Leading the future

We are at the beginning of a shift and one that can be fully operational, having an initial period of power, in '08
But right now, we are at the beginning of it

It's a shift into a new way of looking at the world,
which moves beyond arguing against stale old ideas of the past,
beyond simply adopting a counter-position to inhibit bad ideas
beyond simply undermining and remedying harmful effects of the old
beyond simply proposing visionary concepts
a shift into a new, established national consciousness

We need to take the lead in this shift and establish Dems as the leaders in adopting and acknowledging this new reality

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We're moving into an era where Americans fully embrace and accept their reality as inseparable from global reality, and form policy accordingly
Where we deal with how the world is, not how we'd like it to be

In that new world, America will be fully engaged in the world, in sustaining the world along with everyone else, but not in dominating, controlling, owning and dictating to the world
We will lead with values, by establishing norms, with success, with bold reaching out and beyond seeming walls, with brave and creative thinking
We will lend force where appropriate, in appropriate ways, but we will not simply seek to dominate by polarization and force as a default identity

We will move into a new identity and be comfortable there

This reality is emerging, and we need to help ensure that its birth is successful

We need to accept that on some level we have won the old debates, or simply not lost them
And in that way have won the old wars, against old forces that would have liked to see us eliminated
We won, and now we can move on

When you fight a battle for the future, and you win, you don't get to establish your version of the past
Instead you get to lead in creating a future which includes your former opponent

They are still there, still count, are still real, are still themselves; they didn't go away
What has changed is now it is clear the ideas of the future will lead
And the attempt to control time and prevent that future will dissolve into being part of creating that future

In other words, the values of your opponent are not gone from the land or the battlefield
They are simply no longer being formulated as an fixed identity opposed to change
Those values will still inform the debates, and contribute in their own way to whatever is to come

This need not be a problem, if you yourself shift your own identity into one of the future
If you lead, you command, you envision, you capture the flag of the future and wave it bravely, confidently
Then you lead all and truly move beyond polarization with former enemies

Sometimes when you win, your land is still trapped in confused puzzles of the past
The old ideas are clearly seen to have failed, so the puzzle is still there
What to do?

One can stay angry at the very fact of the puzzle, created by the old ideas, and make an identity out of just wanting it to go away
Or one can accept the mess one has inherited, the reality of it as the ground upon which one will build a new future
That building may indeed include undoing the puzzle, but undoing it with new ideas

In other words, when you win the battle of ideas, you get to engage those ideas of yours in transforming the leftover puzzles of the past
You don't really get to just have a brand new shiny clean future which has no past
You have a past, we collectively have a past and it is staring us in the face
This is the field which you will transform, now, with your ideas

Your ideas must be capable of resolving the puzzles of the past, the nasty ones, the ugly ones, the haunting ones
You must be strong enough, big enough, brave enough, bold enough, a big heart
You must get your hands dirty and come out ahead

When you do this, you win the second battle, not the battle of ideas, but the battle for the trust of all, the allegiance of all to the future
You convince people to move on with you, to be transformed, to be included in a new vision
You convince people not only to drop the attempt at reaction and denial,
but to drop the feeling of being left out and the resistance and anger and resentment that go with it

Then you no longer own it, you simply lead it in an unchallenged way, because you took the lead and were brave enough to make it work
You displayed leadership and so you get to lead
You don't need control, you don't need division, you truly won, you're living it

Your success in resolving those puzzles invites others to engage in such a vision of transformation as well,
it invites them to be their best, to win by being simply better
Thus you affirm unity while inviting creativity and celebrating freedom

This is the time to seize that flag of the future,
which will in fact represent the unchallenged unity of all around the values you have dreamed
But simply having dreamed them does not give you that flag

You gain it by leading in a decisive way,
unafraid to address the complex dramas of today with the higher values of tomorrow, showing it can be done
The bravest will win at this point