My fellow Democratic colleague:
In 2004, I warned in my book, We Still Hold These Truths, that our democracy was being attacked from within. I stated that the new radical Republicans were seeking to destroy our historic values. That the argument with them was not just about big v small government. "At risk is the heart of our democracy, our historic values. " A claim that found little support at the time; it was felt to be over the top. And in that book, I set forth a vision for the Party that would counter that threat.
Recently in The New York Times, there was an op-ed piece about whether Democrats were adding to the strength of the Republican take-over effort in 2022 and 2024 by alienating middle-class voters through it's policies.
One commentator, expressing the same view as several others, said that "the Democratic Party over the past few decades has gotten into the position of appearing to oppose and scorn widely cherished institutions — conventional nuclear family, religion, patriotism, capitalism, wealth, norms of masculinity and femininity, then saying “vote for me.” Doesn’t sound like a winning strategy to me."
The key word here is "appearing." As I wrote in my book, We Still Hold These Truths, the Democratic Party doesn't take second place to Republicans when it comes to supporting the family, religion, patriotism, capitalism, etc. The record of the Party, both past and present, is clear.
What has happened is that Democrats have for several decades allowed Republicans to successfully define them in these anti-American-values terms, distorting the essence of the Party's Liberal policies.
There is nothing, for example, in our pro-choice policies or those supporting the LGBTQ community, that are anti-family, anti-religion, or other core historic American values; indeed, they spring from them. They may be against what many people feel are traditional American norms, but they are not against our historic values. And it is up to Democrats to explain this fact.
The question that I addressed in writing the book was how to combat this Republican assault and their distortion of the Democratic position. It is not by back-tracking on Democratic support for the right to abortion, for the LGBTQ community, for fairer taxes, and other matters that are labeled by Republicans as anti-family and anti-capitalism.
But it is certainly not in the strident positions of AOC and her fellow progressives, which alienate not only the middle class but many liberals.
The answer, I argued, is to frame the Democratic position on these and other issues in terms of American core values – our historic documents, and especially the Declaration of Independence. These are the sole, the heart of our democracy; they are as American as apple pie, familiar to all. I argued at the time that Democrats must win back the hearts and minds of the American people. The need is more acute today than ever; I just pray it is not too late.
James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly, urged Americans to read We Still Hold These Truths, saying it "is a systematic and serious effort to make [the national values and policy] debate as clear and valuable as it can be. Agree or disagree with his specific conclusions, the questions he is asking are the right ones for the public this year."
I urge you to read We Still Hold These Truths and watch the YouTube video, "We Still Hold These Truths: The Democrats' Vision", https://youtu.be/NNlt8hc7GM4. For more information on the book, go to www.westillholdthesetruths.info.
Sincerely,
Ronald L. Hirsch
www.westillholdthesetruths.com
PreservingAmerifcanValues.blogspot.com
