Green ideas sleeping furiously

During a period of "conservative" ascendancy, progressives generally and Greens specifically often fall into a trap of continually responding to the other side's initiatives instead of developing constructive ideas of our own. Ever since Dubya took office, how much of our time and energy has gone into desperate attempts to block the latest outrage to emanate from the White House or the Republican Congress? (Don't even get me started on the Texas Legislature!) In the time we've spent fighting (and thereby keeping public attention focused on) the anti-gay Hate Amendment in Texas, how many opportunities have we missed to examine the real challenges facing our state from a Key Values perspective?

Don't get me wrong -- every football team needs a strong defense. But any coach will also tell you that the only way to win is with a good offense.

The Green Institute and Green Horizon Quarterly are a couple of the groups that are focusing on a positive Green program. The Apollo Alliance folks deserve a shout-out too. But there's a long way to go to get constructive progressive thinking back into the mainstream of the public dialog.