Background:

In the Spring of 2005, two graduate students at Yale began to investigate the strategic sources of the Right’s political power.  The resulting paper, titled "Lessons from the Right: Saving the Soul of the Environmental Movement" (www.lessonsfromtheright.org), outlined ten lessons that progressives must learn from the successful tactics of the conservative machine in order to remain relevant in American politics.  The paper demonstrated that progressives need a strong infrastructure to combat that of the Right. While this idea is widely recognized by many political observers, specific solutions for constructing this infrastructure have been difficult to identify.  The progressive solution MUST be different.  It cannot be authoritarian; it must be consistent with core progressive values.  It was in answer to this call that the Progressive Synergy Project was born.