While talking about policy positions is important, we need to get beyond a laundry list of specific policies, step back, and look at the bigger picture to see who we are as opposed to the Republicans ... and be true to that. For a fresh look at what the Democratic Party should stand for, what principles should govern its domestic and foreign policy choices, and how it should differentiate itself from the Republicans, look at the new video, “What Do Democrats Stand For?” on YouTube, which is based on my book, "We Still Hold These Truths."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6JX-W4iIkwOR, you can continue reading ... or do both. By the way, the video is NOT a talking head video.
Our nation stands at a crossroad. It’s not just the Iraq war. The Bush-Cheney administration and a radicalized Republican Conservative movement have been seeking to fundamentally alter the balance that our system has struck between private rights, the public good, and government. They are attacking the very heart of our democracy, our historic values every day.
And what do the Democratic presidential candidates do in the face of this? They talk about Iraq. They talk about this policy and that. But they don’t discuss what the Republicans are fundamentally up to. And they are failing again, like they did in 2004, to define what the Demoratic Party stands for … to provide an overarching vision.
To regain the White House decisively, the Democrats have to come up with a cohesive vision and communicate it forcefully in a way which resonates with the American people and wins their hearts and minds.
Luckily, there is at hand an overarching perspective at once so simple and familiar yet profound that it will be immediately grasped by the American people … the words of the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, … Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, ...”
These words are the core morality, the heart, the soul of American democracy. This is America’s common faith.
Our Declaration of Independence made a promise to the American people. And it should be the declared mission statement of the Democratic Party to build a country of greater opportunity where each and every American has the best chance to pursue those rights, where government meets its responsibility to secure that opportunity, and where all citizens have a shared responsibility to support the government’s efforts to promote the public good, each according to his ability. We must restore government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
All the domestic policies of the Party naturally flow from this mission statement. It is these policies that make the Democratic Party “life-affirming” and “pro-family”. 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, not Buddhist … but deep faith. And while rooted in our past, this perspective compels policies that meet the needs of our economy now and in the future, in a world where many of the assumptions of the past are no longer valid.
It is this ethic that should also guide our foreign policy. In his farewell address, President Eisenhower, a Republican and an army general, made the following observation:
“America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched . . . strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment. ... Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad.”
Those words were enormously prophetic, for during the Bush administration, arrogance, lack of comprehension of the Muslim world, and a failure to ask the broader public, not just those fighting in Iraq, to sacrifice have resulted in this failed and misguided war and in greatly damaging us at home and abroad.
Fifteen years ago at the Republican National Convention, Pat Buchanan made the now famous statement, “There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war ...” I put it to you that there is indeed a war going on for the soul of America, but it is a very different war than the one painted by Pat Buchanan. The soul of America that is being attacked is the very heart of American democracy. And defending that heart is the Democratic Party, as well as moderate conservatives of the old school.
The fight is not about the fine points of a multitude of policy proposals. The issue is what must the role of government be in order to live up to the words in the Declaration of Independence and what is the role of each of us under the American social contract.
Bush and company are not bad people … I have compassion for them, but they are very misguided people. What use is it if a man declares that he is born again if he goes on to betray basic tenets of his savior? Would Jesus do what George Bush has done. I think not!
To learn more about how I use the Declaration of Independence as a touchstone for analyzing the issues facing our country, read my book, "We Still Hold These Truths." James Fallows of The Atlantic Monthly endorsed the book saying, “Agree or disagree with his specific conclusions, the questions he is asking are the right ones for the public this year.” The book is available online through all the major sources, you can order it from your local bookstore, or you can go to the book’s website, www.westillholdthesetruths.com.
I urge you to let the Democratic Party know that you support this vision.
Thank you.
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