Start Making Sense: Turning the Lessons of Election 2004 into Winning Progressive Politics

The first look at the lessons learned from the 2004 election, and an opening salvo from leading American thinkers, writers, and activists on how citizens can begin to deliver U.S. politics from fear and fundamentalism. Start Making Sense brings together the best progressive thinkers, critics, and organizers to explain what went wrong and how we can build a new Democratic Party that best represents and communicates our values and vision for America. It offers new ways to think about organizing, communicating, and investing in the structures and resources required for a truly democratic grassroots movement. This book also outlines a variety of innovative solutions for reaching out to voters who value hope and tolerance over fear.

Don Hazen is the executive director of the Independent Media Institute and the executive editor of AlterNet. The former publisher of Mother Jones magazine, he has edited several books, most recently After 9/11: Solutions for a Saner World.

Lakshmi Chaudhry is a senior editor at AlterNet. Previously a staff writer at Wired News, she has written for various publications including Mother Jones, The Village Voice, Bitch, and Ms.Magazine. She is coauthor of AlterNet’s book, The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq.

Other contributors to the book include: Arianna Huffington • Amy Goodman • Thomas Frank • Naomi Klein • Barbara Ehrenreich • Farai Chideya • George Lakoff • Ken Salazar • Tom Hayden • and other leading progressive activists, thinkers, and writers.