Reasons for Hope.

Someone observed to Patricia Ireland recently that the formation of the rightwing Bush Administration is about as discouraging for progressives as Ronald Reagan's ascendancy in 1980. "I said, `Oh, no!' "Ireland, head of the National Organization for Women, recalls. "We are much better positioned than we were in the Reagan era." Activists are more sophisticated, more experienced, and better organized. And there is the hope, with the partisan split in Congress, that the worst of Bush's rightwing program can be resisted. A Democratic Congress passed many of Reagan's most regressive programs. Dick Gephardt, for one, supported Reagan's early slash-and-burn budgets. But George W. Bush lacks Ronald Reagan's popular support. And progressive interest groups are making it their mission to demand that the Democrats in Congress stop caving in to his agenda. Still, it is a daunting time for people concerned about women's rights, gay rights, social justice, labor, and the environment.

The key to defending and advancing progressive interests is revving up grassroots efforts around the country. "We've got to reach folks who might be prone to let their anger turn into disillusionment and depression," says Ireland. "We have to give them a place to plug in."

Here, then, are a few "places to plug in"--where citizens can apply their energy to defend and advance the progressive cause:

* Reproductive rights: Pro-choice groups in Washington focused on the confirmation battle over John Ashcroft for Attorney General. That was only a prologue to any battle that will rage if Bush gets the opportunity to nominate justices to the Supreme Court. Another fight will be over Bush's expected efforts to reinstitute a global gag rule, barring nongovernmental organizations that receive U.S. family-planning aid from discussing abortion. Some of the organizations in more than fifty affected nations use their own funds to speak out about abortion-law reform. For example, in Nepal, where hundreds of women are in jail for having abortions, the reimposition of the gag rule would mean that groups could no longer advocate the release of these political prisoners. The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy succeeded in getting Congress to lift the global gag rule in 2000, and it will be aggressively monitoring Bush's efforts to put the gag back on.

For the most part, though, battles over reproductive rights will continue to take place at the state level, where most abortion restrictions occur. Parental consent laws, waiting periods, intimidation and harassment of abortion providers, and a decline in the accessibility of abortion clinics outside large urban areas are the main problems the reproductive freedom movement confronts. Shaking off what Patricia Ireland calls the "complacency that we will always have this right" means mobilizing pro-choice citizens to fight for abortion access in their home states. Ireland doesn't see a revival of the clinic defense movement, or of the anti-abortion blockades around clinics in the 1980s and 1990s. Instead, the threats are less public--and more harrowing. In Madison, Wisconsin, landlords received ominous letters when the city's sole abortion provider was looking to rent space. The letters suggested that an increased risk of arson would make renting to an abortion clinic prohibitive. It is up to the local chapters of pro-choice groups to protect abortion providers and monitor state laws. For a list of state affiliates of the National Abortion Rights Action League, contact www.naral.org, [phone]. Or try Planned Parenthood at www.plannedparenthood.org, [phone].

* Gay rights: Elizabeth Toledo, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), says it's time to "take off our tuxedos and put on our marching shoes." She says it made sense to compromise and work on the inside to some degree when the Clinton Administration gave gays and lesbians greater access and visibility than any previous Administration. But that strategy had its costs, too. The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the military, conceived as a compromise between bigotry and gay rights, was an abject failure. Toledo welcomes the return of a more aggressive, local activist approach.

"We need to take all the power that the movement amassed inside the Beltway and unleash it at the community level," she says.

That means recruiting and supporting gay and lesbian candidates for local office and blanketing the country with town hall meetings, rallies, and protests, as well as getting spokespeople into the media continuously. Because George W. Bush lost the popular vote, Toledo believes the gay and lesbian community should not adopt a defensive posture but should go on the attack. NGLTF monitors hate crime legislation, discrimination, domestic partnership and sodomy laws, anti-gay harassment, and other issues in state capitals across the country. To plug into the NGLTF activist network, check out the web site at www.ngltf.org, [phone].

* Racial and social justice: Nowhere is there a more active and engaged movement than in the civil rights community in the wake of the Presidential election. The Congressional Black Caucus staged a protest during the certification of the electoral votes, demanding that Florida's twenty-five votes be declared invalid. African Americans, who went overwhelmingly for Gore, and who saw their votes thrown away in the Florida election at twice the rate of white votes, are demanding an accounting. Challenging Ashcroft was only the beginning. The NAACP, which mobilized a record turnout in African American districts in Florida in the 2000 election, is determined to mobilize voters nationwide against the Republicans in 2002 and 2004.

Another reason for the closeness of the Florida vote--despite the President's brother, Governor Jeb Bush, and the best efforts of his machine to deliver the state to George W.--was the outrage over the governor's striking down of state affirmative action law. Affirmative action, voting rights, police abuse, and discrimination will be issues of particular concern to the NAACP. For more information on the voter empowerment project and other local branches, contact www.naacp.org, [phone].

* Peace: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld threw down the gauntlet when he told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty is "ancient history;" all but declaring his attention to destroy it. At the same time, he issued belligerent assessments of China and North Korea, declaring that the two nuclear powers are not strategic allies but hostile countries that must be opposed. The specter of a new global nuclear arms race hangs over us.

"The only silver lining is that the veil is lifted now," says William Hartung of the World Policy Institute. "There are no illusions that these guys are for arms control. We have to go full bore against them."

Hartung sees a strong possibility of a revival of the arms control movement of the 1980s, including new activists who have been engaged in battles against the World Trade Organization, as well as people who haven't given arms control much thought in the last decade. "We might have more leverage in Congress because some of the Democrats have given Clinton-Gore a free pass," he adds.

There are also Republicans in the closely divided Congress who support arms control. Among them are Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Senator James Jeffords of Vermont, and Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. There are also splits within the Bush cabinet that may be exploited. Colin Powell disapproved of the idea of using nuclear weapons in the Persian Gulf war. Powell's choice for Defense the far more moderate Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania, was torpedoed by Bush's rightwing advisers. "There's room to maneuver because the Bush position is so ridiculous," Hartung suggests. A combination of grassroots pressure and a few willing champions on the Hill could bottle up funding for new weapons systems, he says.

Another important effort is public education, mobilizing opposition to a renewed threat of nuclear war. Each failed test and cost overrun offers an opportunity for resistance to Bush's Dr. Strangelovian program. Above all, the new peace movement must be global. The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is pressing members to build support for the New Agenda Coalition, a new antinuclear government alliance made up of South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, Brazil, Egypt, Slovenia, Mexico, and Sweden. Like the international campaign against land mines, the international movement against nuclear weapons could reach critical mass through a combination of grassroots pressure and foreign government support. "We must view ourselves as the U.S. piece of an international campaign, because the U.S. government is so completely out of the mainstream," Hartung says. Contact the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom at www.wilpf.org, [phone], and the World Policy Institute at www.wpi.org, [phone].

* The environment: The environmental movement confronts a new James Watt in Gale Norton, Bush's pick to head the Department of the Interior. As attorney general of Colorado, Norton advocated a system of self-auditing for polluting industries, with the result that the Alamosa River was destroyed by mining waste in what state officials recall as the worst environmental disaster in the state's history. Cyanide and acid from the Summitville Consolidated Mining Corporation killed virtually every living thing in a scenic, seventeen-mile stretch of river favored by trout fishermen, The New York Times reported. Today, the river remains sterile. The company declared bankruptcy and its officers fled the country, leaving taxpayers to foot the $150 million cleanup bill. Norton continues to favor "self-auditing" by polluting industries, as well as the expansion of oil drilling on protected lands and other forms of corporate exploitation of natural resources. Because Norton also favors more state control and a hands-off role for federal enforcement, environmentalists, like other activist groups, will have to direct their energies to local forums.

Another major event that will challenge local environmental protection is the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn the interpretation of the Clean Water Act that protected wetlands large and small. Instead of relying on federal protection, environmentalists are now scrambling to support local and state initiatives to prevent a land rush as developers seek to exploit previously protected areas. Dam removal and river restoration projects continue in Maine and the Pacific Northwest, smart-growth initiatives to slow random development and sprawl are under way around the country, and, of course, national groups are rallying to oppose Gale Norton, to resist opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, and to call attention to efforts to repeal a raft of environmental orders and regulations issued by the Clinton Administration in its waning days. For a list of local and national battles and information on getting involved, contact Friends of the Earth at www.foe.org, [phone].

* Campaign finance reform: Nick Nyhart, the executive director of Public Campaign, says his group has been working with civil rights organizations on a new voting rights project. The coalition is promoting a broad array of issues, from upgrading machinery at polling places and guaranteeing equal access to the voting booth to sponsoring legislation that would attack the corrupting influence of money in politics. Such coalition work, especially at the state level, is where the action is, Nyhart says. Even if the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill finally passes, says Nyhart, "It will feel like a victory, but, in fact, it will just be a beginning." No significant change to the basic problem of money in politics is going to come out of Washington, he says. Instead, grassroots efforts to pass "Clean Money" laws and referendums in Maine, Vermont, Arizona, and other states are paving the way for an overhaul. For more information, contact www.publiccampaign.org, [phone].

Republicans in Washington insist on their own version of bipartisanship--they mean Democrats should compromise away the interests of their base. But outside the Beltway, the flip side of bipartisanship should be a determination by citizens' groups to press their issues. Reproductive rights, conservation of the land and water, basic social and economic justice, peace, and challenging political corruption are not fringe, leftwing issues. They are issues with majority support.

There are plenty of unexpected alliances to be made on these issues. Ranchers, hunters, and environmentalists are making common cause against unplanned growth and pollution in the West. Civil rights, feminist, and campaign-finance-reform groups are working together to push for equal access to the voting booth. Gay, straight, radical, and moderate Americans have joined in campaigns to challenge the bigoted climate that gives rise to hate crimes. In some ways, the new Bush regime gives new fire to all of these important citizens' movements. Working together, they can become a force to be reckoned with.