An Open Letter to the Citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

February 2, 2003

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

For some time now, we have been engaged in recreating the Ethical Policy Institute, begun at Radcliffe during the late 1980's as a forum for discussing social policy. The 1990's had social activists scurrying to react to proposed changes in health care and welfare reform, as well as the phenomenon known as "privatization." At the time, it seemed prudent to sit at the table, crafting regulations that, at least, included some notion of fairness. During this time, a proliferation of "think tanks" emerged and became a part of our daily lexicon. Groups of conservative minds built a vision for recreating government through privatization, deregulation and under-investment in public policy. Their mission was based on a belief in less government, with the overall purpose of restructuring this country's economic system to reflect those beliefs.

Progressive minds, meanwhile, were focused on the issues, rather than on the vision. We failed to develop and articulate a coherent ideology and vision that could combat the conservative's view of society. We continued to accept smaller and smaller pieces of the pie, rather than taking hold of the pie itself. We did not participate in framing the terms and defining the language of the debate, and we did not participate in the debate itself. This cost us dearly.

For almost three decades, we have reacted to the fall out which resulted from increasingly conservative public policy. Throughout this time period, we have been responsible for creating, or helping to create, close to a dozen alternatives to MA based human services. Some of these include:

• Poor Peoples' United Fund - a funding source for Boston neighborhoods.
• Greater Boston Food Bank - the 8th largest non-profit organization in the Commonwealth.
• Victory House - a multi-service organization focused on addiction.
• Mental Patients Liberation Front - organized to educate the mentally ill about their legal rights.
• Massachusetts Coalition For the Homeless - to address the broad economic and social issues that lead to homelessness
• Rosie's Place - the nation's 1st sanctuary for poor and homeless women.
• Community Works - a federation of 27 grassroots social justice organizations
• Health Care for the Homeless - a city-wide organization that provides medical services for homeless people
• Boston Women's Fund - created funding for organizations serving the needs of girls and women in Massachusetts.
• The Coalition to End Elder Homelessness - the first organization to provide housing for the elderly homeless population in Boston.

Most of these endeavors have circled the wagons around social inequities. We succeeded in alleviating some of the human suffering, but we have not yet succeeded in changing the conditions that created the human suffering. In these almost three decades, we have helped to create an ethic around this human suffering, when what was needed was a more substantial ethic that precluded the need for shelters, soup kitchens and emergency measures of comfort for the poor and homeless people of the Commonwealth.

The Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based conservative "think tank," is one of the many well funded, powerful "think tanks" influencing public policy in America today. (Others include the Cato Institute, which articulates an individualist/libertarian perspective, the American Enterprise Institute, which aims at restoring faith in corporate capitalism, and the Hoover Institute, which focuses on maintaining a perceived need for free market capitalism.)

A report from Political Research Associates, a Somerville based research organization, identifies privatization as the primary focus of the Pioneer Institute in its mission to change the direction of public policy in the Commonwealth. In a few short years, the Pioneer Institute has succeeded in convincing Massachusetts opinion-shapers, policy-makers, and voters to support fee for service initiatives within human services. We also believe that the Pioneer Institute is responsible for MCAS, the elimination of special education and bi-lingual education, and the creation of Charter Schools, a blatant attempt to privatize public education in the state of MA.

Political Research Associates further states that, "according to the Pioneer Institute, 'the private sector is not obligated to serve all sections of society,' further aggravating the growing gap in services between the rich and the poor." One of our biggest concerns regarding this overall trend toward conservatism within the Massachusetts legislature and the conservative media, relates to the notion that the Pacheco Law is "a road block to competitive contracting," and should be repealed. We believe this would open the flood gates for the total privatization of all public services-health care, including Medicare and Medicaid, public education, housing and transportation.

We all know that those harmed most by these policies are the economically and socially disadvantaged, but they are not the only ones!

In struggle and in hope,

Kip Tiernan
Co-founder