In order to change the balance of power, progressives need to do four things at a minimum. 

First they have to accept, as the right has done, that the battle field has shifted away from the economic front to the cultural one.  This is not to say that the former is not important, but rather that the latter galvanizes the public in ways that the former does not. 

Second progressives need articulate a set of progressive policies and keep hammering away at them. 

Third, progressives need to stop turning their noses up at the very thought of party politics and instead get involved.  The lack of attractive political platforms is a reason to join a political party and not to avoid joining one.  There is a much better chance of reforming the system from the inside then from without. A comprehensive critique of party’s platform only goes so far.  As Marx said, the point is not to interpret the world, but to change it.  An adjunct to this is that progressives should concern themselves not just with policy, but also with positioning themselves such that they can not be ignored by various parties of the center and of the left. 

Four, progressives need not only to get their message out, but also stop the Conservatives from defining an issue  semantically.  That means, for example, refusing to be enticed by Conservatives talk about “democratic deficits” or the like.    & nbsp;   &n bsp;   &nb sp;