Pete Buttigieg: "Rules of the Road" for the 2020 Campaign

[brooklynite]

RESPECT
In our thoughts, words, and actions we cultivate a sense of respect. ​We respect one another on this team, we respect the office of the Presidency, and we respect every individual we encounter on the campaign trail, including our competitors. ​The better we hold up this value among ourselves, the better it will reflect outside. It will represent a quiet antidote to the idea that this project is too audacious to be taken seriously.

BELONGING
We seek to serve and unify a diverse nation. Let us build a campaign team and a coalition of supporters that kindly embraces and reflects the increasingly diverse party and country to which we belong. We will honor this value not just in our makeup but in our practices, as we proactively work to include people of different backgrounds and viewpoints in every major decision, and cultivate a sense of welcome to all.

TRUTH
Honesty is in our nature, and it is one of our greatest means of restoring faith in our democracy among everyday Americans and building a national movement rooted in trust and faith in our country and our beliefs. Internally and externally, our effort will be characterized by fidelity to the truth.

TEAMWORK
We are all working in service of our country and to elect a President who will represent our values and make American lives better. In moments of disagreement, the temptations of pride and ego will arise. Rooted in our mission, let our common purpose be a touchstone as we foster a climate of trust and mutual respect.

BOLDNESS
We will not hesitate to take bold stances and to accept risk in the defense of our values. Our respect is reserved for people, not for conventions. We accept no truisms without questioning. The spirit of originality will create the pressure and permission for us to do things not done before, to stand out from the crowd not by waving our arms for attention but by the fact of being different.

RESPONSIBILITY
The conduct of a campaign can be as influential as its outcome. Everyone on this team has a responsibility to live up to our values, and every participant, from a first-time volunteer to the candidate and top staff, must model this. When there is a mistake, we take ownership, learn, adjust, and move on. Missteps are inevitable, but they should never be repeated. We own our choices and our work.

SUBSTANCE
There is no point mounting an unorthodox, underdog campaign unless it is one of substance. We have the opportunity to bring meaningful ideas forward for debate. We will take questions seriously and answer them directly. We will lay aside the superficial in favor of the meaningful. We embrace complicated challenges, and will work to improve the overall dialogue in how campaigns talk about policy.

DISCIPLINE
A project like ours will require enormous discipline. Through energy and determination, we will handle our resources with the stewardship they deserve, mindful that this campaign is fueled by the gift of other people’s time, money, relationships, and reputations.

EXCELLENCE
A functioning presidential campaign is such a marvel that we may at times be amazed simply by the fact of what we are doing. But the standard we should hold ourselves to in every part of our work is not whether it is at the level of a presidential campaign, but whether it is at the level we would expect of the best presidential campaign of this time.

JOY
Amid the great challenge we have accepted, let us be joyful. We are privileged to be in the very center of the most important conversation in the world. We are assembling a team of wonderful human beings. Along the way we will all get many opportunities to lift one another up and lift up those we encounter. The American presidential election is the world’s greatest civic and democratic ritual. It will shape us but we can shape it too. Let us shape it, partly, by spreading the joy of working for our beliefs.

[Celerity]

1. love this! go go Pete

[AlexSFCA]

2. Pete is rising

steadily. His road to securing the nomination is becoming clearer. He needs Stacey Abrams as his running mate. I think they are very similar ideologically.

[patricia92243]

3. If he gets the nomination and asks her to run as VP, do you think she would accept?

[AlexSFCA]

4. I hope so

I don’t know if he would consider her but she has enormous appeal; she basically won over the southern red state (if not for SoS messing with voter registration database). There aren’t a lot of potential running mates that could add extra value to Pete. Amy Klobuchar comes to mind also. I do feel it should be female - double history.

[Generic Brad]

5. We have outstanding candidates!

Each one appeals to our higher angels. I like these Rules of the Road. After the years of chaos, it is a tonic that many are longing for. There is a hunger out there for calming honest competency. There is also a desire for transformative change. I will be ecstatic with either approach because we will be going somewhere again instead of fighting against.