Democratic Party Realignment within the Chicago Political Canvas

On June 24th we held a Democratic Party Realignment meeting. At that meeting, we highlighted a few high-consensus concerns. The most-commonly noted concerns were,

1. Loss of Working-Class Interests,
2. “Corporate Capture” of the Democratic Party, and
3. “Identity Politics”
   These issues, among the many others, demand more of our attention. If we are committed to a realignment of the party, these issues also require a framework which can organize our time. Therefore, I will introduce this meeting by presenting on the possibility of a Governance Futurism “think tank”.

Think tanks are defined as institutions affiliated with universities, foundations, or other advocacy groups. They generate policy research and seek to inform powerful people about policy issues and persuade them to take certain courses of action. Paramount to the think tank model is both “research” and “inform powerful people”; this form of organization seems to best describe our individual wants for this group.
Following this, we will separate into three discussion groups. These groups will give you the opportunity to discuss one of the high-consensus issues. You will also consider how that issue might be handled within the think tank model.
Group One will discuss “Corporate Capture”
Group Two will discuss “Identity Politics”
Group Three will reflect on the think tank model. This group will also consider Government Design and the possibility of “informing powerful people” within the Chicago political canvas.
We will reserve the last 30 minutes of this meeting so that one speaker from each group can present the conclusions to the whole group.