How We Won: Progressive Lessons from the Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
by Aaron Belkin
Tuesday, September 20, will mark a civil rights milestone for the United States. By order of Congress, the 17-year ban on gay men and lesbians serving in the military — commonly known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) — will be overturned. But how did this historic change come about? And why did it take so long?
In How We Won (Huffington Post Media Group), Aaron Belkin argues that the public needed to be persuaded that gay troops would not harm the military before Congress could be convinced to repeal the ban. Belkin, a scholar with more than a decade of hands-on experience in the repeal campaign, shares an insider’s perspective on the strategies that he and others used to encourage this change of mind – and change of heart — in the American people and its Congress.
His top strategy, a tactic which, surprisingly, progressives often fail to pursue, was targeting conservative lies. The implications of Belkin’s tactics extend far beyond the grass-roots movement to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell”. They challenge some of the left’s most conventional wisdom about how to successfully set social policy. And the lessons that emerge could help progressives persuade the public about the merits of other big, liberal ideas, including the benefits of higher taxes and the dangers of an excessively strong military. But for now, as Belkin says, it’s time to celebrate this one great victory.
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The book is available in the following formats:
Media Coverage
- KPFA Radio – Letters and Politics – September 26, 2011
- International Herald Tribune (PDF): A new competitor in e-book wars
- International Herald Tribune (PDF): News organizations invade e-book battleground
- ReligiousTolerance.org: A book on how the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was overcome
- Advocate: Aaron Belkin on Lessons Learned From DADT
- Southern California Public Radio: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, No More
- Pacifica Radio: What Can Progressives Learn from the Fight to Repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’?
- NPR: With Repeal Of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ An Era Ends
- HuffingtonPost: Arianna Huffington - HuffPost’s New eBook Examines the Successful Fight to Repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
- New York Times: In E-Books, Publishers Have Rivals: News Sites
- Time: The Lessons of Ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
- Reuters.com: HuffPo Joins the eBook Game
- eBookNewser: The Huffington Post Gets Into eBook Business
- PaidContent.org: Huffington Post Starts Publishing E-Books
