Houston Democrats

Schools, parks, libraries, and mass transit buckle under the weight of domestic budget cuts while the Pentagon and defense contractors gain. College education and job training—tickets to the American Dream—soar out of reach for millions of young people as the money once used for Pell Grants and vocational training is siphoned off into a death trap in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Bush and the Republicans not only cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans, they propose to dismantle the cornerstone of economic security in this country: Social Security.

When workers use private accounts instead of Social Security, more money gets invested in risky accounts and less money goes into the Social Security system. Hence workers already promised a return based on their lifetime incomes lose out while the private accounts yield wildly divergent and unpredictable results. Some workers gain a lot, some lose everything they invested. Privatization comes to yield the bitter fruits of economic inequality and instability.

The GOP also endeavors to erode Constitutional and civil rights at home.

Republicans propose to name judges to the Supreme Court who wish to weaken—and in some cases philosophically oppose—federal legislation protecting worker safety, consumer protection, civil rights, and women’s rights. Furthermore, by passing legislation such as the USA Patriot Act, Bush and the Republicans empower government to search a person’s home, monitor personal library reading lists, and detain people without access to an attorney. Not since the McCarthy era has government acted with such dangerous disregard to Constitutional liberty.

Make no mistake: this is a radical, right-wing agenda. It aims to erase what is left of the 20th Century commitment—beginning with FDR, bolstered by JFK and LBJ, and preserved through Bill Clinton’s presidency—to basic economic security and opportunity, global cooperation, and human rights. Republicans have begun to enact their agenda already, as their actions abroad and at home have demonstrated. If allowed, they will enact all of it. We as Democrats cannot let them.

So where do we begin?

First, we must realize who we are as Democrats. The answer is, we are America. We embody the nation’s myriad racial, ethnic, and religious communities, and the diverse range of families in this country. We encompass men and women, gays and straights, and people of every age. We are workers, consumers, homemakers, and students who care about the environment and the communities in which we live. We want opportunities for our families, loved ones, and ourselves. We cherish our civil and Constitutional rights.

Yet for too long we as grassroots progressives did not consider ourselves part of a broad coalition or movement. While conservatives united behind low taxes, military might, and a “family values” agenda at home, activists on the left often pressed divergent causes without building alliances. Although most of us voted Democratic, sometimes we believed that the two major parties did not truly differ.

George W. Bush changed that. In Bush and the Republican Party, we have gained a common adversary—regardless of the particular progressive values we cherish.

We need to stand up to the Republicans for their active attacks on the opportunities, security, and rights of all Americans.

Our goal for 2006 is to elect a Democratic Congress who just says “no” to the GOP. Our long-term goal is providing economic security and opportunity for all Americans, restoring our relationship with the world community, and bolstering needed services like schools, libraries, transit systems, and recreation at home.

To beat the GOP, we must take a lesson from them. The lesson: successful politicians tell a story about America. Since Reagan, Republicans have sold their mantra of conservative morality, militarism, and tax cuts for the wealthy by portraying a vision of America as an orderly community that respected authority, and people grew rich through hard work and discipline.

We must write our narrative, of an America where hard work is rewarded with economic security, where young people have broad opportunities regardless of wealth, and where diverse, healthy communities thrive.

Our story begins by defending Social Security, and hammering the Republicans for driving us to war while slashing needed services at home.

On Social Security, we must unmask privatization as the reckless gamble that it is. To do this, we portray responsible hard-working people losing as irresponsible people invest in private accounts, withdraw and spend for instant gratification, and ultimately bankrupt the system. We also must show what happens when we rely primarily on the uncertainties of the market for basic security—some people win big and others are wiped out, and no one can predict who wins and who loses.

On Republican tax cuts and military spending, we must portray their vote against the future. We show schools deteriorating and financial aid drying up as young people ask why their dreams disappeared. Then we portray young people going off to war for a last chance at opportunity. Finally, we show terrorism worsening as instability in Iraq destabilizes the Middle East—and threatens democratic progress in nations such as Lebanon.

Ask why young people are dying for this war, while they could be living for the American Dream.

If Democrats run ads, write articles, and portray stories like these successfully, people will begin to see Republicans as having no interest in young people’s opportunities and well-being, in the financial security of people’s homes and families, or in real peace. Their current advantage on “values” and even on “security” will be lost for the foreseeable future.

This is our winning story as Democrats.