We're Ready for the Battle
Dear Pedro,
I quote from a wise old villain: "You can only win at the negotiating table what you have won on the battlefield." Or something like that.
We need first and foremost to pick our battleground—with sufficient troops—even if we don't and may never have sufficient money. Our immediate goal cannot be getting to the current political/policymaking table. There's no point in joining "their" table, even if invited, unless and until the troops are out there causing trouble.
The fact that you, and Warren Simmons, and James Comer, who led the panel at the Coalition of Essential Schools last week, are not at the table is absurd, but not a tragedy. Nor is it an accident or a personal critique of your credentials, ideas, and past leadership. It's precisely because you are who you are that you are not at the table. Instead, you must help us build our own table.
We have barely begun the organizing we need to engage ALEC and their allies on the political battlefield. Nor have we thought through who must be involved in designing the kind of table that meets our needs (and how
I quote from a wise old villain: "You can only win at the negotiating table what you have won on the battlefield." Or something like that.
We need first and foremost to pick our battleground—with sufficient troops—even if we don't and may never have sufficient money. Our immediate goal cannot be getting to the current political/policymaking table. There's no point in joining "their" table, even if invited, unless and until the troops are out there causing trouble.
The fact that you, and Warren Simmons, and James Comer, who led the panel at the Coalition of Essential Schools last week, are not at the table is absurd, but not a tragedy. Nor is it an accident or a personal critique of your credentials, ideas, and past leadership. It's precisely because you are who you are that you are not at the table. Instead, you must help us build our own table.
We have barely begun the organizing we need to engage ALEC and their allies on the political battlefield. Nor have we thought through who must be involved in designing the kind of table that meets our needs (and how