TrueMajority was a left-wing

advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as lobby groups, interest groups, special interest groups, pressure groups, or public associations, use various forms of advocacy or lobbying to influence public opinion and ultimately public policy. They play an impor ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In September 2007, TrueMajority and its related organization TrueMajorityACTION merged with USAction. By 2008, the combined groups had over 700,000 members, making it, together with

MoveOn MoveOn (formerly known as MoveOn.org) is a progressivism in the United States, progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. Formed in 1998 around one of the first massively viral email petitions, MoveOn has since grown ...

, one of the two largest liberal advocacy groups in the United States. TrueMajorityACTION was a separate but closely related organization, which had a different status under U.S. law so that it could campaign for specific parties and politicians. In 2007, TrueMajority merged with USAction in 2007. In 2012, Ben Cohen founded Stamp Stampede.

History

TrueMajority was founded in June 2002 by Ben Cohen, co-founder of

Ben & Jerry's Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc., trading and commonly known as Ben & Jerry's, is an American company that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. Founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, the company went from a single ice cream p ...

. TrueMajority was mentioned on ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...

'' on March 5, 2007, when Ben and

Jerry Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * Jerry (play), a 1914 American play ...

made a guest appearance. In the episode, they offered free frisbees to Colbert viewers who visited the web site, and then they signed up each viewer who visited as a member of the advocacy group. TrueMajority's Ten Principles were endorsed by

Greenpeace USA Greenpeace USA is the United States affiliate of Greenpeace International, an environmental nonprofit organization that spawned a social movement inspired by direct actions on the high seas to stop whaling and nuclear testing. Headquartered in Wa ...

Rock the Vote Rock the Vote is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit organization in the United States. Through registering new young voters, the group aims to "channel the energy among young people around racial, economic, and health justice into one of the mo ...

Physicians for Social Responsibility Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) is a physician-led organization in the US working to protect the public from the threats of nuclear proliferation, climate change, and environmental toxins. It produces and disseminates publications, p ...

Peace Action Peace Action is a peace organization whose focus is on preventing the deployment of nuclear weapons in space, thwarting weapons sales to countries with human rights violations, and promoting a new United States foreign policy based on common sec ...

, the National Head Start Association,

Global Exchange Global Exchange was founded in 1988 and is an advocacy group, human rights organization, and a 501(c)(3) organization, based in San Francisco, California, United States. The group defines its mission as, "to promote human rights and social, econom ...

The Interfaith Alliance Interfaith Alliance is a national interfaith organization in the United States founded in 1994 to counteract the religious right. Its stated goal is to protect faith and freedom by respecting individual rights, preserving the boundaries between re ...

, ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'', ''

Sojourners ''Sojourners'' is a progressive monthly magazine and daily online publication of the American Christian social justice organization Sojourners, which arose out of the Sojourners Community. It was first published in 1971 under the original ti ...

'',

Rainforest Action Network Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, United States. The organization was founded by Randy "Hurricane" Hayes and Mike Roselle in 1985, and first gained national prominence with a gra ...

Women's Action for New Directions Women's Action for New Directions or WAND is a volunteer-run progressive non-profit organization in the United States with the objective of "building women's political power to advocate for peace and security". History In the early 1980s, anti- ...

Service Employees International Union Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing 2 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of m ...

, and

National Council of La Raza UnidosUS, formerly National Council of La Raza (NCLR) ( La Raza), is the United States's largest Latino nonprofit advocacy organization. It advocates in favor of progressive public policy changes including immigration reform, a path to citize ...

Stances

TrueMajority organized protests of the 2008 G-20 Summit. It also opposed the 2008 financial bailout of banks, and helped to organize protests of the bailout. In 2004 TrueMajority ran advertisements calling for a paper trail in electronic voting.

Iraq war opposition

TrueMajority co-sponsored protests and advertisements against the Iraq war in 2003. The organization published anti-war advertisements in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', but its ads were refused by television networks including

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, and

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

. TrueMajority also supported

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, consultant, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 20 ...

in the 2004 Democratic primary, mounting a letter-writing campaign and arguing for his support on the grounds of his

opposition to the Iraq War Opposition to the Iraq War significantly occurred worldwide, both before and during the initial 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States–led coalition, and throughout the Iraq War, subsequent occupation. Individuals and groups opposing the wa ...

. In 2008 TrueMajority gathered over 20,000 petitions to urge

CalPERS The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is an agency in the California executive branch that "manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.5 million California public employees, retirees, and their families".CalPERSFa ...

to investigate KBR for

war profiteering A war profiteer is any person or organization that derives unreasonable profit (economics), profit from warfare or by selling weapons and other goods to parties at war. The term typically carries strong negative connotations. General profiteerin ...

, including in the petitions accusations of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

and

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

References

External links

* {{authority control Internet-based activism Political advocacy groups in the United States American political websites Anti–Iraq War groups Left-wing politics Defunct organizations based in the United States