So is there a way to get past Groundhog’s Day? Right now, with fundamentalists in the White House and the left on the skids, seems an appropriate time to consider changing how we do business or risk facing business as usual — again.

Some unintended openings for a new approach are emerging. Massive changes in progressive financing are about to be wrought by implementation of McCain-Feingold, and the decline of foundation funding with the market crash will no doubt drive new discussions about how to get the most for our now scarce progressive dollar.

Beginning with this article by Junction-City’s managing editor Dan Carol, we’ll be offering a look at some clues to doing things better. We’ll focus on concrete and replicable “best practices” that, if more widely embraced, can help us build for the long-term. A common feature of these practices is that they are experimental, learning-directed, and foster sustainable collaboration among different parts of our very divided political progressive community. But an even more fundamental feature of them all is that they are practical and concrete, and will create lasting capacity. That’s why we call this, informally, the “legacy” series. Here’s the first installment.