Can you define America in a short paragraph, say no more than 50 words? I'm not talking about America the geographical location, I'm talking about America the concept. America the future. America the desired. America the good. I'm not sure I can. But the Democratic Party sure needs to find somebody that can do it, can do it well, and can do it constantly, and get that message out, over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Because until we can quickly and calmly and popularly declare what America is, the slow people and the evil people and the lost people in this country aren't going to grasp the choice between what we have and what we could have.
We can't just go around saying that this Bush action or that federal government activity "isn't American". Slow people don't understand why. Evil people see that as an attack on themselves. Lost people don't know an alternative. The alternative needs to be defined, every day, loudly, proudly, affirmatively, so that the lost and the slow can find their way, and the evil can finally witness their exposure.
A modern finely-tuned reworking of this would probably suffice:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
But I'm pretty sure we can't depend on the National Democratic Party to do it justice. Have you heard any candidates succinctly, powerfully, accurately define the future of America as you see it - and want to see it? How about posting it here?