Over the last few days, if you are like me you have run into a series of click bait articles promoted through Reddit, online media, Facebook, and elsewhere that seem to imply that the Democratic platform is many things...including outright attacks and conspiracies about what is happening.
There is something very profound missing from this discussion. What’s missing? A real discussion of the changes that are in the platform, as it stands now, in comparison to the past, the nature of progress, and the difference between being a progressive and embracing the status quo.
So, I am going to say it out loud: the platform, as it goes to Orlando is not the most fantastic document ever written, but it is the most progressive document Democrats have ever advanced. Some of the changes are stark and huge, and get no real attention. So, follow along with me… I am going to get into what we are NOT talking about in the platform, and why progressives should feel happy, and why we know there is still a lot of work ahead.
In most of the articles and posts I read, the assumption is pretty simple: we must win on everything, or else it is a complete loss. There is a problem with this theory though. If everyone accepted the progressive opinion, then by default, they would not be progressive opinions; they would be mainstream opinions.
Progressivism is about pulling society in a direction of change, and that means not everyone is there with you. It means you pick battles you win, and you keep fighting for long-term change. Great progressive leaders in the past knew that. It is why Martin Luther King Jr. backed the first Voting Rights Act, which did not go far enough, but he knew it made movement toward his direction. He did not give up on future progress, instead, he took everything that was available and used it to convince others.
Let’s Talk About Wins.
This year, progressives had more significant wins than we have ever seen.
From Congressman Ellison:
The platform does, though, contain many meaningful and historic positions including: calling for urgently needed voting reforms, rejecting the vilification of Muslim-Americans, ending the death penalty, enacting a financial transactions tax to curb excessive speculation, expanding Social Security, banning golden parachutes for taking government jobs, establishing a new surtax on multimillionaires, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, using government contracts to support good jobs, honoring and strengthening our relationships with Tribal Sovereign Nations, passing a modernized Glass-Steagall law, and moving our economy to 100% clean energy by 2050. These are significant accomplishments that move our party firmly toward justice, fairness, and inclusion.
In fact, in a single platform cycle, it is rare to see this level of adoption of progressive items. There are a few that aren’t getting enough attention. While endorsement of a modern Glass-Steagall, commitment to ending golden parachutes, and putting a transaction tax are HUGE moments for a party, if you believe in Bernie’s call for marketplace reform, there is one segment I really think is under-rated.
As you have heard, we managed to get a commitment to a $15 minimum wage. If you have followed headlines, you would think that this was rejected. Nope. As you can see, there it is, highlighted thanks to members of the committee.
While an amendment to add a word “federal” to the minimum wage was rejected, several other significant changes came in, like indexing. More importantly, though, one of the arguments in regards to moving “federal” is actually one I have thought about a lot since it was voiced to me. Getting this policy through the federal government may take a while, but urging states to also take this on will put more pressure, not less, on the federal government to do so.
A big reason for a party platform is to facilitate recruiting of future candidates and establishing how you hope they will govern. Encouraging our candidates at the state and local level to believe in a higher minimum wage is smart; we must be a party of that goes beyond the presidency — something I have advocated repeatedly. And giving state legislators guidance on ways they can help the national agenda can be important.
But you know what is not discussed? Read through the extension on minimum wage: a commitment to ending the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers and persons of disabilities. For some advocates, this is a fight, which is desperately needed. It has a huge impact on those who have been most often neglected by the national discussion on the issue. I have heard a lot of fight on Daily Kos about TPP, but as a parent of a disabled child, a sibling to another, can you understand what a revelation this is to the future of millions of Americans? For some, this is a fight that has gone on for years — one that has harmed families, left people with disabilities broke and dependent, pushed families into near poverty status. Now, the party platform will support them.
The move to tipped wages is also significant, as more women are trapped in jobs with sub-minimum wages thanks to tipped wages, currently set at $2.13. For people who complain about $10, $12.75, or $15 is not enough, try $2.13. With repeated fights over tipping and returns, we can make major changes for others.
I am not even getting into profound statements of supports for women, LGBT, immigrants, changes on legal enforcement, support for next generation investment in renewable energy because I could spend days doing that.
Let’s Talk About What Is Still Needed
Yes, while there accomplishments, you will hear a lot about things that were not accomplished. You will hear about them as a way to invalidate the entire process. Most of it focuses around TPP. First, I want to get something out of the way: there is no way in a platform to say, “you cannot vote on TPP”. Only the speaker of the house determines what can and cannot be voted on… and Paul Ryan is not going to spend his time debating the Democratic Party Platform, let alone yield to it at the moment.
The official position in the proposed platform is an openness to revisit all trade deals. Hillary has openly said she will oppose TPP. Now, this is an important point: candidate status is, in almost all cases, more important than the platform. The reason is simple. If a candidate says, “I stand for X” you have heard it from them. Things in the platform are easy to say, “well, I didn’t agree to this, I didn’t say that.” While a platform is assumed that future party recruits will hopefully match to the platform, think of how many Democratic candidates run nationwide who will agree or disagree with some portion.
If we want to run a 50-state strategy, we have to realize we are probably going to get some Democratic candidates who run in some markets that will be more progressive, and some in other areas that will be less. That is not because of the platform, it is because people judge them by their personal beliefs.
So this is where progressive action matters. If we are in this, then we take successes and we continue to fight for more. Not in a document that will not be read outside, by potential recruits, and the opposition party, but in electing, supporting, and building future party leaders who will represent us.
Before you tell me how eager you are to walk away and how mad you are, I want to ask you how much progress you intend to make that way. Why not find the candidate for your state house, your city council, your US house race? Find and support that person who can take things to the next level. Build the future.
If you do that, I will have incredible respect for you.
Turning The World Upside Down
For those that have not figured it out, yes, I am making a lot of Hamilton allusions. But here we go, the most important one. We are on the precipice of an election that will turn the world upside down, for one or the other party. There are as many as four Supreme Court Justices up in the next four years. Should Hillary win, it is possible we see replacements to: Scalia (dead, so certain), Kennedy (age), Ginsburg (age, cancer), Thomas (reportedly unhappy). The result? You could end up with a 7-2 court.
In the past, we have argued about maintaining balance on the court. With massive change ahead, this is not about maintaining balance and preventing a tilt, this is about turning the world upside down, for the other side of the argument. Should Hillary prevail, the Supreme Court decisions will likely be set for the rest of my lifetime; should Trump win, the same result. The court would likely turn pretty conservative for the rest of our lifetime. No hope of overturning anything like Citizen United. No hope of environmental legislation. No hope of maintaining current hard-fought wins. The world would turn upside down.
Don’t Make Enemies of Friends.
Over the last few days, I have praised the accomplishments within the platform. Maybe not as effusively as Congressman Ellison or Barbara Lee, but I see work to get major, significant accomplishments on numerous issues.
Rather than embrace the major accomplishments, though, we are playing the Debbie Downer game. There are two ways to do this: walk away and say we are not satisfied, or say we are not yet satisfied, but we will continue to work to get it.
Walking away means that it is very difficult, to argue to anyone, why they should ever work with us again. Working on behalf of candidates to help them win, and pushing them to be progressive means we stay in the game, and people see we back up our words with actions.
Meteor Blades on this very blog repeatedly contends: Do not tell me what you believe, show me what you do, and I will tell you what you believe.
Here is what I know.
Did we get everything we want in the platform? No. However, more than ever, we have an aggressive, progressive document that helps us grow in our future. We made major accomplishments, that were not even hoped for months ago, and that, unfortunately, people are not talking about. We have game changers that mean something to people who have been waiting to be acknowledged. Game changers for American Tribes and those who wanted bank regulations. Game changers for the working poor.
So, here is the reality. Despite the downer-ism, this is our moment. Are we going to throw away our shot? Or are we going to take it? We have no one else to blame if we do not change things for the better, for all of our fellow citizens. Frankly, for millions of Americans, this is the chance to turn the world upside down, and either give them some hope for what happens next, or dash hopes of progressive change for decades. Which side of that story do you want to be on?