The 2020 Election Is about the Survival of American Democracy, of Historic American Values

The title of this piece may strike the reader as over the top, but it really isn’t.  Because it isn’t about whether the form of democracy will survive.  It probably will despite some dark words from Trump at one point about his supporters not accepting a narrow loss.  This post is about whether the concept of democracy that led to the founding of our country and our founding documents … the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution … will survive.

This concept is what ultimately made America great, made us a beacon to the world.  I love Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again.”  Unfortunately, he has no idea what made America great.  It wasn’t our power, our military, our economy, or our strong middle class.  Though of course in once sense it was.  But what enabled our country to have that power, to develop in this manner compared to other countries, whether democratic or communist, was the concept of American democracy.

What are the key elements of that concept?  Note: These elements, like equality, are clearly aspirational.  They may not have been or be true on the ground, but they have enabled people to have faith and hope and accomplish what otherwise would have been impossible.

Equality:  We all know that the belief in equality was enshrined in the Declaration of Independence although its practice was significantly restricted in the Constitution.  But the concept was there and it was that light that guided us towards the ending of slavery, the emancipation of women, the civil rights movement, and same-sex marriage.  We still have far to go, but that light is still guiding us.

Indeed, it is this central aspiration of equality that drives the other key elements of American democracy.

        Citizenship:  We are all equal citizens of the United States.  Certainly that wasn’t true at      the start, when voting was limited to males who owned property.  But over the years,          America moved more towards the ideal.  Today all adult citizens, whether you were born here or immigrated, have the right to vote.  The concept of one “man,” one vote is central.

        We are equal citizens also in the sense that we all have equal rights, and we each have the right to pursue these rights.   That is why if exercising your right restricts another person’s right, you cannot due that.  That concept is the basis for all our laws, both criminal and civil.  We do not live in an anarchy; one can’t just do what one wants to do.  Even if you are exercising a constitutional right, you cannot in so doing harm another person or restrict that person in exercising their right.  No right is absolute

        Upward Mobility:  We have no caste system in this country.  From a structural standpoint, there isn’t anything that anybody cannot do.  Someone from the poorest layer of society can rise to be President or head of a powerful corporation.  And this mobility is not just theoretical; it has been seen as a reality countless times in all areas of commerce, the arts, the professions, and politics.  Again, this is true for native born and immigrants. and more recently people of color.

        Unity with Diversity:  The United States has been from its very founding a country of immigrants.  And as with any large groupings of people, people have from the start had disagreements, both within the groups but especially between the groups.  One immigrant group vied against another.  And as immigrants became established, they had problems with the next wave of immigrants.  Often even those from the same country.

       Yet despite the animosity and distrust and at times violence between groups, when the country called, all felt that they were Americans.  They may have been hyphenated Americans, they may have felt that they weren’t getting their fair share, they may have felt discriminated against, but they identified as American and were proud of it.

        This shared sense of citizenship led to what’s called the American social contract.  Under that contract, in exchange for the benefits of citizenship, all citizens agree to obey the laws and to share the burden of government through the paying of taxes, each according to his ability.  And when there was a military draft, all participated (except draft dodgers) and supported America, even at the cost of their lives.  Under this social contract, we are  not just responsible for ourselves; we have a distinct responsibility for the welfare of the whole and thus for all Americans.

         In the first half of the 20th century, workers gained significant rights in their employment.  In the second half, overt forms of discrimination that had been practiced against some groups, like Jews and people of color, became illegal.  And all minority groups benefitted from laws that guaranteed equal protection in public accommodations and other areas of commerce.  This does not mean that some level of us v them didn’t exist anymore; it certainly did.  And people were still discriminated against.  But it was far less.  Political correctness has been given a bad name, but there is much to be said for people feeling that it is not socially acceptable to have or utter certain thoughts, or take certain actions.

         In the halls of Congress, this unity/diversity was reflected in the air of civility that existed between people on opposite sides of issues.  People agreed to disagree.

But several decades ago, things began to change.  Ronald Reagan ushered in the “me” generation and a broad distrust of government … “government isn’t the solution, it’s the problem.”  As the years passed, Republicans in Congress became less civil.  They went from having a conservative outlook on what government’s responsibilities were to being antagonistic towards government and the people of color and others that government helps.

Now the Trump presidency has dropped all pretense of being committed to democracy, to governing for all Americans, to being a unifying force.  Instead he has provoked and manufactured grievances that have exacerbated the already existing divisions in our society, to the point where we are polarized as possibly never before.  Where Trump supporters and those on the progressive left truly hate each other.  Where talking and compromise is no longer an option.

The dynamics of American politics and group interaction have deteriorated to such an extent that it raises serious question whether something can return this country and its people back to sanity and respectful coexistence.  But we must try.  The Democratic Party must make returning this country to its true roots the central platform of its 2020 campaign.  It must present a cohesive, positive, vision that speaks to all Americans.  It must drop the strategy of identity politics.

As I’ve suggested in the past, the best way of doing that is to turn America’s focus to the Declaration of Independence and base the Party’s vision on those words which are familiar to every American.  It is those words that are the heart and soul of the concept of American democracy.

I therefore suggest the following mission/vision for the Democratic Party:

To build a country of greater opportunity where:

• each and every American has the best chance to experience the promises made in the Declaration of Independence … “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights … Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”; 
• government meets its responsibility as set forth in the Declaration … “to secure those rights”, within the constraints of fiscal responsibility; and 
• all citizens have a shared responsibility to support the government’s efforts to secure those rights and promote the public good, each according to his ability.

This statement will speak to all Americans.  Most specifically, it will speak both to those aggrieved Midwestern whites who voted for Trump in 2016 and to those disillusioned blacks who did not turn out to vote for Hillary.  

There is no need for identity politics.  For there is no real conflict between the interests of the various groups in our society, so long as no group is greedy.  The right mix of policies will provide all groups with the opportunity they deserve in our democracy.  What they make of that opportunity is then up to them; that is the American way.

All the policies of the Party must flow from this mission statement.  Whether the issue is health care, immigration, education, jobs, defense, civil rights, or religion … the Democratic position must further the greater opportunity of all.  For a more detailed explication of this concept, see my book, We Still Hold These Truths: An American Manifesto.

The Democratic Platform for 2020?

I have argued for years that Democrats need to have a cohesive positive vision for America that speaks to the average American, and policies that flow from it (see my book, We Still Hold These Truths, and my post “The Perennial Search for the Democrats’ Mission”).  Never has that been more important than for the 2020 election.  

We have a mad President to whom roughly a third of the voting electorate is in thrall.  In typical populist style, he has whipped them to a frenzy.  The rest of the electorate is not in thrall and indeed rather disgusted by the President.  

This is an opening for Democrats.  The key to winning is getting the uncommitted people who normally vote, and who voted for Trump in 2016, to vote for the Democrat in 2020.

But If activist progressives have their way, that opening will be squandered and Trump will win another term.  Some of their ideas are just off the wall.  Others have merit but the way they are expressed and their attitude towards those who oppose them creates ill will among a far larger group of people than those they appeal to. 

They have no nuance; no willingness to compromise.  They have no understanding what leadership involves.  Because they won their seats, they think they have a mandate; they don’t understand that the rest of the country may feel very differently.

For example, while most people would like better and cheaper health insurance, most are by and large happy with their current employer-provided insurance.  They need to be convinced and allowed to choose Medicare For All, not be forced into it by eliminating private insurance off the bat.  That scares them and creates a feeling of insecurity.  Let’s get back to the initial goal of making all Americans health care secure by providing access to those who don’t have it now.  Medicare For All should initially be an option for all.

Most people want to treat immigrants and asylum seekers fairly.  On the other hand, regardless our history as a nation of immigrants, many feel that things are different now than in the 19th and early 20th century.  We cannot have open doors.  And so the idea of decriminalizing illegal entry seems wrong-headed.  And providing health care by right to all illegal immigrants would not only encourage illegal immigration, millions of our own citizens don’t have that access.  

The progressive immigration reform agenda used to be to provide a pathway to citizenship for the illegal immigrants already here and who are part of our society and economy.  That people could understand and support, depending on the details. But that goal seems lost in the current debate.

The first Democratic debate does not bode well for winning over the uncommitted group in the middle.  Despite activist progressives representing only a small fraction of the Democratic voting base, their strong presence on social media and the Squad’s in-your-face press conferences, led most of the candidates to voice positions or raise their hands in solidarity with the activists but striking fear into the rest of us who worry about another 4 years of Trump. 

I consider myself a progressive and have argued in these pages for major changes in the relationship between government, business, and the people.  But these changes must be approached incrementally; otherwise there will be no mandate for those changes.   We need a progressive candidate who is reasonable, not strident; who will appeal to the Democratic base and beyond. 

A.O.C. and Rep. Omar scare me.  That they bring a smile to Trump’s face scares me even more.

”They Were Never Going to Let Me Be President.”

Those words, spoken by Hillary Clinton when she was informed that she had lost the election, as recently reported in The New York Times, speak volumes about what was wrong with Hillary as a presidential candidate.  

Who were this “they” that she referred to?  The deplorable people?  The NRA?  No one kept her from being president.  It was her own flawed campaign that caused her to lose the presidency that was hers to lose.  While she has finally admitted some mistakes, she has never owned up to this basic fact.  It was always someone else’s fault … especially James Comey.  And that makes her a weak person, despite all her strengths.

Democrats have a history of losing because of problems with their campaigns, as opposed to the strength of their opponents or shifting demographics.  When Gore lost it was because of problems with his campaign, not the agony over Florida’s “hanging chads.”  When Kerry lost, likewise.  When Hillary lost, ditto.  The recent Democrats who didn’t lose … Bill Clinton and Obama … won because their campaigns did not have major problems.  They were candidates who spoke to the people in a way that the people understood, and the people heard and voted.

Ever since the 2000 election, I have argued that Democrats run flawed campaigns.  To me, the biggest problem is that they do not have a vision and they do not know how to speak to the people in a way that the people get.  So they aren’t able to get someone out of his apathy or change someone’s mind.  And so the people on the margins of life, the people who need to be convinced to cast their vote, just don’t vote; and people leaning to the other side vote that way.  And that’s a lot of people.

In 2004 I wrote We STILL Hold These Truths to show the Party the way to win the hearts and minds of the American people and win the election.  Sadly, despite my repeated efforts to bring the book’s message to the attention of party leaders and candidates, my advice has fallen on deaf ears.  Lucky, Obama didn’t need my advice because he did have a vision.  And he instinctively knew how to speak to the people, just as Bill Clinton did.

Now we are preparing for the 2018 midterm elections and are in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential elections.  Democrats have to be more than the anti-Trump.  They have to be clear on what they are offering the American people, especially the middle class and the poor (they comprise 79% of US households), if they are to win, certainly to win decisively.

So far, all I see is a muddle.  There is no clear voice, anywhere.  

And the DNC is wasting energy and creating more negative political capital than positive with their new lawsuit against the Trump campaign for working with the Russians to defeat Hillary.  I see that as doing more to undermine the Special Counsel’s legitimacy than anything the Republicans have done, because it will appear to many people that Trump has been right in his claim that the issue of collusion is a Democratic-inspired with hunt.

The 2018 and 2020 elections are once again the Democrats to lose.  Whether they win or lose, it will be a result of the strength or weakness of their campaigns, not a problem in the American people.

The Real Challenge for Democrats in the 2018 Election: Getting Non-voters to Vote

If the Democrats are going to have a good change at winning the 2018 mid-term elections  in a decisive way … which is what is really needed … then we have to do more than convince disaffected Trump voters to vote Democratic.  That could be enough to change the balance of power in Congress, but it would result in a very close election with no clear mandate, other than an anti-Trump message. We can do better than that.

What Democrats need to do is get those people who routinely don’t vote to vote.  In mid-term elections, the voting rate is usually around 35 - 40%  The vast majority of the non-voters are people who just don’t vote, as opposed to those who vote in Presidential elections but not in off-year elections.  (In Presidential elections, the voting rate is typically between 51% and 56%.)  This will not be an easy task.

The reason why this is potentially so important is that those who don’t vote are demographically different from those who do.  Non-voters are younger; people of color form a larger percentage; and they are less affluent and less educated.  In short, non-voters are more likely to vote Democratic than Republican if they voted.

Why does such a large proportion of eligible voters routinely not vote?  No other advanced, industrialized country makes such a dismal showing of citizen participation in the basic act of democracy - voting.  What follows are the primary reasons.  Two could be easily fixed; one is more difficult and almost endemic to politics.

1.  Voter registration is often difficult.  And Republican-controlled legislatures are making registration and voting even more difficult.  Of those who are registered, a high percentage (84%) typically vote.  While many just have no interest in voting, a lot of people don’t really get caught up in political races until the last stages, but by then it’s too late to register in most of the U.S. (exceptions: in Minnesota you can register on election day, and in North Dakota you don’t have to register at all).

There should be no barriers to voter registration.  It should be automatic.  If you are a citizen, you are registered.  Why not?  Voting is a right of citizenship.  Period.  However, how to do that would be more difficult than in some European countries where everyone must register their residence at the local police station.  In those countries, they know at all times where people are.  But I’m sure that there are ways to do that.  Automatic registration when you get a drivers license is good, but that leaves many poor people out.    Additional means must be found.

Also note, this would be different from the current practice in states that connect drivers license with voter registration.  These states either allow people to opt out of registration or they must do something, however minimal, to register.  Given the prevalence of the “who cares” attitude, registration must be automatic.  It is a duty of citizenship and so should be automatic; also that way if someone decides at the last minute to vote, they can because they are registered.

2.  Voting day is a work day.  In most other countries, voting day is either a national holiday or it is on a weekend when fewer people work.  Although legally, employers have to allow people to take time off from work to vote, for many people, especially lower level employees, their job is a lifeline and they won’t do anything that might jeopardize their job.  Few employers actively encourage people to take time off to vote.

There should be no barriers to voting.  There is no reason why election day should not be a national holiday.  We have them for all sorts of reasons, most not particularly important.  This one is important.  Barring that, election day should be changed to a weekend, preferably a Sunday.

3.  Many people think that voting is a worthless exercise.  They are disgusted with politics.  A pox on both your houses.  They don’t think that either party is truly interested in helping better their lives, which is what matters most to most people.  

This reason will be harder to resolve.  Even the passage of Obamacare, which did make a difference to millions, did not shake this alienation.  To them all the party platforms are just chatter.  And of course this is partly true.  The reason why Trump won is that he was able to convince people, running as an outsider, that he really heard them, felt for them, and was going to do something that would benefit them.  And now they are learning that this was also chatter.

How do you get people to suspend their deep feeling of disbelief in politicians?  I don’t have the answer.  But it’s not telling people all the wonderful thing that Democrats have done in the past for the working class and poor; those things are true, but people take those things for granted.  People still don’t feel good about their lives.  They need something more meaningful than food stamps and various forms of aid. They need better schools, better pay, better jobs.  They need to feel good about what they are doing.

Some politicians appear more trustworthy and charismatic than others, but while that may impact an election, it won’t pull the nonvoters out of their habit-energy.  Not even Obama broke the 60% barrier in the 2008 election.  If I were in charge of the DNC, I would conduct focus groups of nonvoters to find out what it would take to get them to vote.

But for starters, the Democratic Party and its politicians must speak to these people, directly and honestly.  They must show the forgotten that they are not forgotten.  And they must have a new all-inclusive Mission at their disposal that will hopefully convince people to give them a chance.  The prospective voter after all has nothing to lose.

As for the Mission, here is what I’ve proposed:

To bring to life the promises set forth in our Declaration of Independence.

To build a country of greater opportunity where:

* each and every American has the best chance to experience the promise 

‘that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with 

certain unalienable Rights … Life,  Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness’;

* government meets its responsibility as set forth in the Declaration …  

‘to secure those rights’,  within the constraints of fiscal responsibility; and

* all citizens have a shared responsibility to support the government’s efforts 

 to secure those rights and promote the public good, each according to his ability.”

These words from the Declaration of Independence are the moral philosophy, the heart, the soul of American democracy. This is America’s common faith.  Together with the concept of shared responsibility, this is America’s social contract.  To further that promise of equality and opportunity with fiscal responsibility is the Mission of the Democratic Party.  

Stop playing identify politics; speak to the American people.  While providing continuity with the past, this Mission provides a new start for the Party and for the country,

Returning the Country to the People Scorecard - A Proposed Weekly Democratic Leadership Press Conference/Program

Donald Trump promised the American people that he would return the country back into their hands.  His cabinet appointments, however, show clearly that he is doing just the opposite.  

It’s not so much that his appointments are either billionaires or extremely rich.  It’s that, like so many in their class today, they have no interest in protecting or advancing the welfare of the average American.  Their interest is either cutting government spending or, in the case of Betsy DeVos, gutting public schools, regardless of who that harms, or removing regulations that are necessary to protect the average person from corporate predation. These are all people who have shown that they are actually antagonistic to the mission of the departments they head.  He has put the foxes in charge of the hen house.

Democrats need to find a mechanism for keeping this betrayal by the President and Republicans in Congress of his commitment to the people front and center for the duration of his presidency.  To this end, I propose that Democrats hold a weekly press conference/program to detail the President’s and Congressional Republican actions that betray that commitment or are otherwise harmful to the average American

There is precedent for this tactic.  Back in the early 60s, when the Republican minority debated how they could maintain their influence at a time of Democratic dominance, they came up with the idea of a weekly leadership press conference.  It may sound dull on paper, but what became the Ev Dirksen/Charlie Halleck program provided the Republican minority a weekly national forum during the 60s.  The program was widely respected and quoted both by network news programs and the print media.

By virtue of their leadership positions, two of the people who would take part in the proposed press conference are of course Senator Schumer and Representative Pelosi.  However, because they represent New York and California, I recommend adding to the press conference roster a senator and representative from the heartland.

The makeup of the participants is very important.  The point of the program is to try and reach the people who voted for Trump.  Which means breaking through the alternative facts that they will be fed and their blind faith in the man.  Having two exemplars of the bi-coastal liberal establishment host the press conference would defeat the whole purpose.

The format of the program is very important too.   It should not just consist of talking heads.  Instead, the information should be presented in a conversation format.   And no snide or belittling comments should be made.  As the saying goes, “The facts, ma’m, just the facts.”  Points need to be made clearly; demeaning comments actually distract from the message.

The confirmation process that the Senate is currently going through provides an excellent starting point for highlighting that betrayal and the part that Congressional Republicans are playing in that betrayal.  And for matters like the House Republicans voting to remove restriction on mountain-top removal and stream protection, it provides an opportunity to discuss just who benefits from this.  Will this really save jobs or just enrich the mining companies?

I strongly urge the leadership to entertain this idea and move forward with it. 

The Two Ultimate Lessons for Democrats from 2016

Democrats are trying to figure out what to do, what to change in their game plan, to regain Congress in 2018 and the presidency in 2020.   There are various scenarios that people are putting together on how they can turn things around.

I have written after past elections, and I wrote in a post after this one, “The Perennial Search for the Democrat’s Mission,” that Democrats need to drop identity politics and instead come up with an all-inclusive, cohesive vision of America’s future that people will respond to.   They must be clear where they want to take America and how they’re going to get there.  And that path must include a better life for all Americans.

But there is an even larger lesson to be learned; a point that distinguished the Trump campaign from all the others, including most past campaigns as well.  Trump won because he made people believe that he listened to them, to their suffering and questions, and he took up their cause with great vigor, a vengeance, fighting the establishment to right the wrongs.  

His anti-establishment and anti-elite rant was so appealing because many white working class people felt, with good cause, that the establishment had failed them despite having mouthed platitudes to them for decades … rural Americans had hardly been addressed at all.  And the elite who run the establishment were not in touch with their (white Americans’) suffering as opposed to people of color or other minority groups who they perceive as getting lots of attention.

If Democrats want to once again become the majority party, the party of the people, the lesson is not, as some are saying, that they need to listen and respond to the suffering of the white working class.  Yes, they definitely need to do that.  But they need to do that in the context of listening to all the people.  

Democrats need to show that they are there for everyone and that they can deliver for everyone.  They have to show that it doesn’t have to be one group’s interests v another’s.  They need to come up with a cohesive vision that works for all Americans and which all Americans respond to.

That’s why I’ve proposed the following Mission for the Democratic Party:

"To bring to life the promises set forth in our Declaration of Independence.

To build a country of greater opportunity where:

* each and every American has the best chance to experience the promise 

‘that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with 

certain unalienable Rights … Life,  Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness’;

* government meets its responsibility as set forth in the Declaration …  

‘to secure those rights’,  within the constraints of fiscal responsibility; and

* all citizens have a shared responsibility to support the government’s efforts 

 to secure those rights and promote the public good, each according to his ability.”

Democrats have gotten too cozy with big money, big business, big banks.  You can’t have it both ways.  You can’t please those interests and the people at the same time because unfortunately the goal of big business is all about making money.  Sometimes their interests are not in conflict with the general good, but often they are.  There is no social conscience or social purpose involved in corporate decision making, unless it helps them make money.

And so, in other posts of mine such as, “What Drives Policy Decisions? - The Theory v The Reality” and “Our Failed Economic/Social/Political System,” I urge Democrats to shake up the status quo of how the country is run.  To change it from money/big business-centric to people-centric.  Obama pledged to get rid of the overwhelming influence of lobbyists and big business/banks, but he ended up doing neither.  

Bernie Sanders had the right idea.  His movement should not be allowed to become a mere footnote to this period of Democratic Party policy development.  Instead, it should be the core of a well-thought-through soft revolution that truly puts the country back in the hands of the people rather than big business.  Big business will still have a place at the table as they are an important part of the well-being of our country; but they will not be a controlling force. We must reestablish “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” 

Trump campaigned on doing just that … putting the country back in the hands of the people.  But his cabinet appointments show clearly that he is doing just the opposite.  He has put the foxes in charge of the hen house.  And the Republican-controlled Senate supported those appointments against almost unanimous Democrat opposition.  Democrats need to label Republicans for the hypocrites they are and remind the American people of this betrayal and its implications on a regular basis.  This cannot be a forgotten moment in history.

The Perennial Search for the Democrat’s Mission

It’s sad to see Democrats once again thrashing around, after November’s defeat, trying to figure out where there message failed and what they need to do in the future.  (Everyone that is but the Clinton campaign, who apparently doesn’t think there was anything wrong with their message, but that’s another problem.)  Some advocate focusing on youth and minority voters … the “Obama coalition.”  Others argue that attention must be paid to the white middle class worker.  Others, rural America.  And from reports, these groups seem to be at odds with each other.

It’s not unreasonable to analyze this question, Republicans certainly do the same.  The problem is that Democrats seem incapable of seeing the light.  This is a familiar pattern.  After the 2004 loss, Walter Mondale said, “We really need to work on what we are for.  Unless we have a vision and the arguments to match, I don’t think we’re going to truly connect with the American people.”  Similar thoughts were voiced by many party leaders at the time.

As I said in the forward to the 2005 edition of my book, We Still Hold These Truths, “How sad and beyond belief that after a long and intense campaign, the quadrennial defining moment for the Party, it did not know the essence of what it stands for, what its vision is. How then could the American public?”  The same holds true today.

The problem does not arise because there is a conflict between the interests of the white middle class workers on the one hand and the interests of minorities and youth or rural America on the other.  The problem arises because Democratic leaders seem to think there is a conflict … they are trapped in identity politics.  I know the saying, “You can’t be all things to all people,” but in this case I don’t think it applies.  Let me explain why.

It comes back to the question of just what the Democratic Party’s mission is.  Mostly it’s been absent, at best implied.  Instead, the party has had a grab-bag of policies, the platform. But that is not a mission.  It makes it seem the party is just pandering to a bunch of different interests.  

They have presented no cohesive vision, no umbrella for all its policies.  And I don’t call Clinton’s “Stronger Together” slogan - cooperation is better than conflict - a vision.  John Kerry kept on saying that the 2004 election was about voting for change … but from what to what?  Obama certainly made clear what the change was, but he also had no clearly enunciated vision for the Party.  In response to Clinton's weak effort, I suggested the slogan, "Economic Justice for All," (see my post of that title, 7/24/16).

I wrote We Still Hold These Truths because I felt, as did many others, that the 2004 election could not be won on the basis of a negative, anti-Bush vote. The same held true for 2016 and a negative, anti-Trump vote.  To regain the White House and Congress, the Democrats had and still have to come up with a cohesive vision – an ideology – and communicate it forcefully in a way which resonates with the American people. 

Such a vision has not been forthcoming. My hope continues to be that my book will provide a new/old perspective with which to define what the Party stands for, a perspective at once so simple and familiar yet profound that it would be immediately grasped by the American people … the stirring words of the Declaration of Independence.

I therefore propose the following Mission Statement for the Democratic Party which will appeal to Americans rural and urban, regardless of faith, race, social status, gender, or sexual orientation, in red states and blue; a vision that reclaims the moral and spiritual bona fides of the Party (attacked by Republicans):

"To bring to life the promises set forth in our Declaration of Independence.

To build a country of greater opportunity where:

* each and every American has the best chance to experience the promise 

‘that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with 

certain unalienable Rights … Life,  Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness’;

          * government meets its responsibility as set forth in the Declaration …  

          ‘to secure those rights’,  within the constraints of fiscal responsibility; and

        * all citizens have a shared responsibility to support the government’s efforts 

          to secure those rights and promote the public good, each according to his ability.”

These words from the Declaration of Independence are the moral philosophy, the heart, the soul of American democracy. This is America’s common faith.  This is America’s social contract.  To further that promise of equality and opportunity with fiscal responsibility should be the clear mission of the Democratic Party.

All the policies of the Party naturally flow from this mission statement.  All American men, women, and children are owed the support of government policies in education, health care, civil rights, security, the economy, the environment, and taxation that provide a foundation of equal opportunity for all.  That is the American social contract. 

It is these policies that make the Democratic Party a “life-affirming” force. It affirms the profound value of the lives of all living beings.  It acknowledges the suffering of millions of citizens … their lack of work, their lack of health insurance, their lack of enough food to eat, their lack of equal opportunity to acquire a good education … sometimes caused by economic forces, often simply the result of being born on the wrong side of the tracks.  It is these policies that make the Democratic Party a “pro-family” force. How can a family be strong, healthy, and viable without meeting these basic needs?

It is these policies, which respect the value of all human life and the environment, that make the Democratic Party a party of faith – not Christian, not Jewish, not Muslim … but deep religious faith. And because we respect freedom of religion, as well as the right to have no religious belief, we strongly support the Constitutional policy of the separation of church and state created by the Founders to insure the freedom of all to live according to their creed and conscience. The Democratic Party respects the valued and important place that religion has had and will always have in the fabric of American life.

But we must remember that no right, not even those in the Bill of Rights, are absolute.  For no person in the exercise of his or her rights can infringe on another person’s rights.  That is indeed the basis of all laws that control the relations of citizens in a civilized society, whether it be the criminal law, civil law, or government regulation.

In approaching our fellow citizens, we do ourselves and the people of this great country a disservice if we do not recognize the purity of their hearts and beliefs, their natural desire to provide for themselves and their families, and their basic desire to do what is just in the eyes of God.   Democrats must make the case to all Americans, not assuming that any American is ill-disposed to its vision, that their best interests and the best interests of the country lie in policies of the Democratic Party, not the Republican.

This focus on respect and equality must inform all of our actions.  If Democrats do not show that we practice what we preach, how can we expect anyone to believe us?  Legislators must voluntarily reduce the undue influence of lobbyists, big business, and the wealthy from our policy deliberations.  They deserve a place at the table, but they cannot displace or overwhelm the voice of the majority of citizens who have no realistic way, other than the vote, of expressing their point of view.  

Legislators can and should hold more town meetings with their constituents; they can survey their opinion on matters before Congress.  It is important that constituents know they are being listened to.

But because of the practical logistical limitations, constituents cannot compete in presence or volume with the voice of industry and wealth.  And so each legislator must in the end, on each matter before Congress, ask him- or herself what is in the best interests of average Americans, his constituents, versus the interests of industry and privilege.  Sometimes those interests will converge; sometimes they will not.  If they do not, it is the interests of the public that must prevail.  That is who legislators are elected to represent.

The message of We Still Hold These Truths is that Democrats must hold true to the heart of American democracy as expressed in the Declaration of Independence and further elaborated in our Constitution … to the American social contract. We Still Hold These Truths presents an overarching vision that will resonate with the broad American public in red states as well as blue and win their hearts and minds. It is a vision that will successfully counter the radical Republican Conservative movement and reclaim the moral and spiritual bona fides of the Democratic Party.