Joan agreed. "It's nice to not always be predictable," she said. "When MoveOn shows up, people expect what we're going to say. But when MoveOn and the Christian Coalition show up together, people think, "If these guys can agree on this, maybe it's something I should pay attention to.' You get a totally different response."
Although the Christian Coalition took heat from some usual allies, the two groups persisted, and the regressive legislation deadlocked in the critical Senate committee. Political momentum shifted further after the 2006 election--and when avowed Net Neutrality supporter Obama won the presidency and appointed strongly supportive FCC Commissioners who enshrined the approach as policy. But without Joan and Michele's friendship and unlikely political partnership, an equal-access Internet might well have vanished into cyberspace.
Both women found value in what Joan described as "working outside our regular neighborhoods. It was wonderful to make a difference on an issue that not a lot of people are thinking about, but is very big in terms of maintaining a public square that benefits everybody. It was a very happy ending."
"I think it's America at its best when you come together like this," said Michele. "At the end of the day everyone wants to make a better country for their families, for the future. When we talk basic values, there's a lot we come together on." Working with new allies also energized her. "When people on either side of the aisle work with others who feel the same way as they do, there's often in-fighting and egos. When you work with a group you normally disagree with, you're coming together without common baggage. You're both passionate, and you get a lot done. Not that I don't appreciate the organizations I usually work with, but when a group like ours comes together with MoveOn or the National Wildlife Federation, it shows that we really can find common ground."
Adapted from the wholly updated new edition of Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in Challenging Times by Paul Rogat Loeb (St Martin's Press, publication date April 5, 2010, $16.99 paperback). With over 100,000 copies in print, Soul has become a classic guide to involvement in social change. Howard Zinn calls it "wonderful"rich with specific experience." Alice Walker says, "The voices Loeb finds demonstrate that courage can be another name for love." Bill McKibbencalls it "a powerful inspiration to citizens acting for environmental sanity." Loebalso wrote The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear, the History Channel and American Book Association's #3 political book of 2004. HuffPo will serialize selected sections of Soul every Thursday. Sign up here to see previous excerpts or be notified of new ones, or at Paul's Facebook Page. For more information or to receive Loeb's articles directly, see www.paulloeb.org. From Soul of a Citizen by Paul Rogat Loeb. Copyright 2010 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Griffin. Reposting or forwarding is fine so long as this notice stays intact.
To receive
Paul's articles directly please email sympa@lists.groundwire.org
with the subject line:
subscribe paulloeb-articles
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
