Campaign for America's Future
Encyclopedia
Campaign for America's Future (CAF) is an American
political organization with a strongly progressive orientation. Its main issues of concern include the environment
, energy independence
, health care reform
, Social Security
, and education
. The Nation
editor Katrina vanden Heuvel
, AFL-CIO
president John Sweeney
, and Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa
serve on its board of directors
.
Within the Democratic Party
, it often serves as a counterweight to the Democratic Leadership Council
(DLC). CAF argues that the Democratic Party should draw sharp contrasts with the Republicans
and advance a progressive agenda, while the DLC argues that the party should pursue a centrist
policy.
CAF is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization. It has a sister organization called the Institute for America's Future
which is a 501(c)(3) non-partisan think tank
that conducts research and analysis and publishes reports about political and economic policy issues.
The Institute for America's Future
and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy
sponsor a joint project called the Apollo Alliance
, a coalition of environmentalists
and labor unions
, which seeks to commit the United States to energy independence while providing opportunity for what new "green-collar" jobs in the energy sector. It is named after John F. Kennedy's
Apollo program.
The organization's founders saw that existing liberal groups were more active on social issues driven by conservative counterparts as opposed to so called "kitchen table issues" and pressing issues such as poverty, climate change and inequality. In general the founders felt the need to push these issues into the political debate. Furthermore, they felt that the country in general was being pushed toward the right without a proper counterbalance. They believed, then and now, "that conservative zealotry and cultural reaction were misleading our country, generating greater inequality, undermining the widely shared prosperity that is the foundation of America’s democracy and allowing corporate interests to distort our debate and dominate our elections".
Roger Hickey, President
Robert L. Borosage, Secretary-Treasurer
Board Members:
Andrea Batista Schlesinger- Drum Major Institute
Lara Bergthold- Act III Productions
Jeff Faux- Economic Policy Institute
Leo Gerard- United Steelworkers
Eli Pariser- MoveOn.org
Hilary Shelton- NAACP Washington Bureau
According to Muckety
, there is either a direct or a once-removed relationship between Campaign for America's Future and 86 entities in their database of the most influential people in America.
, elected officials, blog
gers, left-leaning media outlets, and others.
At the 2006 conference, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
was booed for her stance on the Iraq War. In 2007, she was similarly booed, but not as loudly because she had modified her position on the war. The Politico
sponsored a straw poll which Senator Barack Obama
won with 29 percent of the vote.
The 2007 conference honored "progressive bloggers" with the Paul Wellstone Award, crediting them for driving the political debate. The once anonymous blogger Digby
accepted the award, and in doing so, revealed that Digby was a woman from Santa Monica.
In October 2011, coincidentally coinciding with the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, the Campaign for America's Future held the "Take Back the American Dream" conference calling for the planning of demonstrations, a cohesive electoral strategy, and laid out strategies for combating the power of money in politics. With an aggressive agenda, the conference covered immigration, jobs, how citizens can combat the hold of financial institutions over Washington, public education, the cost of foreign conflicts, social security and medicare, green energy, defense and national security, and more.
Of the Occupy Wall Street movement co-director Robert Borosage said, "people are moving, they are moving on their own. They understand the need for action." At the conference plans for adding to the demonstrations were made calling for more protests beginning nationwide on November 17, 2011, just ahead of the so called congressional super committee on deficit reduction reaches its conclusions. Also, Borosage referred to the protestors lack of connection to any specific politician as "liberating."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
political organization with a strongly progressive orientation. Its main issues of concern include the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
, energy independence
Energy independence
The following articles relate to the topic of energy independence:* Energy resilience* Energy security* North American energy independence* Swedish Commission on Oil Independence* United States energy independence...
, health care reform
Health care reform
Health care reform is a general rubric used for discussing major health policy creation or changes—for the most part, governmental policy that affects health care delivery in a given place...
, Social Security
Social Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
, and education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
. The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
editor Katrina vanden Heuvel
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Katrina vanden Heuvel is the editor, publisher, and part-owner of the magazine The Nation. She has been the magazine's editor since 1995. She is a frequent guest on numerous television programs...
, AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
president John Sweeney
John Sweeney (labor leader)
John Joseph Sweeney was the president of the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009.-Early years:Born in The Bronx, New York, Sweeney is the son of Joseph and Agnes , both Irish immigrants. The family moved to Yonkers in 1944, where Sweeney attended St. Barnabas Elementary School and graduated from Cardinal...
, and Los Angeles Mayor
Mayor of Los Angeles, California
The mayor of Los Angeles is the chief executive officer of the city. He is elected for a four-year term and limited to serving no more than two terms. Under the California Constitution, all judicial, school, county, and city offices, including those of chartered cities, are nonpartisan...
Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa , born Antonio Ramón Villar, Jr., is the 41st and current Mayor of Los Angeles, California, the third Mexican American to have ever held office in the city of Los Angeles and the first in over 130 years. He is also the current president of the United States Conference of...
serve on its board of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
.
Within the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, it often serves as a counterweight to the Democratic Leadership Council
Democratic Leadership Council
The Democratic Leadership Council was a non-profit 501 corporation that, upon its formation, argued the United States Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it took in the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s...
(DLC). CAF argues that the Democratic Party should draw sharp contrasts with the Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and advance a progressive agenda, while the DLC argues that the party should pursue a centrist
Centrism
In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...
policy.
CAF is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization. It has a sister organization called the Institute for America's Future
Institute for America's Future
Institute for America's Future is an American think tank which distributes reports, gathers and processes information, and does analysis of various progressive causes. Its issues of focus include the environmental, energy, and health care, social security, education and congressional accountability...
which is a 501(c)(3) non-partisan think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
that conducts research and analysis and publishes reports about political and economic policy issues.
The Institute for America's Future
Institute for America's Future
Institute for America's Future is an American think tank which distributes reports, gathers and processes information, and does analysis of various progressive causes. Its issues of focus include the environmental, energy, and health care, social security, education and congressional accountability...
and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy
Center on Wisconsin Strategy
The Center on Wisconsin Strategy is a progressive policy institute housed on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It was founded in 1991 by UW Professor Joel Rogers as a center organized around the concept of "high road" economic development: a path to decent jobs, stronger...
sponsor a joint project called the Apollo Alliance
Apollo Alliance
The Apollo Alliance is a project organized by the Institute for America's Future and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. The Alliance is a project of the Tides Center....
, a coalition of environmentalists
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
and labor unions
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
, which seeks to commit the United States to energy independence while providing opportunity for what new "green-collar" jobs in the energy sector. It is named after John F. Kennedy's
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
Apollo program.
History
Founder and current president of Campaign for America's Future, Robert Borosage, first registered the organization in 1990. The organization did not reach non-profit status until 1994 and formally launched in 1996. At its launch, the Campaign for America's Future boasted 130 co-founders representing a multitude of liberal and progressive organizations.The organization's founders saw that existing liberal groups were more active on social issues driven by conservative counterparts as opposed to so called "kitchen table issues" and pressing issues such as poverty, climate change and inequality. In general the founders felt the need to push these issues into the political debate. Furthermore, they felt that the country in general was being pushed toward the right without a proper counterbalance. They believed, then and now, "that conservative zealotry and cultural reaction were misleading our country, generating greater inequality, undermining the widely shared prosperity that is the foundation of America’s democracy and allowing corporate interests to distort our debate and dominate our elections".
Organization
Co-Directors:Roger Hickey, President
Robert L. Borosage, Secretary-Treasurer
Board Members:
Andrea Batista Schlesinger- Drum Major Institute
Lara Bergthold- Act III Productions
Jeff Faux- Economic Policy Institute
Leo Gerard- United Steelworkers
Eli Pariser- MoveOn.org
Hilary Shelton- NAACP Washington Bureau
Membership
The Campaign for America's Future is made up of citizen activists and policy experts numbering 100.According to Muckety
Muckety
Muckety is a web site launched in 2007 by former newspaper journalists.The site uses interactive maps powered by Adobe Flash to show relationships between people, businesses and organizations....
, there is either a direct or a once-removed relationship between Campaign for America's Future and 86 entities in their database of the most influential people in America.
Donors
The Campaign for America's Future does not disclose its donors. In the past, it has denied requests for a list of top donors and a spokesman said the group "discloses exactly what is required."Mission
The "strategic focus" of Campaign for America's Future and its sister organization, Institute for America's Future, is what they refer to as "kitchen table issues" such as "good jobs, health care, nurturing and educating children, and retirement security" and to form a majority in order to implement progressive reform.- "A. Spearheading the development of a compelling progressive economic agenda and message, one that crystallizes what progressives stand for, articulating the philosophy and values underlying
- these policies and developing fresh arguments for them in ways that will resonate with the majority of average Americans.
- B. Convening and educating progressive leaders, organizations, opinion-makers, and activists on how to argue this case, helping to develop leaders who echo the arguments powerfully and drive
- them into the public debate.
- C. Incubating national educational campaigns around strategic initiatives or defining issues that can build reform, while boldly framing the new possibilities."
Achievements
As a major liberal force in national politics, the Campaign for America's Future may boast that in its history there have been five presidential elections of which only in 2004 did a Republican Presidential candidate win both the popular vote and the electoral college, and that was a wartime incumbent in 2004."Take Back America" conference
CAF holds an annual "Take Back America" conference, bringing together progressive activistsActivism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
, elected officials, blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
gers, left-leaning media outlets, and others.
At the 2006 conference, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
was booed for her stance on the Iraq War. In 2007, she was similarly booed, but not as loudly because she had modified her position on the war. The Politico
The Politico
The Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency...
sponsored a straw poll which Senator Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
won with 29 percent of the vote.
The 2007 conference honored "progressive bloggers" with the Paul Wellstone Award, crediting them for driving the political debate. The once anonymous blogger Digby
Digby (blogger)
Digby is the pseudonym of liberal political blogger Heather Parton from Santa Monica, California who founded the blog Hullabaloo. She has been called one of the "leading and most admired commentators" of the progressive blogosphere....
accepted the award, and in doing so, revealed that Digby was a woman from Santa Monica.
In October 2011, coincidentally coinciding with the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, the Campaign for America's Future held the "Take Back the American Dream" conference calling for the planning of demonstrations, a cohesive electoral strategy, and laid out strategies for combating the power of money in politics. With an aggressive agenda, the conference covered immigration, jobs, how citizens can combat the hold of financial institutions over Washington, public education, the cost of foreign conflicts, social security and medicare, green energy, defense and national security, and more.
Of the Occupy Wall Street movement co-director Robert Borosage said, "people are moving, they are moving on their own. They understand the need for action." At the conference plans for adding to the demonstrations were made calling for more protests beginning nationwide on November 17, 2011, just ahead of the so called congressional super committee on deficit reduction reaches its conclusions. Also, Borosage referred to the protestors lack of connection to any specific politician as "liberating."