NOW!
Newsletter #76 / January, 27 2025
It’s time to do something, now!
It’s time to create real change, now!
It’s time to actually start taking back your community. Yes, now!
And here’s how to get started.
Step One: Understand what’s really going on.
The Democratic Party just spent ten years obsessed with keeping Donald Trump out of the White House. Vast resources were spent. Loads of professionals were hired, millions of activists were involved. How did that work out?
Trump isn’t President again because of traditional politics, or policies. He’s back because he created a strong emotional identity. People don’t vote based on facts or policies, they vote on emotional connection. And quite frankly, we’ve lost ours. And we’re not going to start winning until we get it back.
Step Two: Stop preaching to the choir, and stop looking back.
Trump won. It’s over, and no amount of finger-pointing and pulling of hair will change anything. Obsessing about it with fellow activists is actually destructive. It’s living in the past, and we don’t have time for that.
There is one issue now: making sure this horror show goes down as a ten-year aberration, and not the beginning of the Dark Ages. That is the only focus that matters, regaining our identity, and using it to turn something terrible into something fantastic … a permanent fix!
Step Three: Think long-term
Short-term thinking is how we got into this mess. People in Washington may continue to never think past the next election, but we can’t afford to. We are the ones who have to fix this. That means all of us, the grassroots folks down at the county and state level. (Are you listening, Indivisible?)
The 10-year goal:
2025 - take back our identity! (read on)
2026 - use that identity to begin a growing Blue Wave that is permanent. Think local, then state.
2028 - take back the White House and Congress. Start taking back states.
2030-36 - build a supermajority, and end this once and for all!
Step Four: Recognize our power … your power.
Our power isn’t money, or mega-donors, or Washington. Our power is what we believe, our passion, our sense of Purpose (and, yes, I’m talking about elections).
All people are created equal is our power.
A just society ... as long as it takes is our power
Being champions of the Declaration of Independence is our power
We own values. We own the American values this country was founded on, values that the vast majority of Americans believe in. These values are incredibly powerful, but we’ve forgotten. We’ve become lost in the tactics of politics, in obsessing over messaging and tactics instead of being authentic. Well, those same values are lying at our feet. Their power to influence action is lying at our feet. All we have to do is pick them up and use them to take back this country.
Step Five: Get ready!
Read Democrats 101, This is the book that started everything. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s cheap.
Focus on the Democratic Creed, and the definitions of Freedom, Justice, and Opportunity at the end of the book. They are the specifics you’re looking for. Understand what they say. Understand what they mean for you, in your community.
Talk these things over with folks you know. Make this real.
Step Six: Speak out
MAGA is in charge now. They’re responsible for what happens for the next two years. Don’t let that go to waste!
Forget “Democrat”, talk American. All the time, everywhere. It’s easy. Everything we stand for as Democrats is American.
Forget policy and politics, talk about American rights. The right to decent health care, the right to a living wage, the right to a proper education for our kids. These American rights are spelled out in the definitions of Freedom, Justice, and Opportunity. These things are the emotional common ground that binds us to all the unaffiliated and disaffected voters in your community (yes, even a lot of Republicans). This is the bridge that unites.
Tie these rights to the local issues that matter in your community. If the only local hospital has closed, talk about our right to health care as Americans, and start by saying, “I believe all people are created equal.” Every single local issue goes back to these basic ideas.
A just society ... as long as it takes, this is our vision of the future. Repeat it endlessly. Repeat everything endlessly. Repetition works!
Step Seven: Take action:
2025 is about building our identity. Spread the message: we are the champions of American values. Do it in your organization, with your neighbors, with everyone you know. Carry the Democratic Creed and the Freedom, Justice, and Opportunity cards in your pocket. Start impromptu conversations about values everywhere you can (the cards don’t mention the word “Democrat”). Always start by asking questions, by listening. Then go for it!
Adopt the Democratic Creed publicly: you, your organization, anybody you can reach.
Join with your brothers and sisters in the national coalition of values that is forming.
Stay tuned for what’s coming. This train is moving!
Know this:
Dems 101 is dedicated to this one thing: establishing these values and this vision throughout the Democratic Party, and then throughout the majority of this country. Period. We are not a campaign organization, we are not even a political organization. And we are definitely not a PAC.
Our goal is your goal, because we are you. We are grassroots folks just like yourselfwho said “enough!”, people who were excited by these ideas, people from four states who banded together and started a national movement.
And that movement is all-volunteer. If you really want to make a difference, join us now as a volunteer. It’s easy, you can help in a lot of ways. There is an incredible amount to do, and we need all the help we can get. Contact Tom at tom.yeager@dems101.org.
Donate, if you can. “All-volunteer” means exactly what you think it means, “out of our own pockets”
And, yes, stay tuned. A lot more is coming. We’re just getting started.
Jim
