Besides the parade, another way TrueMajority has promoted itself is through carnival-style game booths that give information about government spending. The carnival has toured with the Warped Tour, the band The String Cheese Incident and several other outdoor musical performances.

The organization was partly inspired by sociologist Paul H. Ray’s theory of “cultural creatives”—50 million people in the U.S. who are concerned with environmental issues, sustainable development, peace, social justice and interpersonal relationships.

Although these “cultural creatives” share many similar political views, but tend to focus on issue-based activism without any coalition to represent this constituency, Cohen says.

“People think, ‘I can’t deal with 10 issues, so I’ll only deal with one or two,’” he says.

Since TrueMajority began publicity in June, about 30,000 people have signed up on its website. Their goal is to get 100,000 people signed up by the end of the year, Galusha says.

TrueMajority has formed partnerships with various progressive organizations, including Physicians for Social Responsibility, the National Head Start Association, La Raza, the Service Employees International Union and Greenpeace.

—Staff writer Stephanie M. Skier can be reached at skier@fas.harvard.edu.