professor at UC Berkeley and author of numerous books on
metaphors, framing and politics. Howard Dean has called him, "one of the
most influential political thinkers of the progressive movement." George was
at our local bookstore talking about his latest book, The Political Mind.
During the question and answer period, I asked him if he personally feels
that Conservative Values have Failed and if so, how have they failed? View @: Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com |
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| 39. Failed Conservative Values: David Sirota on Economic Darwinism | ||
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David Sirota came and talked about his new book,
'The Uprising' at the Oakland Democracy for America meet-up on June 11,
2008. During the Q and A, I asked David how conservative values have failed
and he talked about the failure of Conservative Economic Darwinism. The full
video of his 70 minute talk and slideshow is now online. View @: Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 38. Attack of the Anaconda - Failed Conservative Values Metaphors | ||
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Sometimes it helps to use a bit of
imagination and creativity to look at things in a different way to shake up
the status quo and change mindsets. I've been asking people to create
a metaphor for the Failed Conservative Values. For example, if
conservative values were a type of machine, or land, or animal, etc.,
what would they be like? Here are some of the images
people came up with; anaconda, meat grinder, quicksand and mud stuck
elephant. View @: Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 37. Failed Conservative Values: Nancy Kops on Selfishness | ||
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I interviewed Nancy
Kops and asked her about Failed Conservative Values and what are Progressive
Values. She feels caring is the most important liberal-progressive
value. She knows many conservatives and finds them to have
good hearts and can be very caring
about the people around them. However, she
can’t figure out why they can be attracted to the Republican Party. She
thinks they just don't see the big picture. View @: Democracyforamerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 36. Failed Conservative Values: Arun Akkineni on Self-Righteousness | ||
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I interviewed Arun
Akkineni about Failed Conservative Values. He felt that self-righteousness
is a Failed Conservative Value and it's scary and dangerous. With
self-righteousness, you see the world as black and white and don't see the
nuances. You also don't incorporate other peoples ideas, which makes for
poor decision making. He points to the current conservative administrations
creation of the war and occupation of Iraq, as an example. View @:DemocracyforAmerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 35. Failed Conservative Values: Aris Harmon on Fear and Power | ||
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I interviewed Aris Harmon about the failure of conservative values. He
said conservatives can be very nice people but they try to maintain the status
quo and are afraid of change. For
this reason, their fear of change is easily manipulated by other conservatives
such as,
Grover Norquist and Abramoff,
whose
sole value is power at any cost. He also sees the failure of
critical thinking as the reason conservatives are so easily manipulated. |
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| 34. Failed Conservative Values: All about Greed | ||
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I interviewed people around the Democracy for America booth at the California
Democratic Party Convention in San Jose. I asked people how have
conservative values failed? It surprised me how many responded
that the conservative value of greed was the biggest failure. Here
are some of the comments. View @:DemocracyforAmerica.com - Opednews.com - |
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| 33. Progressive Values Stories: Jim Dean on Responsibility and Participation | ||
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In
this second part of my interview with Jim Dean, Chair of Democracy for
America, Jim talks about the Progressive Values of responsibility and
participation. Progressives are now standing up to participate in and take
responsibility over the political process. Democracy for America
helps in supporting these Progressive Values of Responsibility and
Participation. View @:DemocracyforAmerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 32. Failed Conservative Values: Jim Dean on Corruption | ||
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I interviewed Jim Dean, Chair of Democracy
for America (DFA) at the Democratic Party Convention in San Jose,
California. I asked Jim how conservative values have failed. He says
current conservativism is like a
despotic dictator and is about
corruption, power and the rewarding of friends. View @:DemocracyforAmerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 31. Progressive Values Stories: Norman Solomon on We're All in it Together | ||
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I interviewed
Norman Solomon at the 2008 Democratic Party Convention in San Jose,
California. Norman is a columnist and his book "War Made Easy" was
recently made into a movie with Sean Penn narrating it. In this second part
of the interview, he talks about the progressive value of responsibility
for each other. This responsibility is the basis of the popular progressive
phrase, 'We're All in it Together' which stands in contrast to the Failed
Conservative Value view of 'Every Man for Himself'. View @: DemocracyforAmerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 30. Failed Conservative Values: Norman Solomon on Dog Eat Dog Greed | ||
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I interviewed Norman Solomon at the 2008 Democratic Party Convention in San
Jose, California. Norman is a columnist and his book "War Made Easy"
was recently made into a movie. He talked about how he sees 'dog eat
dog greed' as a Failed Conservative Value. View @: DemocracyforAmerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 29. Progressive Values Stories: Scott Henderson on the Common Good | ||
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I
interviewed Scott Henderson in Los Angeles. Scott who told me the Common
Good was the most important progressive value and 'we're all in it
together'. He tells a story about growing up in the 50's and feeling a
sense of community, but that we've lost that now. He thinks conservatives
characterize progressives as wanting to be supported by the state and thinks
conservatives have good intentions and mean well, but don’t fully comprehend
the importance of all of us supporting each other. View @: DemocracyforAmerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 28. Failed Conservative Values: Jeeni Criscenzo on Scapegoating | ||
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I interviewed Jeeni
Criscenzo in Sacramento, California. Jeeni brought up the prevalent use of
scapegoating by conservatives. I find it curios how a Conservative
Movement that preaches individual responsibility is so adept at finding
scapegoats and not taking true responsibility. I think it has to do with the
type of responsibility they preach. It is not the unqualified progressive
sense of responsibility, where you feel responsible for yourself and the
society around you, but rather conservatives always talk about a qualified
'individual responsibility' which actually is really no longer true
responsibility, but rather a value of selfish self-centeredness. It's like
taking the value of love or caring and saying we're for 'individual love' or
'individual caring'. The values lose their meaning and are turned into
nothing but the Failed Conservative Value of individual selfishness and
greed. View @: DemocracyforAmerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com |
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| 27. Failed Conservative Values: Barack Obama on the Status Quo v Change | ||
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In his Pennsylvania
primary speech, Barack Obama talked about change and how the Status Quo
resists change. As I interview people about what are Progressive Values and
about how Conservative Values have Failed, the interviewees repeatedly talk
about the conservative fear of change and the promotion of the status quo.
We start off with this exploration of the Failed Conservative Value of the
Status Quo with Barack Obama's speech on change versus the status quo. View @:DemocracyforAmerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com - Groups.yahoo |
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| 26. Progressive Values Stories: Brianna Leavitt on Taking Back Family Values - Justice & Responsibility | ||
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I interviewed Brianna Leavitt at the First
Congregational Church of Berkeley. She feels conservatives have taken
over the term Values and Family Values, but she doesn't want to just give up
the words to them. She goes on to talk about the Progressive Values she
learned in her family. Her mother always reached out to the poor and
homeless. Brianna was taught empathy, justice and responsibility
by her parents and grandmother. These are in opposition to the Failed
Conservative Family Values that exclude people. View @:DemocracyforAmerica.com - Opednews.com - Dailykos.com - Groups.yahoo.com |
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