We believe our noble Democratic Party has strong core principles, values, and historic commitments to highly valued constituent voters such as woman, people of color, ethnic and religious minorities, the poor, the disabled, the elderly, retired, those without basic health care, veterans, and underdogs in our political system such as immigrants, and the gay, lesbian, transgendered communities.
The Democratic and Republican parties have been locked and a five decades long battle between what rights are sacrosanct to the individual -- and what powers can be exercised by the state. And what is the role of the Government in protecting individual rights and the common good.
The Democratic party has staked out the moral high ground in our commitments to the constitutionally based principles of the separation of church and state, the right to privacy, protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, and the principles of full equality and protections of individual rights.
Our Proud Democratic History We are pround of our party's consistent efforts to protect the individual and the minority underdogs against our society's tendency to concentrate both economic and political power in the hands of a few, and in the abstractions and unconsciousness of the majority not yet always aware of certain injustices that might incur to the disadvantage through traditional but sometimes prejudicial ways of thinking.
Our struggles have revolved around our consistent interpretation of the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, and more specifically, the 1st, 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th, and 14th Amendments in favor of protecting the sacrosanct respect our Constitution places on the rights of the individual.
Also, although not directly mentioned in the constitution, the Democratic party has been a champion of the working man, fair wages, fair trade agreements that protect America jobs, worker safety, OSHA protections, environmental protection, and the respect for international law and the Geneva conventions in foreign policy, as well as respect for the multi-lateral rights of other nations, Just War theory and a more cautious approach to unilateral military interventions in the affairs of other nations.
Core Democratic Principles
Let's first focus on the origins and foundations for what many of us call the "progressive social issues" or agenda. We have banded together to fight and win on these issues and changed the definition of our party by remembering the advice of our founders "We either hang together or hang separately."
For woman, people of color, the disabled, gays, lesbians, the bisexual, transgendered, religious and ethnic minorities, and others who were inspired by the great words of Martin Luther King Jr., solidarity around these issues in the face of oppression became a matter of survival. And our winning formula and strategy for almost five decades of elections.
These principles and associated political philosophies define what it means to be a Democrat and what our party stands for. These principles and truths we hold to be self evident, noble, and still inspire the aspirations of people around the world.
There is no going back now.
Looking Forward and Looking Backwards
Republicans are the party of the past. Their backwards looking vision does not inspire the aspirations of others around the world yearning for freedom, equality, and democracy. This is the source of the terms regressive and progressive. Because progressives believe in progress that will lead to a better future for all individuals. By overcoming superstition, prejudice, discrimination, and injustice implied in unexamined assumptions of the past.
It is the progressive principled Democrats who represent the ideals and hopes of the future. Because we committed ourselves to stands on the 1st, 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th, and 14th amendments that have proven to be the historically correct. Now the rest of society is catching up with us. And the Republicans who bet on the wrong side of these historic charges are in collapse and disarray.
Perhaps, there is a lesson here? When in doubt, going with the wonderful Constitution of the United States of America is our safest bet. But now after an incredible, noble, painful, bloody, and expensive series of battles, and bets on the future that we got right, it would be unwise and tragically sad, to throw out our hard won badges of honor. And betraying our core and loyal constituent voting blocks, would be an insult the memories of the many who like Martin Luther King Jr.,died and paid with their lives to put us where we are today.
We Stand On the Shoulders of Giants
We should be proud and honored that our Democratic Party has taken such noble, courageous, and principled stands on these challenging issues. But we must not become frightened our distracted and return our gaze the past. But need to keeping facing forward.
Let us continue to lead the way to a brighter future for all Americans and people around the world. Many whom have still not yet tasted the fruits of Martin Luther Kings Jr's inspiring dream.
Support for 14th Amendment Rights of full Equality and Individual Rights For All Americans
I think most might agree that full support for civil rights and equality for woman and people of color is a such a party commitment. And a fortunate one, although we paid a big price in the short term for driving the George Wallace "Democrats" out of the party. The sexism and racism that were common and tolerated just decades ago are now anathema
But does our unqualified support of the 14th amendment rights of equal protection extend to full equality and rights for the gay, lesbian, and transgendered community with regard to marriage equality and civil unions? I believe it should. And it would be philosophically inconsistent and even hypocritical if we did not carry out the logical conclusions to "The Dream."
Our Right To Privacy
The constitutional right to privacy that is the basis for Roe versus Wade, protects a woman's right to choose. And contrary to what we hear from Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), the Supreme Court of the United States keeps re-affirming this right. Most recently in a 6-3 decision in Lawrence versus Texas (2003), The SCOTUS struck down all remaining state laws banning sodomy that were the basis of making homosexuality illegal in many states. Anton Scalia wrote the minority decision and is strongly opposed to this right.
But even many Democrats are strongly and even religiously opposed to abortion at a personal level. This is okay and not inconsistent with our party's philosophy. What unites the Democratic party is the Constitutional principle, that this decision belongs to the individual woman. It is every American woman's right to control her own body in whatever consultation she wishes to make with her doctor, family, and religious advisors. And it is our proposition that this support for a woman's right to choose has become a minimum irrevocable commitment for all future Democratic Presidential candidates regardless of their personal opinions. And is a valid criteria for discussing the suitability of all future nominations to the Supreme Court.
The Rule of Law Not Of Men Versus Right Makes Right
We propose that another core element of our commonly held Democratic beliefs is the respect for the rule of law, both at home and abroad. Just about the exact opposite of all the basic principles of the Neocons, who were explicitly trying to lead our nation away from our relatively successful and traditional Democratic foreign policy positions, as advocated by John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Wesley Clark, and John Kerry.
So our respect for our signatures on the Geneva Conventions, and the 1945 United Nations Charter should not require "focus groups" or poll approvals for support from most Democrats.
The Neocon Philosophy Of Might Makes Right, and the Preemptive- Unilateral, Projection of Military Power Is Opposite Of the Democratic Philosophy Which Favors Respect For International Law, Multi-lateralism, and the Use Of War And Military Power Only As A Last Resort
The Neocon's led the Republicans over the cliffs of short term political opportunism, by advocating unilateral projection of US Imperial Military power as a first choice in opposition to the Democratic principle of respect for international law, multi-lateralism, and Just War theory which allows initiating war only as a last resort, and negotiation among regional powers to settle disputes.
We must continue our support for the international rule of law, Geneva Conventions, 1945 U.N. Charter, Just War Theory, and opposition of the Neocon philosophy of pre-emptive first strike, including the use of tactical nuclear weapons against Muslim populations.
Progressives and other Democrats Need To Reunite And Defend Our Principles
The Democratic party cannot start treating loyalty to our foundational commitments as sort an optional Constitutional smorgasbord. If we do this, no one can feel safe. If we stand by, without protest, as one minority group after another is thrown overboard in the "triangulation theory of the day," it will only be a matter time, before we have lost every victory we have fought so hard and so consistently to achieve over the last 5 decades. And now, we face new encroachments from a creeping Patriot Act and President Bush's attempts to bypass FISA courts and Congressional Oversight.
The principles of separation of church and state, the right of privacy, protection against warrantless search and seizure as well as warrantless wiretaps which is in effect search and seizure as well as violations of our right to privacy or our personal information, support for full equality (equal protection under the law) and support full individual rights for all citizens are no longer optional for Democrats.
And supporters of this indivisible set of core Democratic principles and this holistic and integrated political philosophy are not examples of single issue extremists.
We are the mainstream of the progressive Democrats. And represent the trend of American mainstream values. And we are going to reunite, in vigorous and loud support for continuation of the 5 decades long coalition that has successfully got us here today and advanced our society in the right direction on what are now considered modern American centrist values.
Conclusion
The Democratic Party is committed to a powerful and noble set of progressive principles and a political philosophy that distinguishes us from the Republicans.
This philosophy, and these principles and values, form one set of interconnected and indivisible foundational principles that recognize and uphold the sanctity of the individual as the cornerstone of American society. We have successfully united a broad coalition of voters to gain power against the Republicans.
Only by basing our party's definition on real progressive principles, and standing on the shoulders of our founding mothers and fathers, and all the great visionary leaders supporting the sanctity and primacy of individual rights and our voluntary social contract to use government to affect our common good, will we continue to build a powerful party for the future. And by re-committing ourselves to our noble Democratic traditions we will have the staying power to revitalize and sustain our great and historic party into this next century.
So the good news, for those asking if our Democratic Party should have common core principles, is that the answer is yes, and many of these principles have already been chosen and are well known, noble, and correct. True much work and discussion will always remain ahead of us, particularly with regard now to the challenging topics of immigration, and free versus fair trade, and fiscal and budgetary responsibility.
And it would be disingenuous not to acknowledge the vast gap that remains between knowing what the principles are and being able to figure out how to implement them in specific real time circumstances. For example, the time that knowing that we believe in international law would have been most helpful was before we got involved in the Iraq war. It its not immediately clear how this helps us achieve graceful and effective exit from Iraq. Although, the principles of respect and negotiation between all the regional stakeholders can still yield opportunities for improvement.
Our purpose here as not been to advance a basket of abstractions too oversimplified to be useful, but rather to argue that the glass is half full not half empty. We have greater foundations of commonality to be proud of. And here "we" means not just progressives and all Democrats, but also all Americans, and increasingly in the future, all of our citizens of the world.
We believe as just one example, that Former Vice-President Al Gore is just one example, of a current day Democratic leader, who seems to us, to understand and exemplify all aspects of this Democratic Party ideal and integrated philosophy. And represents a new generation of American politician who can be as comfortable and potentialy respected at home or abroad. Al Gore fluency in global issues as well environmental issues, represents a fine example of all of these values, and Al Gore is an example of the kind of politician who is capable of successfully unifying a broad coalition of key loyal voters. Without leaving anyone out.
We believe many other progressive leaders such as Senators Russ Feingold, Barbara Boxer, John Edwards, Hilary Clinton, General Wesley Clark, and many others embody these committments as well. We just want to offer these few examples, so as not to leave the impression that we are speaking of abstract impossible to acheive ideals, but the reality of out core party leaders and constituents.
We just have to continue to turn our heads from the past, and remove them from the dark places, and look forward into the light. And recommit ourselves to understand our historic progressive principles and require that our leaders understand and remain committed to them as well.
PostScript: We intend this essay as more an invitation to open more discussion towards the development of a broader consensus within our party rather than as a statement of any particular unique political insight. We are both relative newcomers to the world of blogging about the Democratic Party and progressive issues. So this common post is meant to be more of a progress report on our first year of blogging that arose out of a dinner conversation about lessons learned so far. And thought others may be curious to what these issues look like from the point of view of folks like ourselves. So we look forward to other different viewpoints with the same spirit of open mindedness and tolerance for diverse viewpoints as we hope this essay will be received.
And we have been tremendously encouraged and excited about the opportunity to join such a thoughtful and passionate community of progressive Democratics here at Daily Kos. We apologize in advance for any error of understanding or proposition we may have introduced into the discussion. And hope we have proven our willingness to here, respond to and incorporate appreciatively all opportunities for learning and improvement.
We are looking forward to doing every thing we can to help the Democratic party win as many seats in the House and Senate in 2006, and win back the White House in 2008. And we remain committed to supporting all of our Democratic candidates in all of these races whomever they should be.
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