Headlines You Want To See In 2020

[babylonsister]

Headlines You Want To See In 2020
by Dave Johnson | July 16, 2009

snip//

At the recent America's Future Now conference put on by Campaign for America's Future, I attended a session led by Commonweal Institute's Executive Director Barry Kendall called "Collaborating on Ideas for the Long-Term." Barry is also Co-Chair of the Progressive Ideas Network (PIN), an alliance of progressive think tanks. (Note - PIN recently published a book, THINKING BIG, Progressive Ideas for a New Era.)

Barry has been working with this group of think tanks to encourage long-term thinking, and was talking to the people attending the session about PIN's model for creating and supporting collective projects on big ideas.

To introduce the idea of long-term idea work, Barry used a concept that he calls "Progressive Victories, circa 2020," based on an idea from Joe Brewer at Cognitive Policy Works. His idea is to think about headlines that we would like to see at some point in the near or even distant future. Barry asked the group to imagine the headlines they would see in newspapers in the year 2020, if progressives are able to build true governing power and enact their agenda.

Here are just a few of the 2020 headlines offered by the group:

Rail Passengers Outnumber Auto Passengers 2 To 1
UN Global Governance Task Force Reels In Corporate Anarchy
Annual Citizen Dividend Raised to $20,000 - (mine)
World Population Growth Stabilized
Steady-State Economy Realized
10 Global Corporations Have Their Federal Charters Revoked For Criminal Activity
Citizen Representatives Now Hold Majorities on Corporate Boards
US Manufacturing Reaches New Peak
OMB Enacts Full-Cost Accounting on All Policy Proposals
Planet Temperature Stabilizes

These are great.

An exercise like this helps get us past the current habit many of us seem to have of reacting mostly to today's events and battles, and thinking instead about where we might be able to take our society in the future. It was difficult to dream about the future when we were plagued by George W. Bush and the far right in office But we have some room now to try. Of course, some of the headlines presented (which I didn't include here) dreamed of a progressive resolution to current events, but the exercise is an attempt to move us past reaction and into proaction.

more...

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/22844

[Betsy Ross]

1. Parole board turns down Dick Cheney, n/t

[babylonsister]

2. EXCELLENT! Good inclusion! nt

[baldguy]

3. Once-powerful GOP on ballot in only 10 states.

[babylonsister]

4. Hahaha! Another great one! nt

[katty]

5. yes!

[abq e streeter]

6. Wrigley Field hosts 10th straight World Series; Pres. Springsteen throws out 1st ball.

[Berry Cool]

7. "Sportswriters Agree Cubs Have Best Chance in Years to Finally Defeat Their Perennial Opponents..."

"...the nine-time-champion Cleveland Indians." :rofl:

[abq e streeter]

10. yeah, we can both dream anyway...

[Politicalboi]

8. WTC rebuilt. Bush/Cheney still behind bars for attack

[Raster]

12. !!!

[Aragorn]

9. former Tx governor

working in drug-rehab program in El Paso. Says his own recovery lead him to help others. "It's part of my 12th step. And no one wants to hire someone with a record anywhere else."

[Best_man23]

11. US Ends Crude Oil Imports from OPEC, other nations

President Sebelius' Energy Secretary: "Renewable energy has rendered crude oil obsolete for use as a fuel."

[sledgehammer]

13. Democratic ticket wins fourth straight presidential election n/t

[LeftishBrit]

14. 'For Fifth Year Running, World Has No New Cases of AIDS'

'Nobel Prize for Medicine Divided Between American and Iraqi Researchers Who Discovered Effective Vaccine for AIDS. and the joint Israeli-Iranian Team Who Discovered Cure for Commonest Forms of Cancer.'

'US President X (suggestions welcome!) re-elected with 65% of vote. Popularity of Republican Party at lowest ebb since the last Republican president left office 12 years ago'.

'World Adult Literacy Rate Surpasses 90%. This Year, No Significant Difference between Males and Females'

'World Hunger and Malnutrition Levels Plummet'.

'Tories Come a Poor Third in British General Election, as Labour's Move to Left Results in Dramatic Increase in Popularity'.

'David Cameron, Crushed by Repeated Political Defeats, Moves to a Desert Island'.