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> "Primary Obama" Ads Roll Through D.C.
Topping The NPA Update this month is news that the message "Primary Obama!" is rolling - literally - through the streets of Washington, D.C.
Six District of Columbia buses now bear ads with the heading "Obama is a Republican!" and detailing the non-change of his administration, thanks to NPA supporter Rick Craven.
The ads are the result of a campaign Craven created at EpicStep.com, which uses "crowd sourcing" to choose and fund issues advertising. (Other EpicStep campaigns have excoriated Fox News and supported WikiLeaks.)
> Volunteers Rolling, Too!
In a one-hour conference call last week, NPA volunteers from across the country discussed objectives within five main project areas: Platform, Promotion, Organizational Outreach, State Outreach, and Administration.
Platform Report
Ed Griffith said work on the initial draft of the Unified Progressive Platform will be complete by month's end. The platform assembles policy ideas from a host of Progressive sources - including the 1912 Progressive Party platform.
The initial draft will be posted at the <a href=http:newprogs.org>NPA website</a> for public comment, prior to preparation of the final draft and its submission to the NPA Steering Committee for further review and input.
Social Networking
Within the Promotion effort, an initiative to grow the NPA's Facebook and Twitter presence was begun. Facebook freaks and Tweeters who want to help spread the word are already hard at work, and the welcome mat is always out for more.
Coordinator Takes Reins
Susan Rose-Pizzo of North Carolina stepped forward to serve as the NPA's Volunteer Coordinator.
Susan will play a key role in assuring that the all-volunteer NPA budgets volunteers' valuable time as efficiently and effectively as possible. Whether you can give an hour per week or eight hours per day, we welcome your enthusiasm and will put your talents to good use. To join our growing roster of volunteers, email Susan at volunteer@newprogs.org, or click here right now, to get started!
> Zeese Joins NPA Effort Anti-war activist, drug policy reform advocate and former Senate candidate Kevin Zeese joined the NPA Steering Committee June 9. Zeeze was the longtime policy director for <a href=http://norml.org/>NORML</a> and was the Green Party's candidate for U.S. Senate from Maryland in 2006. Zeese is now deeply involved in the project to assemble, this October in Washington DC, Americans unified in their opposition to the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and more generally to the U.S.'s interventionist, "perpetual war" posture - and the economy's reliance upon it. The October2011 organization seeks not merely a day or a long weekend of demonstrations, but to peaceably occupy the nation's capital - the people's capital - for as long as is necessary to bring our troops home, and to highlight the cost of war to both military and civilian individuals and their families. The NPA has endorsed the October2011 project. We urge our supporters to sign the pledge, and join the effort at October2011.org. > Maki, Cavlan boost NPA at Netroots Nation NPA Steering Committee member and casino workers organizer Alan Maki has joined longtime activist and 2012 U.S. Senate candidate Michael Cavlan in promoting the NPA at the 6th annual Netroots Nation convention in Minneapolis, running through Sunday. Maki and Cavlan are working to identify, inform and enlist propsective NPA volunteers, members, and donors. Netroots Nation brings together left-leaning blog enthusiasts and owners, though many of the sites represented remain committed to the now-discredited "lesser of two evils" paradigm, advocating support for virtually any candidate with a "D" behind their name. With precious few exceptions, these self-identified "lefty," "liberal," and "progressive" blogs will not tolerate dissent with the national Democratic Party. Indeed, the event was initially known as the "YearlyKos" Convention, after the DailyKos blog - where too-vehement disparaging of Democrats has routinely cost contributors and commenters the freedom to lend their voice to the discussion. Such repression is leading true progressives to abandon these party-line toeing sites, whose complicity with the establishment Democratic Party will only become more obvious as the 2012 election approaches. The NPA welcomes them, their energy, and their dedication to thinking for themselves. > There Is No "Instant" A message from NPA facilitator Anthony Noel For better or worse (clearly worse) our society is based on instant gratification. We want it all, we want it now, and we're increasingly unwilling to work for it, whatever "it" may be. Corporations and political parties (is there really any difference?) know this, and carefully cater to the very impatience they've worked so hard to instill in us, their customers and voters. In 2008, we were told Change was on the way. We needed it. We deserved it. All we had to do was vote for it. And in record numbers, we did - giving the Democratic Party historic control of both the legislative and executive branches. Despite this apparent coup, nothing has changed. So what have we learned? Hopefully, that until we stop blindly trusting the Republican and Democratic parties - and completely let go of our belief that any positive change comes about "instantly" - we will continue to see a deepening of our servitude to corporate and partisan elites. Canadians realized this 50 years ago, and the New Democratic Party was born. The NDP put workers and families and the environment and peace back on the map in Canada, and just last month it retired the Liberal Party, whose endless compromise put it in lock step with their conservative "opponents." Does any of this sound vaguely familiar? When you are ready to join us in following the NDP's example, ready to help build, here in America, a long-term voice for systemic, meaningful, Progressive reform which brings our country into the 21st Century, we'll be here. In Canada, it took 50 years - but for the first 30, they didn't have the Internet. Whether you're a disaffected Democrat, a struggling worker, an Independent, unemployed, a Green, poor, a Socialist, a businessperson (with a conscience), a Libertarian, or some combination of any of these, if you can see that our current system is unsustainable and is the problem, not the solution, we'll be here - and we invite you to join our 100-percent volunteer effort. Thanks for all you do. | 
