One Nation Working Together

One Nation Working Together is a coalition representing American progressives showing frustration, similar to that expressed by the Tea Party Movement, with the direction of the United States. The progressive solutions expressed, however, are very different than the conservative ones of the Tea Parties. A broad coalition of over 400 organizations, including some left-radical ones, endorse the program.

Goals

On its website, major goals were listed as:

• Putting America Back to Work
  • Provide immediate relief for those who are currently unemployed
    • Extend jobless benefits, COBRA, mortgage assistance, and other initiatives for those currently out of work.
    • Target help for populations and communities in the greatest need
  • Provide immediate action to stimulate job growth and consumer demand
    • Provide aid to states and cities – including direct job creation at local levels – especially in education, health care, social services and first-responder workforces
    • Increase the ability of small businesses to obtain loans
    • Fund infrastructure investment that spurs economic growth and clean energy enterprises
  • Provide a fair chance for everyone to succeed and advance in the workplace
    • • Everyone who works in America should have the right to join with their co-workers to have a voice on the job
    • Pay all workers wages that allow them to support their families
    • Increase and index the minimum wage
    • End all forms of workplace discrimination
    • Protect, honor, fully apply, and expand equal opportunity and diverse business inclusion practices
    • Make every job a good and safe job
    • Provide paid sick days and paid family leave for all workers
  • Ensure that all people have access to affordable, high quality education throughout their lives, from pre-school through college
  • Provide for teacher training and support necessary to continuously improve classroom practice and serve students better
  • Increase federal government support to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and other institutions of higher education that provide opportunities for underserved communities
  • End all policies and actions that directly or indirectly lead to re-segregation by race or ethnicity of our public schools.
• Equality for All
  • Refocus Our Nation's Fiscal Priorities
    • End the foreclosure epidemic and save the homes of America’s families
    • Reform bankruptcy laws to protect families and working people
    • Prioritize affordable housing for all
    • Protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare
    • Repair private pension systems
    • Complete the promise of health care reform, including the public option
    • Provide greater national investment in new jobs, improved infrastructure, and education instead of increased military spending
  • Improve consumer protections
    • Prohibit and punish predatory lending and mortgage scams
    • Increase watchdog powers of institutions, including the Consumer Financial Protection Agency
    • Avoid taxpayer bailouts of financial institutions deemed “too big to fail”

Funding these actions was not discussed.

October 2010 rally

It held a 2 October 2010 rally on the U.S. National Mall, While official crowd counts are not available, it was probably in the 100,000-200,000 range.

"The truth is there is a lot of focus on the march itself, but a march without a plan of action . . . is simply a one-day event," said Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. "What this is about is using this march as a launching pad for policy change." According to Earl Ofari Hutchinson, there is a misperception that the rally was conceived as a response to Glenn Beck's recent event, = when it had been in planning long before Beck's announcement.

Nearly a half century ago, the March on Washington leaders realized that a mass rally is great but to really mean anything it must not be feel-good theater. It must be a springboard for patient, sustained and when needed noisy, in your face organizing to achieve tangible results. Tea Party leaders have also figured that simple truism out.

There was criticism of the inclusion of some radical organizations among the sponsors, such as the U.S. Communist Party. While the United Methodist Church had initially endorsed, it withdrew its approval, according to Jim Winkler of the national office, said his board disagreed with the NAACP president Benjamin Jealous' quotation to the Post that declared the rally to be the “antidote” to the Tea Party. Winkler said “This statement heightens the sense of the ‘One Nation Working Together’ rally as a gathering organized in opposition to Mr. Beck's demonstration.”

Diversity

Participants celebrated the diversity of the attendees, but they have different definitions of diversity than some of their critics. Keli Carender of the Tea Party Patriots said that the emphasis here was more on diversity of appearance, but pushed conformity of thought.