Most of us on this site know that this will be an incredibly important election. As Democrats, we know that there are monumental challenges that lay ahead of us – such as ending the war in Iraq, restoring the reputation of America around the world, weaning ourselves off our dependence on diminishing supplies of fossil fuels, trying to halt impending climate change crises, dealing with poverty and the loss of jobs domestically, and dealing with starvation and disease internationally. We also know that this is a great opportunity, as the Republican Party appears to be as weak and vulnerable as it has ever been for the last several decades.
With the impending mathematical victory of Barack Obama in the race for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, and hopefully the end of the intraparty fighting and division that has marked this primary season, it’s a good time to remember what we’re all about as Democrats and Progressives.
It’s easy to lose focus on why we should win and what we’re supposed to be championing as we break down polls, demographics, delegate counts, and the latest attacks and counter-attacks coming from the camps of each candidate. So let’s remember what we believe in and what we fight for as Democrats, as progressives, and yes as liberals.
Our candidates will once again be demonized as liberal in this upcoming election. It is past time for us to embrace the word Liberal and wear that label proudly. It is time to stop running away from our values, which are American to their core.
One of the best distillations of the progressive/liberal view of America can be seen in a speech made by Obama three years ago, at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. In it, he asked the graduating students of Knox "what will be your place in history?" He described the challenges that face the country from within and from the world as a whole. In the words of Obama:
How does America find its way in this new, global economy? What will our place in history be? . . . Like so much of the American story, once again, we face a choice. Once again, there are those who believe that there isn't much we can do about this as a nation. That the best idea is to give everyone one big refund on their government—divvy it up by individual portions, in the form of tax breaks, hand it out, and encourage everyone to use their share to go buy their own health care, their own retirement plan, their own child care, their own education, and so on.
In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society. But in our past there has been another term for it—Social Darwinism—every man or woman for him or herself. It's a tempting idea, because it doesn't require much thought or ingenuity. It allows us to say that those whose health care or tuition may rise faster than they can afford—tough luck. It allows us to say to the Maytag workers who have lost their job—life isn't fair. It let's us say to the child who was born into poverty—pull yourself up by your bootstraps. And it is especially tempting because each of us believes we will always be the winner in life's lottery, that we're the one who will be the next Donald Trump, or at least we won't be the chump who Donald Trump says: "You're fired!"
But there is a problem. It won't work. It ignores our history. It ignores the fact that it's been government research and investment that made the railways possible and the internet possible. It's been the creation of a massive middle class, through decent wages and benefits and public schools that allowed us all to prosper. Our economic dependence depended on individual initiative. It depended on a belief in the free market; but it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for each other, the idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we're all in it together and everybody's got a shot at opportunity. That's what's produced our unrivaled political stability.
It is the idea of "we’re all in it together" and the recognition of the fact that our government is of the people, by the people, and for the people – these are the ideas that separate us from conservative Republicans. As progressives, we can never accept the notion that those who are the most well off are the only ones who deserve prosperity, or that any group – such as the poor, the nonwhite, the immigrants, the gays, or the government, can be scapegoated and cast as the Alien Other. Yet at our core, there is something even deeper than our belief in community and the general welfare. That something is the belief that we become better people, we overcome the worst in our human natures, and we can find purpose and fulfillment in being good to one another.
Again I turn to the words of Obama from that 2005 commencement address:
There is no community service requirement in the real world; no one is forcing you to care. You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and go chasing after the big house, and the nice suits, and all the other things that our money culture says that you should want, that you should aspire to, that you can buy.
But I hope you don't walk away from the challenge. Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. You need to take up the challenges that we face as a nation and make them your own. Not because you have a debt to those who helped you get here, although you do have that debt. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate than you, although I do think you do have that obligation. It's primarily because you have an obligation to yourself. Because individual salvation has always depended on collective salvation. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.
As the general election campaign is about to kick off, I hope we all take words such as these into our hearts, and stay focused not only on winning, but why we should win. And be hopeful, because we are seeing evidence of a real transformation in government and political activism in this country – thousands of people hitching their wagons to "something larger than" themselves for the first time. So let’s go out there and make our communities, our country, and our world a better place – we owe it to each other and ourselves.
Barack Obama's Commencement Address at Knox College, June 4 2005 (full text)