Barbarians!
They are at the gate. They’re at the side door, too, and the back door, and crawling through the basement windows. They’re everywhere, because the Barbarians aren’t really a person, they’re an idea: that social progress can be turned around, that history can be undone, that if you close your eyes tight enough, you can make it 1950 again.
Yes, Donald Trump is real. And so is the threat of another Trump Presidency. And, yes, we have to do everything in our power to defeat it, every bit of campaigning, every attack ad we can think of. But if defeating him in November is all we do, then we’re going to be left standing right where we were in the aftermath of 2020, the same place we’ve been for the past twenty years: stuck in the mud, looking at an endless struggle to win 51%.
The Barbarians have a message. They have a powerful message, and it’s about more than Donald Trump. Its a clever message that allows you to believe whatever you want as long as you close your eyes and join in. It’s powerful because it’s simple, it’s universal (for them), and it’s emotional.
We need an equally simple, even more powerful message, one that reaches out emotionally, out beyond Democratic activists to embrace the middle of this country, the people we’ve lost over the years. Those are the very people who will not only decide this election, but who have the power to carry us back to the supermajority we need to effect real change. To reach these people we need a banner that not only unites Democrats, but provides common ground for uniting the majority of this country, something sweeping, something that inspires, something that is just so true it cannot be denied.
That is why the Democratic Creed was written. That is why the vision of a just society .. as long as it takes exists. Together they proclaim the very common ground we need to unite America and begin putting MAGA and everything it represents in the ground. These values inspire. They reach the unaffiliated and disaffected Republicans, and they do it because they defy hype and spin. They just ring true.
Of course the Democratic Creed is really the American Creed. It was written that way. The Creed and the Definitions were crafted to be just as true fifty years from now as today, and just as universal. That is the point, a set of universal values that lays the groundwork for everything else .. the very real, very hard political work that needs to be done, the endless changes and disagreements that always exist, all the divisions and arguments. The Democratic Creed is something that unites despite all our differences.
Someday, most Americans will recognize these principles, but until then we are the champions. Us, the Democratic Party, there is no one else to do it. And so we must stand above politics even as we roll up our sleeves and engage in politics full throttle. We need to do both, but to truly succeed, we must be seen by the rest of America as one thing above all else: the champion of America’s future, and the guardian of its soul.
Becoming that champion begins with you. These values mean nothing if they are not proclaimed at the grassroots. Proclaimed publicly. That begins with your county party, your club, your local organization taking up this standard and making it visible to your neighbors and friends: adopting the Democratic Creed, then living it .. using these universal values to bridge the divide with the very people you need to bring on board.
That bridge isn’t about political campaigning per se. It’s not about party messaging, and it isn’t about all the hard work you need to do to win on November 5th. This is about adding to that. This is about reaching out to the unaffiliated and disaffected voters in your county. This is about common identity, first our identity as Democrats, then our identity as Americans. This is about reaching people.
Stand up. Adopt the Democratic Creed officially and join us. Join all the other local Democrats all across this country that want to move beyond the mess we’re in, move towards an America that rises above hate and division and tribalism towards the ideals in the Declaration of Independence that have inspired us all since 1776. It is there. It can be done. But only by all of us. Together.
