I keep seeing blogs that say (insert young progressive) is showing Democrats how to (insert progressive thing someone is excited about). This is WRONG. These progressives ARE DEMOCRATS – they are not showing us anything, they are BEING DEMOCRATS. They are card carryin party members! They are continuing the march towards a more inclusive and progressive American that was started in decades ago. But inclusion and progress does not happen overnight. Sadly, it is often a slow march forward with major setbacks and violence, but in the end there is progress. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is progressive and had great ideas, but health care for all and a green economy are not new to the Democratic Party. Beto isn’t doing something new telling us about the follies of 45 wall – Pelosi and Schumer already told 45 NO! He just made a video which is a repeat of other videos I have seen about the wall – so its not even original!
If you read Clinton’s platform, she was talking about creating a green economy, universal healthcare, women’s rights, voting rights, etc. since she ran against Obama. Hell, many of these things she was talking about in the 1970s. She was the first one, as the first lady of the US, to proclaim that women’s rights were human rights on an international platform and forced the world to move forward on the issue! Just taking a picture with Clinton has saved the lives of countless because the men around them fear her. And yes, she was on par with the rest of the country on gay rights, but Pelosi was fighting for LGBTQ rights long before it was accepted and has been a major mover in trying to get universal health care. We would have already had it had she not needed to compromise to get the ACA through. And did everyone forget Al Gore, who was beating the environmental drum 25 years ago, when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was 4? Had he been given the presidency by the courts, you bet your ass we would be the green economy leaders of the world! Jimmy Carter has solar panels on the White House in the 1970s — green energy anyone! Rep Lewis has been fighting for Black lives to matter since MLKs time – it didn’t just suddenly start in 2013!
While it is exciting and great there is new people coming into the party (and I hope a lot more people join as well because we need future leaders), let’s stop acting like they are adding “new ideas” to the Democratic party. These “new?” Democrats are moving the needle forward on ideas the old guard already has been working for decades in the slow march that is progress in this country and they are walking the path paved in the blood, sweat, tear, and filibusters in heels of the Democrats that came before. Let’s stop creating the fiction that they are coming up with new radical ideas and stop acting like they are not Democrats.