The Modern Romantic

The meaning of democracy and we must think of that very seriously. There are new problems. They must be met in new ways....It is a foolish thing to say that
you pledge yourself to live up to the traditions of the New Deal and the Fair Deal--of course, you are proud of those traditions; of course you are proud to have the advice of the elders in our party, but our party is young and vigorous. Our party may be the oldest democratic party, but our party must live as a young party, and it must have young leadership. It must have young people, and they must be allowed to lead. They must not lean on their tradition. They must be proud of it. They must take into account the advice of the elders, but they must have the courage to look ahead, to face new problems with new solutions. --Eleanor Roosevelt

As this season hits its nastiest and most cynical, I think it's important to remember what the Democratic Party could be, what it ought to be, what it must be. It is the party that raised America out of the Depression, fought WWII and gave teeth to the idea that "all men are created equal". In my lifetime, I've seen a Democratic party which though the way to win was to be like your opponent, not realizing that Americans don't care who wins at the game of politics, they care about who will lead the people, who will reinvent the American promise for the next chapter of our history.

Labels: politics