Politics the Wellstone Way: How to Elect Progressive Candidates and Win on Issues
Author: Wellstone Action
During the past four years, political activism has grown to a level that has not been seen in the United States since the Vietnam War. Tensions over the war in Iraq and the presidential election motivated hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the political fence to take to the streets. Politics the Wellstone Way offers a comprehensive set of strategies to help progressives channel that energy into winning issue-based and electoral campaigns.
Wellstone Action is a nonprofit organization dedicated to continuing Paul and Sheila Wellstone’s fight for progressive change and economic justice by teaching effective political action skills to people across the country. Politics the Wellstone Way is a workshop in book form, providing the detailed framework needed to jump-start a new generation of activists plus plenty of helpful tools for old pros, including articulating a strong message, base building, field organizing, budgeting, fundraising, scheduling, getting out the vote, and grassroots advocacy and lobbying, illustrated by practical and inspirational examples.
From the school board all the way to the White House, Politics the Wellstone Way instructs people on becoming better organizers, candidates, campaign workers, and citizen activists, empowering them to make their voices heard.
Wellstone Action was established by the Wellstones’ two surviving sons, David and Mark. The main vehicle for this ongoing work is Camp Wellstone, a weekend training program that Wellstone Action leads regularly in locations across the country. Jeff Blodgett, Paul Wellstone’s longtime campaign manager, is the executive director ofWellstone Action. For more information visit www.wellstoneaction.org.
What People Are Saying
Al Franken
"This book is the next best thing to going to a Camp Wellstone if, like me, you are too lazy, or too important."
Tom Harkin
"This is a great book for progressives who want to win without compromising their principles. My friend Paul Wellstone was an expert campaigner and organizer, and it is fitting that Wellstone Action is carrying on his work by training progressives in the tools of effective political action. The pages of this book are filled with smart advice and useful tools from Wellstone's most trusted advisers. Highly recommended for those who are progressive and want to win!"
—Senator
Jim Hightower
"Agitation is essential for progressive reform. But agitation without organization equals frustration. In this book, Wellstone Action shows you how to combine the two for success."
Walter Mondale
"Paul Wellstone had a great ability to win by connecting his politics to people in a profound way. Paul can't be replaced, but his formula for success can be passed on to others, and this book does just that. Written by the people who guided his successful campaigns, it is a blueprint for those who are committed to making a difference, taking a stand, and winning."
Howard Dean
"Paul Wellstone was a great American because he was honest and led with his heart. But he was a successful leader because he knew how to organize, and he showed ordinary citizens that they had the power within themselves to change our country."
—chair of the Democratic National Committee and former presidential candidate
Russ Feingold
"The passion that Senator Wellstone brought to public service is an inspiration to all of us who carry on the cause of progressive politics. Working together, we can bring real change to our country when we reach out to the grassroots by standing up and standing tall for the progressive values we share."
—Senator
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World Poverty and Human Rights: Cosmopolitan Responsibilities and Reforms
Author: Thomas W Pogg
Some 2.5 billion human beings live in severe poverty, deprived of such essentials as adequate nutrition, safe drinking water, basic sanitation, adequate shelter, literacy, and basic health care. One-third of all human deaths are from poverty-related causes: 18 million annually, including over 10 million children under five.
However huge in human terms, the world poverty problem is tiny economically. Just 1 percent of the national incomes of the high-income countries would suffice to end severe poverty worldwide. Yet, these countries, unwilling to bear an opportunity cost of this magnitude, continue to impose a grievously unjust global institutional order that foreseeably and avoidably perpetuates the catastrophe. Most citizens of affluent countries believe that we are doing nothing wrong.
Thomas Pogge seeks to explain how this belief is sustained. He analyzed how our moral and economic theorizing and our global economic order have adapted to make us appear disconnected from massive poverty abroad. Dispelling the illusion, he also offers a modest, widely sharable standard of global economic justice and makes detailed, realistic proposals toward fulfilling it. Thoroughly updated, the second edition of this classic book incorporates responses to critics and a new chapter on Pogge's current work on pharmaceutical patent reform.
About the Author:
Thomas Pogge is Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs at Yale University, Professorial Fellow in the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the Australian National University, Research Director in the Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature at the University of Oslo, and Adjunct Professor in the Centrefor Professional Ethics at the University of Central Lancashire
Table of Contents:
General Introduction 1Some cautions about our moral judgments 2
Four easy reasons to ignore world poverty 7
Sophisticated defenses of our acquiescence in world poverty 13
Does our new global economic order really not harm the poor? 18
Responsibilities and reforms 26
Human Flourishing and Universal Justice 33
Introduction 33
Social justice 37
Paternalism 40
Justice in first approximation 43
Essential refinements 45
Human rights 50
Specification of human rights and responsibilities for their realization 54
Conclusion 56
How Should Human Rights be Conceived? 58
Introduction 58
From natural law to rights 60
From natural rights to human rights 62
Official disrespect 65
The libertarian critique of social and economic rights 70
The critique of social and economic rights as "manifesto rights" 73
Disputes about kinds of human rights 75
Loopholes in Moralities 77
Introduction 77
Types of incentives 79
Loopholes 81
Social arrangements 82
Case 1: the converted apartment building 83
Case 2: the homelands policy of white South Africa 86
An objection 88
Strengthening 89
Fictional histories 91
Puzzles of equivalence 93
Conclusion 95
Moral Universalism and Global Economic Justice 97
Introduction 97
Moral universalism 98
Our moral assessments of national and global economic orders 100
Some factual background about the global economic order 102
Conceptions of national and global economic justice contrasted 106
Moral universalism and David Miller's contextualism 108
Contextualist moral universalism and John Rawls's moral conception 110
Rationalizing divergent moral assessments through a double standard 114
Rationalizing divergent moral assessments without a double standard 116
The causal role of global institutions in the persistence of severe poverty 118
Conclusion 122
The Bounds of Nationalism 124
Introduction 124
Common nationalism: priority for the interests of compatriots 126
Lofty nationalism: the justice-for-compatriots priority 135
Explanatory nationalism: the deep significance of national borders 145
Conclusion 150
Achieving Democracy 152
Introduction 152
The structure of the problem faced by fledgling democracies 154
Reducing the expected rewards of coups d'etat 158
Undermining the borrowing privilege of authoritarian predators 159
Undermining the resource privilege of authoritarian predators 168
Conclusion 173
Cosmopolitanism and Sovereignty 174
Introduction 174
Institutional cosmopolitanism based on human rights 175
The idea of state sovereignty 183
Some main reasons for a vertical dispersal of sovereignty 187
The shaping and reshaping of political units 196
Conclusion 201
Eradicating Systemic Poverty: Brief for a Global Resources Dividend 202
Introduction 202
Radical inequality and our responsibility 203
Three grounds of injustice 205
A moderate proposal 210
The moral argument for the proposed reform 214
Is the reform proposal realistic? 216
Conclusion 220
Pharmaceutical Innovation: Must We Exclude the Poor? 222
Introduction 222
The TRIPS Agreement and its aftermath 224
The argument from beneficial consequences 230
Toward a better way of stimulating research and development of essential medicines 236
Differential pricing 238
The public-good strategy for extending access to essential medicines 240
A full-pull plan for the provision of pharmaceuticals 244
Specifying and implementing the basic full-pull idea 253
Justifying the plan to affluent citizens and their representatives 256
Last Words 262
Notes 265
Bibliography 314
Index 328
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