We have suffered too long and let the GOP define our politics and our policies. We have let them reframe the debate in their context and we have been content to let them, conceding to ourselves that maybe our way of doing things was wrong. What is forgotten is that government is a concept in a constant state of flux and from time to time it needs to be revised to best suit the needs and whims of its people. This is how government, particularly our government, was set up in the first place.
But first, you've got to get mad.
Now the pendulum is due to swing again and it is our time to set policy. It is our time to define the discourse. It is our time to frame the narrative. It is our time to change government to the degree which it needs to be changed.
We are, as Howard Dean so eloquently put it, the Democratic wing of the Democratic party. We have seen our voices ignored for so many years while our party has sold us out year after year to yet another milquetoast centrist. No more. No more. Enough. I throw down the gauntlet.
As Patrick Henry spoke
It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, peace! But there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Time to take back government, friends. Time to make our voices heard. It's our time. Abraham Lincoln said in the Gettsyburg Address, [we will ensure that] "government of the people, for the people, by the people shall not perish from the earth".
If it perishes, it will not be on my watch. It will not be on our watch.
The time is now. We can't wait any longer.