We progressives have been reactionary. When are we going to take action that is not predicated on some prior action from the GOP? Why are we not defining ourselves as the actual moral agents within the American political culture? Why have our "leaders" not put forward a platform based upon that definition? Why haven't we progressive's in the blogisphere drafted such a platform?
The Democratic Party must codify such a platform for 2006, or we will be reacting to the GOP as we have done for the last five election cycles. It is IMAGE. Our image has been defined by the GOP, and we have been acquiescent. Knowing what we stand for is not enough, it is a passive form of identification which invites derision. However, a codified platform based upon ideals (while not explicitly spelling each one out) with an emphasis upon solutions, defines the GOP as a failure. Such a platform, by stated solutions, declares that we need such a drastic change because of a primary malfunction of the GOP. It defines the progressive ideals as solutions, while at the same time, framing the GOP incompetence.
Such a platform must be based upon the pillars of SECURITY & ACOUNTABILITY. Security is paramount for such a platform to resonate. As both Joshua Marshall (
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/005213.php) and Mathew Yglesais (
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=9214)
point out, there is security policy just waiting to be codified into a platform. The accountability part of the platform is road kill. Take each failure/corruption and list our solutions to each. A good starting point for this is Kevin Drum's (
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_09/007108.php) bullet points on accountability actions specifically written for such a platform. All it would take is a week of "leadership staff meetings" to codify a Democratic Platform. Why has it not happened?
Reaction and action are part of the same fruit, the skin and pulp. But they must be separated and revealed in their constituent parts. We must be action oriented. We have got to put the GOP into a reactionary position, or we will lose again and again.