Take Back America Session

Description of your session. Rep. John Conyers, Courtney Farr of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, and Miles Mogulescu of the Huffington Post will lead a discussion on building a mass movement for Universal Health Care.
Many progressives believe that the only solution to America's health care crisis is a single payer/Medicare-For All system like H.R. 676 which has been introduced in Congress by John Conyers with 76 Congressional Co-Sponsors and the endorsement of over 200 union locals. Other progressives, including the Campaign for America's Future and the leading Democratic Presidential candidates support health reform which builds on the current privave insurance system and adds a public alternative that people can buy into. This session will discuss how supporters of single payer can use the fact that the Democrats have put health care reform at the center of the national agenda to build a mass movement for Medicare-For-All that goes beyond the specific proposals of the Democratic candidates.

Join Rev. Ray Dubuque and Robert McElvaine for this session to discuss themes common to Bob's new book, Grand Theft Jesus and Ray's web site Liberals Like Christ: how the wolves in sheep's clothing of our day--James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Joel Osteen, Tim LaHaye, Ann Coulter, et. al.--have kidnapped Jesus and how progressives can free him to be again the champion of our causes.

The Jesus Thieves continue to be taken by most of the media as actual spokesmen for Christianity. Yet what they preach is precisely the opposite of what Jesus taught. They sell an "Easy Jesus," which is similar to plans that tell us we can "lose weight without diet or exercise." This one, "ChristianityLite," tells us that we can "be saved without sacrifice or good works." By their current test of authentic Christian faith, i.e. opposition to abortion and gay marriage, Jesus wasn't a genuine "Christian," because he didn't condemn either practice, though both were common in his day. What he did talk about, constantly, was helping the poor and nonviolence.

Former Republican African American Congressman J.C. Watts' father used to say, "A black man voting for a Republican is like a chicken voting for Col. Sander's." The same is true of "Christians." Conservative Republicans are going to rue the day that they turned Christians on to politics, as more and more of the 75% of American voters who identify themselves as "Christians" come to the conclusion that the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was right when he said that "Jesus Christ was one of the greatest liberal leaders of all time." Progressives need to enlist Jesus Followers in the war for justice and equality and against oppression of the poor and the weak, against immoral government policies at home and immoral wars abroad.

Among the subtopics to be explored in this session is how biblical literalism (which actually takes literally almost nothing Jesus said--what it reduces to the "Suggestions on the Mount") is a legacy of slavery. However, there is in a South a very different form of Christianity, one that inspired slaves, abolitionists, and the Civil Rights Movement. It is those progressive Christians who can be won--and are being won--back to progressive causes.

Join CREDO Mobile and a group of successful practitioners for a discussion of the new frontier in progressive activism: the mobile phone. Find out how a variety of organizations and campaigns have literally put the power into their activists’ hands through innovative text messaging and mobile content campaigns. Learn what approaches lead to more successful advocacy and organizing and what is not appropriate to do on the phone.

It's not about the candidate it's about us!

At the core of every movement is a set of values. Filmmakers Edwin Rutsch and Joan Kuenz will lead a discussion on the question, "What are Progressive Values?" We'll go through some brainstorming exercises and discussions that will prepare you for being interviewed on the topic. You can tell your personal story of how those values became important to you.

Over the course of the conference, each attendee will have the opportunity to have their stories, thoughts and feelings video taped for a documentary about Progressive Values. For more see;
http://ProgressiveSpirit.com and click on the Discuss link below.

Sure Conservative ideas and policies have failed, but the failures go even deeper to the very heart and essence of the conservative movement, to their Failed Conservative Values. If we have time, in this session, we will also pull back the mask of Family Values, Traditional Values, individual freedom, individual responsibility, individual liberty, compassionate conservativism to the underlying Failed Conservative Values of fear, authoritarianism, secrecy, greed, Indifference, self righteousness, hypocrisy, etc.

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles are coming. Come learn how electricity can replace oil, how renewable energy can replace fossil fuels, and how electric cars can help solve America's oil dependence and global warming challenges.

Speakers:
Deron Lovaas, Vehicles Campaign Director, Natural Resources Defense Council
David Lake, Manager Advanced Technology Policy, General Motors
David Sandalow, Energy and Environment Scholar, The Brookings Institution
Tom Z. Collina, Executive Director, 2020 Vision (moderator)

Sponsored by 2020 Vision Education Fund, a non-partisan, public education organization promoting realistic solutions to America’s dependence on oil and to global climate change.