Last year, we stopped President Bush’s and the GOP Congress’s Social Security privatization scheme dead in its tracks. Today our success – and how progressives did it – took center stage at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Convention in Chicago.

But stay tuned: we just kicked off Phase II of our campaign with new ads in five key states.

As progressives, Social Security is a central pillar in our values system. We believe in a level playing field – that Americans who work hard and play by the rules should retire with stability and dignity. And that’s why AFSCME launched Americans United to Protect Social Security, a campaign that pilloried Bush’s privatization plan in an effort to protect Social Security and prevent massive and harmful benefit cuts.

With funding from AFSCME and other groups, Americans United to Protect Social Security (now Americans United) operated in 35 states across the country and brought tremendous – and in some cases unbearable – pressure to bear on members of Congress to oppose President Bush’s risky and expensive scheme to privatize Social Security. Americans United held over 1,400 events – press conferences, conference calls, town hall meetings, protests of Presidential visits, parades and panel discussions – all of which generated pressure on members of Congress to support Social Security by opposing Bush’s ridiculous scheme to dismantle it through privatization.

It worked. The campaign forced the President to throw in the towel – at least temporarily – on the signature domestic policy initiative of his second term – in less than six months.

All of this, of course, would not have succeeded had the progressive blogosphere not taken up the cause. Particularly, Josh Marshall was and is a leader in pinning down politicians on where they stand on this and other issues.

But our work isn’t over yet. President Bush, who is well known for continuing a mission long after it has failed, has made it clear he is preparing to go on the war path against Social Security again as early as next year. Last month the President resubmitted his plan to privatize Social Security to Congress as part of the his mid-session review of the federal budget. And just a few days ago, Republican Majority Leader John Boehner said that if Republicans retain control of Congress, they’ll “get serious” about privatizing Social Security.

This President and his friends in the Republican Congress have a hard time learning a lesson. The lesson they should have learned last year is that the most cherished third rail of American politics still carries a lot of juice. But Bush and company are clearly not driven by just politics here – they are driven by a radical right wing ideology which has always and continues to hate Social Security – and virtually any government program designed to help ordinary Americans get a fair shake – including progressive labor polices – but I digress…

So to make sure the President and the GOP learned their lesson, we’re launching a new phase of our campaign to protect Social Security. Last week, Americans United launched ads in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Montana, Florida and Missouri reminding voters that privatization remains a real threat – and that they must hold members of Congress accountable.

And that’s just the kickoff to our fall campaign. I can’t give away all the details just yet. But come Election Day, Americans will know which members of Congress support Social Security – and which ones want to destroy it.