Newsletter #35 - September 25, 2023

What is our purpose as a political party?

Have you ever thought about it? Why do we exist? Is our purpose winning the next election? Is that what we are, a political machine to win elections?

Or are we something more? Is our unstated purpose to build a better nation, to make people’s lives better? Is that unstated purpose why LBJ worked so hard on his vision of A Great Society, sacrificed so much? Is that why the Kennedy’s stood up for black Americans in the 60s? Is that unstated purpose part of why we admire Lincoln, why Democrats have been part of every movement for social progress in American history? Think back to Obama. “Yes, we can!” inspired each and every one of us. It wasn’t because we knew it would help us win an election, it was because Obama’s words touched something much deeper, because it touched our unspoken purpose.

Politics is wishy-washy. It’s about compromise, the art of the possible. It’s also about money and everything cynical imaginable. Politics is necessary. It’s a fact of life that we will be engaged in forever, but by itself, politics doesn’t inspire anybody. In fact, it turns off incredible numbers of people, Democrats included.

If politics is all there is, why are any of us even involved? Why do we care? And we do care. State and national politicos may be obsessed with winning the next election .. it is after all their job .. but for those of us at the grassroots, for regular Democrats, it’s always been about something more.

But what? If that something more remains unstated, if it’s never defined, how are any of us going to really know? And how are we going to unite? How are we going to stand up together and inspire a nation and create the fundamental change we aspire to?That something is our identity .. our purpose .. and it is our greatest power. Not television ads, not door drops, not even money. Our core values and our vision of the future, that is our true strength. Of course we need television ads and door drops (and money!). We need everything and anything that helps us win the next election, not because winning that next election is our purpose, but because winning the next election .. winning all elections .. is how we achieve our real purpose: a just society .. as long as it takes.

That identity, our identity, is at the core of everything we face .. every issue, every political challenge we encounter. That powerful identity is why there is a Big Tent, and why that tent hasn’t been torn to shreds. And that identity we all sense is quite simply our values and our vision. As Democrats, we are what we believe.

But these things must be stated, it must be written down, one single identity clear and unequivocal for all to see .. Republicans included. And the time is now. Now is when the grassroots of our party grabs hold of this identity and hold it high. Now is the time to unite around the very things that inspire each and every one of us .. all of us, no matter where we live or which wing of our party we belong to. That is why the Democratic Creed exists, and that is why eight grassroots Democrats from all over our party were gathered together to create it, eight people with one challenge, put on paper the core beliefs that motivate and inspire every Democrat in this country.

And that is why you and your organization need to adopt the Democratic Creed. Like the Declaration of Independence that helped inspire it, the Democratic Creed means nothing by itself. It only gains its power when people take it up. It only becomes real when people like you stand up and say “this is who we are, and this is why we do it”. Not the powers that be, the national figures we all see on TV, but you, the county-level people who are the life blood of this party, the lifeblood of this country. You are the window into the hearts and minds of your neighbors, and your neighbors are America.

That is why you need to adopt.

FLASH! Greene County Dems in Ohio adopted the Democratic Creed. They become the 27th group to do so. Join the movement and a community! Full list here.

If you adopt The Democratic Creed, let us know at info@dems101.org