I wrote the following letter to send to my state DNC members that will vote for DNC chair. Let me know what you think of it.
I am writing to share my opinions and observations on the upcoming election for the Chair of the Democratic National Committee. As a voting member you have a real opportunity to shape the future of the party and the nation. I would like to encourage you to be an advocate for real reform of the Democratic Party and the country.
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Don't underestimate the current problems of the Democratic Party. I can't emphasize enough that the current strategies of the Democratic Party have not worked. In addition to losing elections we have allowed Republicans to frame the debate and marginalize our opinions and values. Although we only narrowly lost the last presidential election, I believe we have real difficulties ahead. We are unlikely to face such a weak opponent for a long time. We now have minorities in both houses of Congress, the Judiciary will be packed with right-wing judges for years and perhaps decades, and we can no longer count on getting favorable or even fair treatment from the media. We cannot assume that we will win back Congress and the White House by just tweaking our message and making some changes in our organizational charts. Unless we act decisively, I fear Democrats will be the minority party for years to come.
In the last election, we had unprecedented donations of time and money from the grassroots. Don't take this support for granted, many people put aside their differences with the DNC to help get President Bush out of office. Howard Dean's Campaign demonstrated the great potential of small donations, but don't treat these donations as an ATM, for many people these small donations represent a significant financial hardship. They are only going to donate when they believe they will get better government in return. In many ways the national party let small donors down and many people may give up on political activism after the losses of 2004. Unless the DNC demonstrates that they have learned from this election, the grassroots is unlikely to lend their support to the party in the future.
I personally favor Gov. Howard Dean for DNC chair, but other candidates may be acceptable if they demonstrate that they understand the need for reform and the meaning of being an opposition party. Until Howard Dean's candidacy, the Democratic Party was rolling over for every bad idea George Bush could come up with (NCLB, tax cuts, Iraq, Patriot Act, etc.). This was terribly demoralizing to the democratic base and gave the impression to the rest of the country that Republicans had all the answers and Democrats had no spine. With the current emphasis on terrorism, there is nothing worse than appearing spineless.
To frame the debate as moving to the left or right is too simplistic, we can remain moderate and pragmatic if we advocate for fundamental reform. I believe a reform platform can be effective with both Democrats and Independents but also attract non-voters. This should include real campaign finance reform, election reform, media diversification, stronger ethics rules, transparency in government, tax simplification and fairness, and a balanced budget. Now that we are out of power, we can no longer compete with Republicans for corporate money. The good news is that we are now free to pursue the policies that are urgently needed. A large majority of people are currently not being represented, moderate reform candidates can tap into this group. Howard Dean, John McCain, Ross Perot, and Jesse Ventura all attracted new voters from across the political spectrum and had great success precisely because they correctly identified the problems in the country and offered the promise of addressing the failures of establishment politicians.
A reform agenda combined with strong advocacy of our core principles and straight-talk would be hugely successful. We should support health care, education, an increased minimum wage, strong labor standards, environmental standards, support small farms over agribusiness, small business over box stores, and the taxation of wealth over the taxation of work. I have no doubt that the Bush Administration will overreach, we need to be positioned as a credible alternative to their corruption and crony capitalism.
Lastly, I would argue that the one overarching issue of the last election was credibility. People didn't particularly like the policies of the Bush Administration but they didn't trust John Kerry either. As long as the Democratic Party continues to subvert our core values in pursuit of corporate dollars or for political expediency, we will continue to lack the credibility that is a necessary ingredient in winning an election in the soundbite age. When the Republicans decided to repeal the estate tax, they didn't worry that the vast majority of people favored it. They crafted a strategy, reframed the debate, stayed on message and convinced people to support something that was not in their own economic interests. We need to learn a lesson from Republicans and convince the country to support our core beliefs, not compromise our beliefs because of Republican attacks.
Thanks you for all your work on behalf of the Democratic party, I hope you will keep my concerns in mind when you vote for the next DNC Chair.