How do we take back our party and country?

Over the course of this campaign season we have had many threads and arguments over how to get a more progressive Democratic Party and how to retake the Congress.  We have quarreled over whether to support Dems who are much more conservative than most of us, and whether winning is more important than moving the party and the country to the left.  We have split over a winning strategy vs. an inspiring vision.

So how do we take back our country and our party?  After a great deal of research, thinking and soul-searching, I have come to some conclusions on these issues.  Here are a couple of hints:  It is rarely either/or, and it is never one size fits all.

Fundamentally, it is a question of balance, not either/or.  We want to win, and we should pursue strategies that get us to victory.  We must accept the necessity of backing candidates we do not agree 100% or even 50% with, so long as they get us to a Democratic victory.  But we cannot do so at the expense of our core progressive values.  What are these core values?  

First, respect for others and inclusiveness.  We should never back a candidate who actively uses race, sexual orientation, country of birth  etc as wedge issues or panders to the electorate's baser instincts.  If a candidate in a red state has to support a measure like the FMA to win, but does so in a low-key way and does not actively campaign FOR the measure, and has some progressive positions, then we are exalting purity over victory by not offering some support to that candidate.  So I gave to Stephanie Herseth both before and after her statement on the FMA, and will contribute to other Dems who are conservative on some social issues.

Second, greater economic equality, opportunity and fundamental fairness are ABSOLUTELY KEY ISSUES, and they are winning issues.  We in the liberal states have to accept that candidates in the red and purple states probably can't back more than one or two progressive social issues, and may not even believe in issues like reproductive rights, let alone gun control or gay rights.  In those states the key demand should be that they support a progressive, pro-middle class economic agenda. Our candidates should not be anti-business or anti-entrepreneurship.  But they do need to oppose the agenda of the large corporations who depend on government handouts and on rigging the game in their favor on prescription drugs, health care, energy policy, tax policy, trade etc. Dem candidates need to support tax reform, tax fairness, health care reform and support for the public sector, especially education.  

These economic issues must be put at the top of the agenda in the blue states as well.  We in the blue states must not let our candidates off the hook just because they support a progressive social agenda while voting the corporate agenda down the line.  It is not enough for a Senator or Congressman to support reproductive rights but do big pharma's bidding, to be great on gun control but support media consolidation, or great on social issues but gut the regulatory agencies that protect the little guys and the environment.

Our only hope to win back the power to consolidate our gains on the social issues is to win back enough of the working and middle classes, and rural and small town America on the economic issues.  We do this by framing solutions to those problems while conceding their right to believe differently from us on social issues on a basis of MUTUAL tolerance.  

The attempt to outbid the Republicans on corporate favors is doomed to fail because the Repubs will always outbid us and they can always play their ace in the hole on the social issues. With the rise of the small donor we no longer have the need to pander to the big corporations.  And the massive Bush failures have created our best opening in years.  If we can do a much better job of explaining liberalism in terms of fairness, opportunity and tolerance, the votes are there for us to win.  All we need is the flexibility to seize our chance.