Progressive organizations are beginning to figure out that no one issue is more important than the other, and that in order to be successful, progressives have to come together.
A great example of this is the Sierra Club. This past Labor Day, the environmental group joined together with both Labor leaders and civil justice leaders to bring attention to the struggles and victories of American workers of all ages and races.
Over the last year, the Sierra Club has teamed up with civil rights activists to march for justice, they’ve teamed up with labor in the fight for a $15 minimum wage, and they’ve teamed with immigrants to help fight for a path to legalizing the citizenship of countless immigrants and their families. And other groups are doing the same thing.
This is one area where Democrats and Progressives have typically been weak. While we do have a broad coalition of different interests fighting for attention and change, we’ve rarely seen these groups come together to fight for a common goal. And that’s why progress in most areas has been slow.
For the Democratic Party to truly gain momentum, they need these organizations to work together. The environmental fight is also a fight for American workers; the social justice fight is also a fight for equal rights, regardless of race or sexual orientation; environmental issues are racial issues; racial inequality is also income inequality; and so on. And liberal groups are waking up to that reality.
By sharing resources and goals, the progressive movement can accomplish much more than they have in the past when they operated under the “every group for themselves” philosophy. Hopefully this unity will continue to grow as we head into the elections next year, as all of these issues are going to be in serious trouble if Democrats lose the White House in 2016.
