Whether wholesale or piecemeal, privatization would fracture the coherence of the public system and particularly its obligatory, if often grudging, commitments to the neediest students. So the stakes are very high. We must learn to fight negative and defensive battles in ways that increase rather than deplete our energy for education politics. The problem is that we have been drawn into an endless series of defensive mobilizations and are in danger of becoming exhausted. The problem is that voucher proponents are vowing to come back with another voucher referendum in California, just as they are continuously submitting voucher legislation and amendments in other states.
Conservatives have deep pockets and the Right has rabid benefactors.
If they can't deliver a voucher A-bomb, they are willing to fight a war of attrition, to launch a state of siege. They are using voucher battles to build memberships, scare officeholders, identify new allies, reach deeper into local communities, connect organizations, capture media attention, control the public debate, and develop their own leaders and candidates. This is organizing. Mobilizing is when you activate those who are already enlisted in the cause. All of these actions are necessary, but they are not sufficient for protracted warfare.