More than 300 unapologetic progressives packed a local YWCA for the inaugural meeting of Progressive Democrats of America, Tucson Chapter. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

Who said the progressive movement was dead? It is alive and well in Tucson, Arizona.

An estimated 300 activists, liberals, Green Party members, and Democratic Party foot soldiers crammed into a large meeting room at the YWCA on the west side of Tucson Monday night for the inaugural meeting of the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), Tucson Chapter.

Twenty minutes before the meeting started, it was standing room only. By the time the first speaker began at 7 p.m., all chairs were filled and people were standing 2-3 deep on the sidelines, sitting 4-5 deep on the floor in front, and standing out in the hall.

Pretty much all of Tucson’s liberal leaders and volunteers– including a significant portion of Democratic Party Precinct Committeepersons (PCs)– came to hear what Congressman Raul Grijalva, populist radio commentator Jim Hightower and PDA leaders Tim Carpenter and Mimi Kennedy had to say.

As one of the introductory speakers, Carpenter sparked cheers from the crowd with fiery rhetoric, saying, “We [PDA] are not the Democratic Party… We’re the insurgency of the Democratic Party!”

Carpenter said that PDA was born out of the presidential races of Dennis Kucinich and Howard Dean. He gave a shout-out to other liberal groups whose members were in attendance: MoveOn.org, Democracy for America, Jobs with Justice, and the Central Labor Council.

Populist commentator and author Jim Hightower was the keynote speaker, along with Congressman Raul Grijalva. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

“Building community and building organization. That’s what PDA is about,” said Carpenter. But despite their efforts, progressives learned in recent years that electing a Democratic Party president and Congress wasn’t enough to get progressive legislation enacted. PDA is now going to work inside and outside the Democratic Party for real change in America.

The speeches were punctuated with cheers when Carpenter, Grijalva, and Hightower talked about taking our country back from the radical right and corporate pawns in the  Republican and Democratic Parties.

Hightower warned activists that taking the country back from the corporate oligarchy that now runs it would be a long struggle and likened it to the 70-year battle for women’s suffrage.

Hightower did admit that he wasn’t beyond “colluding with the pharmaceutical industry” in his quest to rebuild the middle class. He wants them to invent a “new Viagra” that could be used to stiffen the spines of Democrats and give them the backbone to fight for the middle class, rather than kowtowing to big business and their lobbying machine.

After the speeches, attendees broke up into issue organizing teams around PDA’s six core issues:

• Single-payer healthcare (Medicare for All)
• Peace (ending the wars and occupations and redirecting the funds)
• Clean elections and voter rights (including repeal of Citizens United and elimination of private funding for elections)
• Economic and social justice
• Accountability of elected officials
• Environment and global warming

Republicans and Republican-lite Democrats– be forewarned. Like the Tea Party on the right, progressives are “mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore”. Well, maybe we’re seriously annoyed and not going to donate to or volunteer for Republican-lite anymore. Southern Arizona Leadership Council Democratic Party sympathizers and No Labels Democrats could be in trouble, if even half of the Democratic Party PCs in attendance decide to work for real progressive candidates and issues instead of just settling for someone who is not Republican.

The Tucson meeting was the second in a series of PDA organizing meetings across the state. According to Carpenter, the Bisbee organizing meeting drew 120 attendees; later this week PDA will hold events in Phoenix, Flagstaff, and Winslow.

Watch for an update of this story with full video of the speeches.

Old Glory (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

Since I wrote Disgusted? It’s time to organize a year ago, our state’s swirl down the drain has accelerated, and the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives is working hard for military-industrial complex– while ignoring the needs of the American people.

Liberals, who were only disgusted last year, are either: 1) angry about the destruction of our country by greedy corporatists and ready to take to the streets to protest capitalist dictators or 2) resigned to the destruction of our country and preparing for total economic collapse by buying some chickens, planting a garden, installing rainwater harvesting and solar panels, and living “off the grid”.

Living "off the grid": rain water cistern + loyal guard dog. (Photo Credit: Pamela Powers)

If you have been reading the news (1, 2, 3, 4)  in the past year, you, too, are probably somewhere on that sliding scale of disgusted-angry-resigned.

Before you buy those chickens, try organizing. Trust me, right-wing Tea Partiers are not the only people who are fed up with business-as-usual government in Washington, DC and Phoenix.

On Monday, February 21, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) will hold an organizing meeting in Tucson.

Political commentator Jim Hightower and Congressman Raul Grijalva will be the guest speakers at the inaugural meeting of the newly formed Tucson PDA chapter. If you listen to KXCI, you have heard Hightower’s sometimes-caustic but always poignant political commentaries.

From his website, here’s a taste of Hightower’s tell-it-like-it-is style.

Corporate America’s idea of Patriotism
If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.

More than an old adage, that’s a crucial operating principle of presidential leadership. Indeed, it’s a mark of political character, defining whether a president will stand up for the many, or be pushed around by the arrogant few.

In the past, when over-privileged corporate barons selfishly feathered their already-luxurious nests at the expense of America’s national interests, some U.S. Presidents had the moxie to get in their royal faces. Using what Theodore Roosevelt called the “bully pulpit” of the presidency, those White House champions of the common good confronted the greed of the corporate elite, rallying the larger public to bring them down to earth.

Barack Obama does not seem to have such presidential fortitude. Corporate America has been given a wealth of tax breaks, regulatory favors, and absurd levels of subsidies in recent years, amassing a stash of cash that now tops $2 trillion. But they adamantly refuse to invest that in American jobs and communities. Yet, in a recent meeting with these arrogant powers, Obama showed neither anger nor strength. Rather, he essentially begged them to consider “what you can do for America.” Pretty please. With sugar on it. “I want to encourage you to get in the game” of job creation, he pleaded.

Encourage? Why not demand?

And what did he buy with this genteel appeal to corporate patriotism? He got the corporate thumb jabbed in his eye. “Bottom line,” barked the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s chief lobbyist after Obama’s plea, “The most patriotic thing a company can do is to ensure it is in business.”

What a perfect expression of today’s prevailing corporate ethic. It’s a perverse twist on John Kennedy’s appeal: Ask not what you can do for your country; ask what you can do for yourself. Why should any President want any part of that?

What: Organizing meeting for Progressive Democrats of America
When: Monday, February 21, 7:00pm (Registration begins 6:30)
Where: Tucson YWCA, 525 N. Bonita (just south of St. Mary’s Road, half mile west of I-10)
Suggested Donation: $5 at the door.