Is Van Jones 'Rebuild the Dream' Book a Blueprint for the '99% Spring?

Reflecting on his brief but pivotal stint at the White House and even delving into the media onslaught he claims was waged against him by Glenn Beck, former Obama administration green jobs czar, Van Jones, has released a memoir entitled, "Rebuild the Dream." Named after his "progressive Tea Party," the book reflects on Jones' "journey from grassroots outsider to White House insider" and appears to lay out a blueprint for his upcoming "99% Spring" uprising.

Rebuild the Dream also claims to give readers insight into why Jones "chose to resign as special adviser to the Obama White House." Or, as Jones put it, why he was forced to resign from the White House after Glenn Beck "and his minions" launched a "jihad" against him. This, Jones said, was in retaliation for the successful media boycott his group, "Color of Change," engineered to "rid the national air-waves of Beck" by obliterating the media figure's advertising base on the Fox News network.

Ousted from the White House

Of the incident, Jones writes, "Color of Change's crusade to rid the national air-waves of Beck was destined to become one of the most successful pushes for an advertiser boycott in the history of the American media." He adds "hundreds of top national advertisers deserted the show and never came back."

He continues:

"Fox News could make very little money on the highly watched program -- because only marginal companies were willing to risk being associated with Beck. To retaliate, Beck launched a jihad... I was an easy target. Beck and his minions could dig up a photo of me in my angry young man phase, with my dreadlocks and combat boots and Black Panther book bag. They could prove that I'd studied Marxism. They could find a more recent video in which I had used vulgarity to describe the GOP…"

But in addition to those historical truths Beck and his "minions" were able to unearth during their "jihad," Jones asserts that they also simply "made stuff up" and that "nutty" Beck's "lies and libels were endless." He maintains throughout the book that he had not signed a petition calling the September 11 attacks an inside U.S. government conspiracy, but that regardless of the truth, the scrutiny eventually pushed him from the White House.

Downtrodden by the event, Jones wroties it was not until he was inspired by Al Gore's example that he was able to move on.

Van Jones and the 99% Spring

But while such story-lines may lend the narrative a modicum of drama and entertainment value, Van Jones' book might in fact serve a grander purpose -- namely as road-map for participants in his upcoming "99% Spring" revolution.

Bear in mind Rebuild the Dream promises to deliver to readers "a powerful game plan to restore hope, fix our democracy and renew the American Dream" -- all similar platitudes espoused by Jones on a near-regular basis since launching his progressive movement and its "Contract to Rebuild the American Dream." As it happens, Jones is in fact one of the prime movers behind an upcoming "American Spring."

It is when taking into account these very puzzle pieces combined with Jones' book, that a picture begins to form -- one where Jones may very well see himself as a revolutionary, leading a newly-formed American uprising.

The movement, which promises to "rise up" and  "reshape" the country through non-violent action "in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi," sounds as if it was crafted from the very pages of Jones' book, Rebuild the Dream. Take, for instance, the following passage from the 99% Spring website:

Every day, the American Dream seems a little farther away. More of our grandparents are being thrown from their homes. Our mothers and fathers can’t retire because their pension funds tanked. Our brothers and sisters are burdened by student loan debt. For our children, budget cuts have resulted in crumbling schools, skyrocketing class sizes, and teachers being denied the supports they need to do their best. Our friends and family are being denied collective bargaining rights in their workplaces and are falling further and further behind. Our neighbors are being poisoned by pollution in our air and water.

The site goes on to write that the above scenario occurred by no accident, but rather was a direct "result of rampant greed—the deliberate manipulation of our democracy and our economy by a tiny minority in the 1%, by those who amass ever more wealth and power at our expense":

We are at a crossroads as a country. We have a choice to make. Greater wealth for a few or opportunity for many. Tax breaks for the richest or a fair shot for the rest of us. A government that can be bought by the highest bidder, or a democracy that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Sound familiar? Even more strikingly, the introduction to Jones' book begins with the title: "Rebuild the Dream for the 99%." He goes on to state that it will "take a movement" comprising "millions of people" to "rescue and renew" this dream and that this dream can only be realized if done so in the spirit of "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."

Not coincidentally, it should perhaps also be noted Jones' book was released on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination.

Glenn Beck discussed the 99% Spring and Van Jones' return in detail back in February:

As the first Obama official to release a book, Jones memoir appears to express some disillusionment with the administration, hinting it will provide readers with an explanation as to why  the 2008 "'hope' bubble burst." Jones also promises to reveal "the seven biggest mistakes made by the White House and its supporters."

But other excerpts from the book description reveal a familiar narrative -- one where Main Street "plays by the rules" yet "cannot succeed" while "the worst of Wall Street break every rule, but cannot fail." The book jacket adds:

He explores the origin and fate of the movements that helped to elect President Obama, as well as those that have challenged and shaped his presidency. Along the way, Jones systematically reveals surprising parallels between Obama’s people-powered campaign, the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street. [...] At this pivotal moment, Jones argues that we must make our economy respect the 99% and work for the 100%, not just the 1%.

Ideas inspired by "progressive values"

Passages of the book relive moments Jones shared with his father, described as a "by the boot-strap" school principal who escaped southern segregation by joining the U.S. military in a law enforcement capacity and who later went on to put himself through college. Jones benefited from his parents' tenacity and propensity for higher learning, subsequently earning entry into one of the nation's most prestigious educational institutions, Yale University.

But Yale was not the experience Jones had imagined it would be -- at least according to his account. There, he claims he witnessed injustices perpetrated against "inner-city" kids while those who hailed from affluent backgrounds were essential given a free pass. It was then, he wrote, that a "rage" within him began to boil over.

That reveals a turning point in Jones' life that would shape his political and social justice aspirations forevermore.

But perhaps one of the most telling aspect of Jones' book is outlined in its vow to propose "bold ideas" inspired "by the progressive values that made the twentieth century the 'American Century.'"

If you have been following "The Glenn Beck program" closely over the last month, this theme will likely ring familiar, as Beck has explored in depth the roots and current trajectory of the progressive movement and its purported value-system. Based on Jones' belief that "progressive values" made the twentieth century great, this seems a key element of the leftist-agenda and one worth noting.

Influenced by the Tea Party

In his book, Jones maintains that the president -- any president -- walks a political "tightrope." If moved either too far to the left or right, he or she will lose balance and succumb to the "political laws of gravity." It is in this tightrope metaphor, Jones posits, that the "genius" of the Tea Party is revealed.

He asserts that the Tea Party did not try to "move the tightrope walker" but instead "moved the tightrope itself." It is not difficult to guess in which direction Jones surmises that move took place. Countering this upheaval is the Occupy movement, which, according to Jones returned the tightrope to its former place -- but still needs to keep moving.

That's echoed in the way the first section of Jones' book is divided: three parts tracing the evolution of recent political movements. In the first part, Jones examines the political movements that "ultimately coalesced" around Barack Obama in 2007 and 2008. "I analyze the success and setbacks of both the Obama administration and grassroots movements seeking change," Jones writes. He then claims he will answer the following questions: "What can Americans who want to fix the system learn" from "hope and change" and what can be learned "from its collapse after he [Obama] entered the White House."

Part two examines "the rise and triumph" of the Tea Party movement in 2009 and 2010 and asks what progressives can learn from the Tea Party's "equally impressive capture of the national debate ...and its successful pivot to electoral politics in 2010."

Part three discusses the emergence of Occupy Wall Street and the "99%" and what it can do over the long-term to achieve its ultimate goal.

It seems then, in keeping true to his claim that Rebuild the Dream is a "progressive Tea Party," Jones gleans lessons from the Libertarian-leaning movement in order to instruct the rise of the 99% Spring. In essence, he wishes for progressives to emulate the Tea Party model to gain entry in electoral politics and to do so in an even more successful way than conservatives have done.