A Twelve Point Plan for the New Democratic Party
Part One: Introduction and Outline
Today I was planning on spending the couple of hours that I had after work doing some number crunching in Ohio. Before I started, I was struck by the fruitlessness of it. While it is important to ensure that we have a fair vote (and I am almost positively sure that it wasn't fair), I don't think it will result in any kind of miraculous reversal of our fortunes. What we- the Democratic Party- really need right now is a plan for the future. We need to define the initial objectives so that we can mull them over in our minds during the holidays, and start to change things well in advance of the 2006 elections. So, here's the outline of my twelve points. I'll try to post the whole five-part series within the next week.
Part Two: Taking back the Democratic Leadership. I'll take a look at each of the facets of the Democratic Party that we must seize control of well before the 2006 elections, so that we may be able to perform more effective and more powerful campaigns. I'll concentrate on the perception that the "Democratic Elite is clueless" and what we can do about it.
1) The DLC
2) The DNC
3) The DSCC
4) The DCCC
Part Three: Taking back the Language. I'll take a look at what we must all do in the way we talk and what we talk about. I'll also introduce the idea of replacing the Liberal vs. Conservative argument with the Progressive vs. Conservative argument. I'll also take a look at the way Democrats have been framing the issues recently, and how this needs to change.
5) The Vocabulary
6) The Message
7) The Elimination of Liberalism
8) The Issues
Part Four: Taking back the Country. The last part of my twelve points will concentrate on organization, planning and the 2006 elections.
9) The Grassroots
10) The Candidates
11) The Primaries
12) The Elections
Part Five: Summary and Comments. I`ll summarize my twelve points, as well as pick some of the more insightful comments of the previous four posts and provide direct responses.
I heartily invite you to participate in this series so that we can all actively work towards a stronger Democratic Party. Please comment on anything that you feel I've left out, so that I can work it in before I begin work on Part Two, which you can expect tomorrow evening.