Progressive Democrat Issue 36: THOUGHTS

There is an ongoing divide in the Democratic Party as to whether we need to move to the left or move to the right. There is also an ongoing search for what our TRUE Democratic values are. I don't think the problem really is liberalism or moving to the right. I think moving to the right HAS failed, but moving to the left is not a cure all either. The former alienates our strongest base and really produces simply a weak alternative to the Republicans. The latter alienates OTHER important aspects of our base.

What we need is to reconnect with ALL parts of the party—from Joe Lieberman to Barney Frank, we need to embrace the DIVERSITY of our party. This is not easy and it is the ongoing difficulty our party faces. The diversity of our constituencies is our biggest weakness...and our biggest strength.

What we need is to return to the populist/progressive roots of the modern DemocraticPparty. This means grassroots. This means that LOCAL branches of the party will be more independent because the local constituencies vary from region to region. We cannot apply the same strategies, positions and tactics to Iowa, and Montana and New York. They are different and we must embrace that difference.

BUT...we also have to have core values. I think that is actually the easier part, at least for me. As I personally would define them, I think our core values are:

a. Individual Rights and Privacy--Protection of Constitutional Rights for all Americans

b. Fairness--equal rights to ALL Americans

c. Integrity--fighting corruption wherever it raises its head

d. Helping the average Joe American--supporting the farmers and the workers as the foundation of America's economy

e. Grassroots participation in politics--making politics responsive to the people rather than to big money interests.

These are values that will appeal to ALL Democrats and they should be the focus of our party. The DLC drift to the right simply drifts from these core values in the name of triangulation--it means we look like we have no core values. The leftist view that we have to be purists and reject everyone who is moderate or conservative as "traitors" the party is simply the kind of self-righteous smugness that ruined Ralph Nader, the once great crusader for the people who became an irritating mosquito with the ego of a giant. We need a big tent AND core values.