At the same time, we became increasingly dissatisfied with the negative focus of so many of the ideas that did get a wide hearing.

Most of the events we attended and the groups we met with had one thing in common: they were more united by what they opposed than by what they supported. This allowed people with widely diverging ideologies, and organizations with a wide range of goals, to come together in large numbers.

These ad-hoc coalitions were impressive and had short-term impact, but eventually they tended to break down. We attributed some of this dynamic to the fact that these coalitions lacked a common positive vision that their members all subscribed to. When the opportunity came to put something forward as an alternative to whatever the coalition opposed, these coalitions were unprepared and often unable to agree.