The Rockridge Institute offers an ongoing, in-depth discussion of progressive values.  Here is the most recent round of that discussion, an exploration of how progressives must reclaim key words and phrases, so that we can talk openly about our values.

The entire discussion -- and the book Thinking Points -- ought to be essential reading for all progressives.  Wes Clark is mentioned from time to time, but the site discourages the promotion of any candidate, as it seeks to focus on the larger issue of what progressive policies are, and how to promote them in political and public discourse.

Some excerpts:

Expressing Your Values

An interesting phenomenon often occurs when progressives are asked what they stand for. These people who are articulate, intelligent, and well informed about political issues have difficulty expressing their values and political principles. Why is that? Is it that progressives don't stand for anything? Or perhaps they don't have values and political principles? Of course not! Progressives do stand for things (usually a lot) and do have values and principles. So why can't they just say what they are?

The answer is simple from a cognitive science point of view. Our conceptual systems are unconscious. We don't usually have direct access to them or direct knowledge of them. Instead, we "feel" that something is right or wrong about policies that inform the positions we take. Many progressives just don't know how to say why they feel the way they do. They have not learned how to express the moral principles involved in these "feelings".

Our goal at Rockridge - and the primary purpose of Thinking Points - is to help you learn how to make implicit reasons explicit. We want to help you fill the gaps in progressive forms of arguments and better express the moral values and principles you believe in.

[...]

Long Term Enterprise to Rediscover American Ideals

Taking back these words is a long-term enterprise. It won't happen overnight. Yet, when I think of progressives across the country saying things like,

"I am for life. That's why I support the right of all women to receive prenatal care and the right of all children to receive immunizations and to be treated when they are sick. That's why I believe we must safeguard the planet that sustains all life."

or

"I am a patriot. That's why I'm compelled to oppose government's spying on American citizens without a court order and in defiance of Congress."

I am hopeful that we can succeed in the long run. We can do this. We just need to understand how real people think - which requires some understanding of the cognitive sciences - and to recognize that these ideas are too important to discard. The consequences are unacceptable!

Please share your thoughts with the rest of us. How do you think we should go about reclaiming these words? Are there other words that also need to be reclaimed? If so, what are they and why? How can we effectively call conservatism into question with the media we have now? How can discussions like this empower people to feel like they can make a difference? I would love to hear your ideas about these important topics!

This is a crosspost of my comment in this discussion:

If you're looking for a good opening to progressive values, start with those three words: "We the People." They say so much that is so often forgotten.

"We the People" decided that rule-by-divine-right violated the fundamental rights of human beings to choose their leaders, that government is properly legitimized ONLY by the consent of those governed.

"We the People" includes all of us: black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, men, women, religious, secular, gay, straight, rich, poor. We are all passengers on this ship of state, and we all have a stake in where it goes and whether it sinks.

"We the People" are the parents in our nation-as-family. Lord Acton's maxim is as true today as ever: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Our chosen leaders, regardless of party or ideology, are frail humans exposed to the temptations of power, and "We the People" have an eternal duty to babysit them, to ensure that they do not succumb to those temptations, and to chasten those who do.

"We the People" are morally responsible for our government. Our government acts on our behalf. When our government commits immoral acts, we are ALL responsible, no matter whether the specific actors came from our party or received our votes. The blood our government sheds is on our hands, the evil it does on our souls.

Thus, we have a moral duty to ensure that our government's moral compass corresponds to our individual moral compasses: that it respects all life, is not selfish, does not waste, does no intentional harm, empowers the powerless, and honors the dignity of the human spirit.

"We the People" are enshrined in our Constitution and our voices are not to be dismissed as "political winds" or "blips in public opinion polls." We are the sovreign. Our government's voice must be our voice, or our democracy is no more than a politically palatable veneer. Our Constitution is the expression of our most sacred civic ideals, and we surrender that at the cost of our nation itself.

"We the People" are the essence of liberalism. Everything we progressives stand for emerges from those three words: "We the People."

Crissie