is there
a
politics
beyond liberal
and
conservative?
****Saturday, June 15, 1996, New York City, 9:30am-5:00pm
Hunter College, West Building, 68th & Lexington Ave.
****More info: www.socialpolicy.org or 274-1139
Participants: Gar Alperovitz, Stanley Aronowitz, Ann Beaudry, Lu Blain,
Karen Carrillo, Flora Davis, Donna Edwards, Colin Greer, Richard Healey,
Timothea Howard, Margaret Morgan Hubbard, Alexander D. Hurt, Taj James,
David Dyssegaard Kallick, John McKnight, Larry McNeil, Terry Mizrahi, Doug
Phelps, Frank Riessman, Rob Ritchie, Harvey Robbins, Mark Rosenman, Bruce
Schearer, Michael Shuman, Sam Smith, Lisa Sullivan, Gerald Taylor, Michael
Tomasky, Omar Wasaw
On June 15, some of the country's cutting-edge thinkers and activists will
come together in New York for a fresh, bold, day-long conference setting
aside politics as usual. The event kicks off a sustained effort throughout
this election year to define a politics that moves beyond the traditional
distinctions of liberal vs. conservative. In our view, a new politics is
not centrist. Nor is it a "post-ideological" pragmatism. It changes the
spectrum rather than finding a point on it. Come be part of the beginning
of an exciting year-long effort!
Our participants and sponsors come at this questions primarily-though by no
means exclusively-from "the left." Yet in moving beyond the standard
answers, we seek to engage those who come to these questions openly,
whether from left, right, or center. We are frustrated to hear liberals say
the solution to every problem lies in state regulation. And we are
unconvinced when conservatives voice the un-American idea that there are
some problems we just can't do anything about, or argue that things will
work out fine if we trust "market forces" and the corporate sector.
On June 15, we will exploring what a post-liberal, post-conservative
politics would look like. What would be the new points of agreement, the
new dividing lines, the philosophies that reflect the views of people
alienated from politics today? We hope to shape the questions, bring to
bear the relevant experiences, and begin to formulate the answers.
After June 15, we will have a regular series of meetings, acting as a
virtual think tank of the new politics. We will devote a special issue of
Social Policy to the topic. And we will have an ongoing electronic
conversation on our interactive Web Site (www.socialpolicy.org) that will
actively include policy experts while also being open to anyone who wants
to participate.
Finally, after the election, we will have another large gathering,
repeating the question. By that time, we should be ready to say clearly to
the media that there is an alternative to the liberal-vs.-conservative
politics Americans seem to find so stifling.
Help lay the groundwork for a dynamic post-liberal, post-conservative
political philosophy!
Co-sponsors:
*A. E. Havens Center
*Center for a New Democracy
*Center for Democracy and Citizenship
*Education Center for Community Organizing
*Center for Human Rights Education
*Center for Living Democracy
*Center for Women Policy Studies
*City Limits
*Environmental Action
*El Puente
*Grassroots Policy Project
*Institute for Policy Studies
*The Nation
*National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives
*National Jobs for All Coalition
*The Neighborhood Works
*The New Party
*New York Online
*The Progressive Populist
*Same Boat Coalition
*Shelterforce
*Third Force
*The Union Institute's Office for Social Responsibility
*Who Cares?