x
Home
Search
Topics
Almanac
Science
Nature
People
History
Society
Signup
Login
HOME
TOPICS
ALMANAC
SCIENCE
NATURE
PEOPLE
HISTORY
SOCIETY
PHILOSOPHY
The Agenda Project
Topic Home
Discussion
0
Encyclopedia
The Agenda Project is a New York-based non-profit political organization. It was founded in 2006 by political strategist, commentator, and author, Erica Payne
Erica Payne
Erica C. Payne is an American public policy expert, commentator, author and strategist.She is the founder of the Agenda Project, a New York‐based hub of public policy discussion and strategy debate for progressive activists from business, media, philanthropy, government, and non‐profit...

, the founder of the consulting firm, the Tesseract Group. The Agenda Project was founded to connect participants and progressive leaders and stakeholders to build critical relationships and to deepen the understanding of progressive ideas
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...

 and specific policy issues.

The Breakfast Series

The Agenda Project first began as the Agenda Project Breakfast Series in 2006, which was a monthly informal discussion about important issues facing the country, developed by Payne and co-hosted by the former national finance chair for the Democratic Party, Maureen White, and Democratic party activist, Gail Furman
Gail Furman
Gail Furman is a child psychologist and a wealthy Democratic party activist and donor. She is the mother of Barack Obama campaign advisor Jason Furman.Furman is President of the Furman Foundation, Inc...

. The breakfasts have had over 100 notable speakers including US Senators Kirsten Gillibrand
Kirsten Gillibrand
Kirsten Elizabeth Rutnik Gillibrand is an attorney and the junior United States Senator from the state of New York and a member of the Democratic Party...

 and Chuck Schumer, Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman
Paul Robin Krugman is an American economist, professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times...

, and author Mona Sutphen
Mona Sutphen
Mona K. Sutphen is an American senior government official, lobbyist, and writer on foreign policy. Sutphen served as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011. She is currently "a macro analyst at UBS."- Background :Sutphen is from Milwaukee,...

. Since then, the Project has expanded to become a non-profit organization.

Practical Progress

The Agenda Project launched practicalprogress.org and a monthly Practical Progress monthly e-newsletter to highlight the accomplishments of other notable progressive organizations and to keep leaders and activists informed and updated about the progressive movement. The Practical Progressive: How to Build a 21st Century Political Movement is also the name of the book that Payne authored in 2008.

Campaigns

The Agenda Project is responsible for numerous campaigns such as F*ck Tea, Hate Begets Hate, Vote Sanity, and Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength. F*ck Tea was launched in the summer of 2010 and included "F*ck Tea" mugs and t-shirts, which on the back read: "Progress is the Real American Party". The campaign was intended to urge Americans "to dismiss the tea party and to promote the progressive cause", Erica told Politico. "Hate Begets Hate" was launched in response to the stabbing of a New York City cab driver, and other hate crimes against Muslims. The Project suggested that the negative light under which Muslims are portrayed in the media and by conservative public officials is the cause of such violence. "Vote Sanity" was a campaign launched right before the November 2010 US Congressional midterm elections, inspired by Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...

's Rally to Restore Sanity on October 30, 2010. The campaign's intention was to encourage voters to vote against the Republican, and more specifically the Tea Party candidates, in the 2010 election.

Hate Begets Hate

Also referred to as "Defending American Values: The Freedom to Worship", the Agenda Project launched a three-pronged campaign in partnership with Auburn Seminary, National Security Network, and Vote Vets in response to politicians and individuals who publicly and recklessly opposed the construction of Park51 in close proximity to Ground Zero. The Agenda Project coordinated the efforts of the three partner organizations in order to attack opposition to the mosque from three different constituent communities, including:
  • The religious community (positioning: “stop the war on prayer”), which included a website and online petition letter that was signed by 700+ individuals, a “War on Prayer” video (produced by the AP) that has nearly 11,000 hits, and numerous media appearances by religious leaders;
  • The veteran community (positioning: “we didn’t fight for American values abroad to have them denigrated at home”), which included an online petition letter that was signed by 14,000+ veterans and veteran families;
  • The national security community (positioning: “anti-Muslim sentiments are bad for our security”), which included a “Propaganda for Terrorists” video (produced by the Agenda Project), which called out Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Rev. Terry Jones for providing fodder for anti-American Muslim extremist groups.

The Agenda Project also launched pieces of the campaign under its own brand, including:
  • Video: A "Hate Begets Hate" video, which was a direct attack on politicians who publicly opposed the construction of the Cordoba House—the video received 6,000+ hits to date and was played twice in-full on MSNBC;
  • Media appearance: After the video's release, Erica Payne appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews to speak about the AP's work on the mosque issue;
  • Publication: The AP also published an op-ed in the Huffington Post titled "How to Kill America," which explored the ways in which the mosque issue highlighted how America becomes a threat to itself when our political leaders forfeit the shared principles that constitute the soul of our country.

2010 Midterm Elections Strategy

In the weeks before the midterm elections, the Agenda Project focused on influencing congressional and senatorial races in battleground states, particularly where Tea Party candidates were running against Democratic opponents. This campaign had four main components:
  • Strategy discussion and website: After hosting a midterm strategy discussion and presentation with special guests Greg Speed, Executive Director of America Votes; Joan Fitz-gerald, President of America Votes; and Anita Dunn, former White House Communications Director, the AP launched a website called “Strat2010” that laid out a comprehensive midterm strategy that outlined the most efficient use of donors' political dollars. The website also featured a video produced by the Agenda Project and America Votes called 2010: The Movie.
  • “Vote Sanity”/ “Welcome to Crazytown”: The AP then launched a second website titled “Vote Sanity,” which lightheartedly documented the Tea Party candidates' more outlandish statements. The website received 5,000+ hits and was featured in Salon.com. The website also included an AP produced video titled “Welcome to Crazytown” which currently has almost 15,000 hits. The AP also published an op-ed in the Huffington Post by the same name.
  • Video: The AP also produced a video that contained some of the craziest Tea Party candidate quotes titled “Tea Party Candidates Taken Out” which has 4,300+ hits to date.

Patriotic Millionaires Against Tax Cuts for Millionaires

The Agenda Project’s final campaign of 2010 focused on pressuring political leaders to allow the Bush-era tax cuts to expire as scheduled. While this campaign was multipronged like our Defending American Values campaign, Patriotic Millionaires was branded as an Agenda Project product with several constituencies supporting the same message through their own lenses:
  • Patriotic Millionaires Against Tax Cuts for Millionaires (lens: “this country’s economic infrastructure has allowed us to prosper, it’s time for us to give back”): Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength was the cornerstone of what became the Fiscal Strength campaign as a whole. It included a website that featured an open letter signed by nearly 150 millionaires (including founders of Ask.com, Ben and Jerry's, Men's Warehouse, and Princeton Review, Google executives and singer Moby) asking President Obama to raise their taxes in the name of our country’s financial wellbeing. The letter received 2,000+ signatures from non-millionaire supporters and the website has over 60,000 hits. This piece of the campaign garnered major media coverage, including:
  • Women for Fiscal Strength (lens: “as caretakers of the fiscal health of our families, we also care about the fiscal health of our nation”): This piece of the Fiscal Strength Campaign entailed a website with a petition letter that was signed by 300+ women, including Gloria Steinem and Kerry Kennedy. The site was featured on Gloria Steinem’s Women’s Media Center Blog.
  • Faithful Americans for Fiscal Strength (lens: “extending tax cuts for the wealthiest over those most in need is morally repugnant”): This piece also included a website and petition letter that received over 400+ signatures from Americans of faith, including religious leaders from multiple faiths and various interfaith organizations such as the President of Auburn Seminary, the CEO of Sojourners, the Executive Director of Faith in Public Life.
  • National Security Community for Fiscal Strength (lens: “a robust economy is the bedrock of our nation's security”): The petition letter on this website received nearly 100 signatures from national security experts such as lieutenant generals, a former senior advisor and speechwriter for the US State Department, fellows from the Truman National Security Project, and state representatives.
  • Massachusetts for Fiscal Strength (lens: “Sen. Scott Brown must uphold his promises to lower taxes”): The final piece of the Fiscal Strength Campaign was aimed specifically at Sen. Scott Brown from Massachusetts, and included a website, a petition letter that received several dozen signatures, and a video ad called “Millionaires and Mr. Regular Guy” that ran in Massachusetts. The ad was covered in Roll Call, which has a print readership of 19,000+ people, the Huffington Post, The National Review Online, and Yahoo News.
  • Call to action: Following the tremendous success of the Fiscal Strength campaign, the Agenda Project launched a call to action asking supporters of the campaign to call the White House and Valerie Jarrett to urge legislators to let the tax cuts expire. The volume of calls received shut down White House switchboards, and the story was covered by The Daily Caller’s Alexis Levinson and in Roll Call, which has a print readership of 19,000+ people. In addition, Erica Payne appeared on “The O'Reilly Factor”-–which has a viewership of about 2 million people per night--to talk about the campaign.

America the Beautiful

In May 2011, The Agenda Project
The Agenda Project
The Agenda Project is a New York-based non-profit political organization. It was founded in 2006 by political strategist, commentator, and author, Erica Payne, the founder of the consulting firm, the Tesseract Group...

, released its “America the Beautiful” campaign, also known as “Granny off the Cliff.” The video was created in response to Rep. Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan may refer to:* Paul Ryan , member of the U.S. House of Representatives* Paul Ryan , music agent for The Agency, former Cradle of Filth guitarist* Paul Ryan , comics artist...

’s proposed Medicare
Medicare
Medicare may refer to any of several publicly funded health insurance programs:*Medicare *Medicare *Medicare - See also :*Medicaid*Medicare Australia*Medicare Resources - China*Medicare Rights Center - United States...

 cuts, as part of The Path to Prosperity
The Path to Prosperity
The Path to Prosperity was the Republican Party's budget proposal for the year 2012. It competed with budget proposals outlined separately by President Barack Obama. and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The Republican proposal was formalized and passed by the House of Representatives on...

, the Republican Party
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...

’s long-term budget proposal.



The video dramatizes Paul Ryan’s proposal to privatize Medicare. The video – which shows an elderly woman getting thrown off a cliff – asserts that the Ryan plan will hurt elderly Americans.

External links

  • http://www.practicalprogress.org
  • http://www.agendaproject.org/what_we_do.html
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
Silverdale Interactive © 2024. All Rights Reserved.
 
x
OK