Out of the Dark: Time for Democrats to Lead
By Jim Himes
Chairman, Greenwich Democratic Town Committee
This is a trying time to be a Democrat. The Republican leadership's five-year run of willful incompetence and moral vacuity has done real and lasting damage to America's institutions, values and reputation. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party persistently refuses to chart a better course.
One of the weird and wonderful things about Americans is our enduring belief in the promise and achievability of bigger and better things. We are uncomfortable with pessimism and negativity. We don't like complainers. But even as the harsh judgment of history settles onto the Republican regime--in a moment crying out for ideas rooted in our love of promise--the Democratic Party is simply crying out.
We Democrats face a stark choice. Either develop and promote a Democratic narrative for a bigger and better America, or remain marginalized and tacitly complicit in the dismantling of a great nation.
The key to a new Democratic narrative lies in a fundamental weakness of Republican ideology. At the very heart of American conservatism is the premise that we owe no responsibility to ourselves as a nation. The Republican utopia is one where Americans are unbothered by the reminders of collective responsibility: taxes, environmental regulation, the presence of the needy, the commonwealth of public parks, public schools and public endeavor.
The problem with this premise is that it is not true. It neither survives historical scrutiny nor resonates with our aspirational character. Those finest moments in American history: the struggle for independence, emancipation, the triumphs over fascism and Communism, civil rights, these were moments of improbable ambition and sacrifice in which the betterment of the nation had urgent primacy over individual interest.
Even that engine of our tremendous wealth, capitalism-which some mistakenly consider a manifestation of unbridled individualism--is, in fact, a hothouse flower which survives only because we collectively assent to laws, regulations, fiat money and a thousand other compromises of our individual liberty to the collective good.
The Democratic narrative must assert the central truth denied by Republican ideology: that America is at its best when it sets aside division and prejudice to pursue improbably ambitious goals of opportunity and justice, and when its citizens sacrifice to achieve those goals. Three are particularly critical: superb education, the alleviation of poverty and an ideals-driven engagement with the world.
As Republicans collapse the discussion of education into shrill demands for testing, the Democrats should focus on retooling the entire educational system into one that demands that every American child reach his or her fullest potential. That we fall so short of this goal in a nation of great wealth is both morally reprehensible and a threat to that wealth.
Our underlying national strength is creativity and innovation. Americans with inadequate education will never develop products that compete with those emerging from Bangalore and Beijing and will be at the mercy of cheaper foreign workers or stuck in dead-end jobs. They will not be middle class.
Fixing our educational system will involve demanding flexibility and an uncontemplated degree of accountability from educators in exchange for a level of resources and societal respect they are not currently afforded. We will finally reflect our values and our regard for the future when teacher salaries are no longer rounding errors on the salaries of financiers, lawyers and entertainers.
Getting our system of education right will go a long way to achieving what should be the second pillar of the Democratic narrative: addressing the problem of persistent poverty. Katrina's aftermath reminded us that many Americans have been left utterly behind. Economic growth, private charity and government programs have failed to address their plight.
While acknowledging that economic growth and private charity are important, Democrats must not shrink from the fact that reducing poverty in America will be a major government undertaking. We know we can be successful because we have done it before. The Great Society programs of the 1960s were hardly models of efficiency, but they cut the American poverty rate from 22% in 1960 to less than 12% in 1972-that's more than 15 million people lifted out of poverty, simply because it was a national priority.
Getting serious about alleviating poverty is right in principle. But it would also afford the Democratic party the standing to retake the moral power of religion from the religious right. "As ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" is a clear and powerful demand, and could perhaps reassume its place at the core of "family values".
Finally, the Democratic narrative must address the concern that has shaped American politics since 9/11: security. The resistance of medieval autocrats to enlightened modernity is roiling the Islamic world as it did the West centuries ago. In this respect, the awful regimes of Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Egypt are on the same side as the terrorists who would destroy them. America is alone on the side of enlightened modernity, a hostage to oil in a region otherwise best ignored.
The problem is that decades of coddling viciously anti-democratic regimes, and more recent missteps like Abu Ghraib, have utterly undermined our credibility as a proponent for liberal democracy in the region, leaving us lonely and exposed.
The Middle East, and our own security, will improve when we act on the fact that our Arab allies in the region are part of the problem and demand change. Only then will we have the credibility and local support necessary to win the struggle against Islamic extremists.
A Democratic narrative would of course say much more. It would say more about other issues central to justice and opportunity: health care, preserving privacy, restoring fiscal sanity, and pulling money out of politics. And it would probably say less about issues such as gay marriage that Republican tacticians use to promote division. It would be improbable and perhaps impractical. It would be over-ambitious and demand real national sacrifice. Much like all of the finest moments in our 230-year history.
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