Jerome,

I have been following your work over at dkos, and there are a lot of good ideas. However, I believe that there is one critical element that needs to be in place first. We have to first convince the people in charge that we have an immediate crisis.

I believe that can only be accomplished through the usual pathway, public pressure. We have to force the media to take this seriously and get it out into the public and into daily discussion. We have to drown out the paid shills and (mostly) right-wing nutcases that refuse the admit that America (and the world) cannot continue down this path another day. Only when the politicians feel that their political butts are covered will they actually do something.

Another thing that we need is money. This movement needs lobbyists, media types, and publicity. We are literally fighting a well-entrenched, very well funded, status-quo organization. We need a non-profit organization set up (or co-opted)to spearhead this and give people a place to funnel their energy and money.

If setting up an organization makes sense to people here, we should talk about it. I would be willing to donate time and legal services to try to help.

EA2020 is in the process of setting up a 501c3.

I agree with you about the larger requirements. At the moment, we look to have targeted opportunities to help change policy for the better. If the legislative process is about sausage making, we might have the chance to make some high quality breakfast links.