Newsletter #69 / December,2 2024

“Values” has become a buzz word. “Values! We need values!” Politicians use it all the time, to mean whatever they want. Pundits throw it around to add gravitas to their comments. But nobody ever defines it. Nobody ever says this is what it means!

Freedom, Justice, and Opportunity are becoming buzz words as well. “Freedom” is used by just about everybody from the Far Right or the Far Left. Trump uses it, and it’s easy. Freedom is a word that creates emotion and a sense of being “American”. But what does Freedom actually mean? Or Justice? Or Opportunity? Without concrete definition, these words have no meaning. They remain buzz words, and we … both as Democrats, and Americans … remain mired exactly where we are today.

With meaning, with specific definitions, these words become ideas, ideas that carry power … the concrete power to change things on the ground, now.

Opportunity, of course, is key. Much of the recent election campaign rested on the word, and we lost because we let MAGA define it. But we have the actual definition, we have the power that definition carries. It’s time to start using it.

Opportunity means:

Every American deserves an equal chance to pursue their dreams, and be judged on their ability and their effort alone.

That really says it all. It’s our right as an American to have an equal chance to show what we can do. An “equal chance” means access to a reasonable standard of living. It means access to proper education. You don’t have equal opportunity if you have to worry about buying food for your kids, and they don’t have equal opportunity if they can’t get proper schooling. Hey, you don’t have equal opportunity if the deck is stacked against you in any of the ways listed below. And your right to equal opportunity was written down in 1776, in the the Declaration of Independence: All people are created equal … and your inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. For all their frailties, the Founders understood.

Do you worry about having proper health care for your family? Do you spend endless hours fretting over how to pay for it? Has your local hospital closed? Is there a shortage of doctors? Then you do not have equal opportunity.

Access to proper health care is your right as an American. That is our message, especially in rural areas. Health care is your right, and it’s the government’s responsibility to ensure it. Economics don’t matter. Cooperate profits don’t matter. Political parties don’t even matter. It’s your right. That is the starting point … the key to everything. This isn’t about policy. This isn’t about how to do it. This is about embedding health care as a right for every American in this country. Everything else flows from that.

The same goes for access to education, and clean air and clean water. You do not have real opportunity if these things are denied you. That is our message. Arguing policy, taking sides on how to do it, is how we lose. Powerful forces are arrayed against these fundamental rights. Their whole objective is to gum up the works, to prevent change, and the best way to do that is to spread confusion … to create any excuse for inaction. They love policy proposals they can attack. They love to see us fight over how to do it, our obsession with policy. Because there is no perfect policy. Any proposal can be attacked, especially before it’s carried out. But no one can argue with basic rights. And once you accept that right, you have no choice but to figure out a way to do it. It becomes inevitable.

Look at these rights listed below, these basic definitions of Opportunity, then think about the impact they will have on the people you know, the people in your county, your neighbors and all the problems they face. Establishing these things as rights … regardless of who provides it or how it’s done … is the first step, for everything.

Establishing these things as American rights … not Democratic proposals, but the right of every citizen in America .. is how we fight back. Establishing ourselves as champions of these rights is how we win.

2024 Retreat

The Dems 101 Leadership Retreat was held the weekend of November 15-16, in Columbus, OH, bringing together representatives from Georgia, Michigan, New York, and Ohio. Fresh on the heels of the November election, the retreat was a key opportunity to discuss our movement goals for 2025. Plans for launching several upcoming campaigns were discussed, along with messaging, and the creation of key committees to carry it out.

A great deal of on-going efforts has come out of this retreat. Look for more news in the near future.

Here is a partial list of appointments: