Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson were also giving separate speeches here at the Prophet's Conference. They're the authors of Cultural Creatives, and Paul invented the term based on his marketing research. Lately Paul has been talking and writing about a "new political compass", which comes out of a lot more surveys of many Americans. When I first read about it, I thought it was sort of boring, as it mainly is a conclusion that the left/right political spectrum doesn't cut it. But now I got the point much better. Most importantly, the study pinpoints specific characteristics of a group of people, which Paul puts as North on his political compass. He calls them New Progressives, says they're neither left nor right, but they're against big business and globalization, they're for the environment, for personal development. More willing to volunteer and take action than any other group, but nobody is noticing the group or speaking to them. In terms of politics and big media, that is. And the point is that if this group would recognize itself, it could be the most powerful force in U.S. politics. Or, rather, the breakthrough is not just that it might be a good thing, but Paul Ray shows that it IS the biggest force in U.S. politics, and it just doesn't know it yet. 45% of the people who vote. [ Politics | 2002-12-05 23:59 | | PermaLink ] More >
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