If you already believe a progressive narrative is needed, please read this

This short message is for a very specific audience. If you 

• are already convinced a new progressive narrative or paradigm is needed;

• already know that progressive narrative won’t emerge spontaneously, just the same as the free market narrative didn’t; 

• are beyond alarmed at the authoritarian racist oligarch acceleration and all that comes with it 

I hope you will understand why I’m proposing what I’m proposing. 

My last post at progressivestrategy.org went into more detail and ended up being over 4000 words. This one focuses on the core idea: 

Convene a single meeting of leading progressive thinkers with the only goal of producing a draft of a new progressive narrative. Give them a non-negotiable deadline and a one-page template. 

Here is a possible template: 

Individuals are _____________________ and should _________________

Businesses are _____________________ and should _________________

Governments are ____________________ and should ________________

International institutions are___________ and should_________________

The core values are_______________________

The overall goals are______________________

The purpose is to directly counter the free market narrative. Beyond the funding that goes into promoting it, the free market story’s power comes from supplying simple, comprehensive and prescriptive answers. The end product of a progressive narrative has to do the same.  

I’ve found the progressive research initiatives and public calls for a new paradigm. 

What I can’t see is any single group, person or institution that has given itself a goal and a deadline to come up with it. That makes sense as there are obvious questions of legitimacy, mandate, resources and risk. 

But we’re losing to a group of white supremacists with no mandate but their own ambition, using a “fill the zone with shit” election strategy and parts of the free market cartoon as a cover story to gain what they really want: unlimited political and economic power. 

If this makes sense and you’d like to work on a progressive narrative strategy, please get in touch. I’m on Signal on +49 176 8033 0926.

PS: This is the filled-out template as applied to the free market narrative 

• Individuals are selfish, rational decision-makers who should maximise their own satisfaction through income and consumption

• Businesses are profit-maximising and should be efficient as possible or they will lose out to more efficient market competitors

• Governments are inherently inefficient and should leave the provision of goods and services to private markets as much as possible. This means that the government's main job should be to cut taxes and regulations while reducing public spending 

• Global institutions are there to provide a stable framework for private markets. They should minimise conflict while promoting international capital flows and free trade

• The overall goal is economic growth

• The core value is freedom.