Dear Friends,
I’ll be leaving Penn ACTION at the end of the month.
Last year, as the HCAN campaign was winding down, US Action asked me to become Executive Director at Penn ACTION with the hope of building a state wide grassroots political organization. We’ve done a lot of good work over the last year. But, as you all know, this is a difficult fundraising environment and we haven’t been able to raise enough, either in Washington or in Pennsylvania, to keep the project going at the level we had reached or to expand it further. So US Action decided to pull back on the project and Crystal Martzall, who did so much to make our work a success, and I will be leaving it. For the time being, Robin Stelly, who has done such great work in Bucks County will keep organizing there and will try to do as much statewide work as possible.
What’s next for me
This is very disappointing to me. But it also gives me an opportunity to carry through on some other plans I’ve had. I intend to stay active politically but I hope to do some different work in the immediate future. Last year I aside my plans to finish a book I’ve been writing—Civilization and Its Contents—about the conceptions of human nature and sexuality that underlies some of our contemporary political conflicts. I’m planning on taking a few months to finish that book.
And I’m also going to be doing some writing about the political challenges we face. As I write this, President Obama has been trying to make a deal that most of us instinctively know is a mistake. There are no doubt many reasons he is moving in this direction, having to do with his own path in life as well as the dependence of Democrats on money from interests that do not share our ideals. But he also seems to think that the only path to winning the support of independents is by trying to stand above the economic conflicts of our time.
Over the next few months, I’m going to write some articles that set out a different strategy, a political path towards gaining majority support for a progressive vision of our economy that does not compromise on our deepest ideals.
I’d be surprised if I don’t get back into political organizing some time in the future. And I’ll be using my blog and Facebook and the occasional email blast to encourage people to stay engaged politically. But, after five years doing this work full time, and a previous five years doing it as a volunteer while also holding down an academic position, I’m really eager to spend some time finishing my book and reflecting on what we progressives have and have not accomplished and where we should be going.
Thank you
I know that whatever I write, and whatever political work I do in the future, will be deeply influenced by my work with all of you and with my friends at US Action and on the Health Care for America Now campaign and the Penn ACTION project. So, finally I want to thank all of my friends and allies for your commitment to our many projects; for the all the interactions we have had, on-line and off, that have taught me so much, and for the friendship and support that made our work so much fun.
You can stay in touch with me at MarcStier@stier.net, you can friend me on Facebook or you can sign up at my blog, Marc Stier at Large, (http://www.blog.stier.net), to get updates from me.
And, most of all, keep fighting. These are tough times. But I have no doubt that the right is totally over reaching. Their money makes it possible for them to tell one big lie after another. But they can’t spend enough to hide the damage they are doing to working people and the middle class, to both our prosperity and our communities. I can’t say when it will happen, but I’m absolutely sure that the work we do now, both in organizing and in developing new strategies and policy ideas, will come to fruition soon.
Marc
MarcStier@stier.net
(215) 880-6142