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Howard Dean, M.D.
Chair
Democratic National Committee
430 South Capitol Street SE
Washington, DC 20003
28 October, 2008
Dear Dr. Dean
Let me lead off with profound gratitude to you for your leadership of the Democratic Party. A lifelong Democrat, I was disappointed and alienated by the direction our leadership took in the 1990s, and I became essentially a “sleeping Democrat”—reliable Democratic voter, but not much else in respect to the Party. Your determination to return control of the Party to front-line Party members, rather than big money donors; coupled with the 50 state strategy, restored my hope and rekindled the Party’s passion.
We have seen the fruits of this in an amazing resurgence of Democratic unity, determination and pavement-pounding involvement at all levels. In concert with the awesome ‘ground game’ organization of Senator Obama’s campaign, we have mobilized literally millions of Americans to be actively involved in the future of our country. It is a triumphant achievement that I am convinced will be crowned with victory next week.
But what about when the victory parties are over?
While I have been deeply inspired and thrilled by the resurgence of unity, compassion, and hope among those who have thrown their support to Senator Obama and the many Democratic candidates in state and local races, I have also been concerned about those who have formed the core of bitter, rancorous partisan opposition to all things Democratic. Those to whom the word “liberal” is an epithet of profound condemnation. Those who are capable of ignoring reality and believing the most outrageous fabrications, only because they align with a passionate ideology of hate and division.
The saddest thing about them is that many, perhaps most of them, represent a natural constituency for the Democratic Party. Working people, people who feel disenfranchised and marginalized. Struggling to succeed in a game that’s rigged against them. They did not just crawl out of the woodwork last year or last week, as you well know. They have been manipulated and cozened for decades by those who benefit from partisan division, fear, low voter turnout, ‘smaller’ (read ineffective) government, and oligarchic control of the levers of power. It won’t be possible for us to heal this divide until we relate the origins of this dilemma to its solution.
I believe we’re in a unique position to begin implementing a long-term solution to this dilemma, now. We have the tools and resources, now, if we don’t let them slip away.
I’ve listened to what the passionate folks at the McCain/Palin rallies talk about. I’ve seen the baffled anger in their faces as they are interviewed. And I recognize many of them, because they are the kind of people I grew up among. They are my family members. Some of them are my friends. How could they be so passionate—and so wrong? How could they be loyal to a community led by charlatans and religious extremists, to the extent of ignoring their own interests?
I know how it happened. It happened precisely because they did feel marginalized. They always have, because they’ve always been the ones who got laid off first, tracked into an educational system that left them poorly educated, and ignored by the opinion-makers and power brokers. They felt left on their own. They felt abandoned by a Democratic Party that was painted for them as concerned only about “other” people. People who aren’t like them.
You know all this, you’ve spoken about it. How easy it was for the dividers to paint the Party’s efforts on behalf of other disenfranchised and marginalized people as “abandonment.” How easy it was for the dividers to point the finger at “different” people and demonize them, and make them the reason why “Joe Sixpack” got laid off, why his kid didn’t get a coveted college admission, why he can’t afford the payments on his car. Add two things to that, and you have a powerful, passionate supporter of the politics of hate and division:
First, add a community outreach effort by grass-roots leadership centered on fundamentalist churches and congregations—an outreach effort that is “there” for Joe Sixpack and family in tangible ways. Casseroles at the funeral. Showing up at the kids’ soccer games. Giving them a ride when the car is in the shop. Sympathizing and listening when the hard knocks come. Extending a hand of fellowship and making them feel part of a community that cares.
Then, add the external elements of a ‘world gone mad’—terrorist attacks, yes, but also messages from a powerful “mainstream media” that seem to contradict or deny the realities of Joe Sixpack’s life as it really happens. What’s fun? Mudding in the powerful pickup truck. Hunting and fishing. Spending money on cheap and abundant consumer goods. When the voices from that “mainstream media” tell Joe how wrong all the stuff he enjoys and likes and associates with family and community is, who is Joe going to believe? The ‘liberal elitists’ telling him to ‘lighten his carbon footprint’? Or the deacon at his church who confirms his suspicion that those same ‘liberal elitists’ are part of an evil, anti-Christian, socialist conspiracy to destroy America?
This has been going on for decades, and we are now faced with the hard kernel of angry, alienated neighbors and fellow-citizens who will be feeling betrayed, outraged, and victimized next Wednesday morning. What will they do with those feelings, and what will that mean for the efforts of an Obama Administration to bring America together and overcome the economic and social challenges facing us?
I know many Democrats who are happily planning exactly how they’re going to turn the rhetoric of the dividers and hatemongers back on their defeated opponents. “Get over it.” “Now you know what it feels like.” “No sympathy from me.” I understand those feelings. The leaders who profited by hate and division are responsible for much of the economic and social pain of today’s America, and it’s tempting to dump on their followers.
But if you think forgiveness is expensive, try vengeance.
We can’t afford it.
What we can afford—and are in a unique position to create—is a grassroots movement that will counteract the decades of marginalization and isolation that created the division. We have millions of volunteers in thousands of communities all across America, armed with incredible tools like the Internet and text messaging and email lists and neighborhood maps. They have experienced the reward of working together and achieving something wonderful in their communities. Let’s not let that disappear, just because the election is over.
Let’s use those resources to create a network of neighborhood caring and involvement and support. It’s really hard to hate someone who shows up to help clean up when your house has been storm-damaged, even if their politics differ from yours. It’s hard to see the face of evil in the Democrat who shows up with a hot meal when you’re just home from the hospital and still too sick to cook for yourself. It’s difficult to sustain enmity towards the folks who help construct the neighborhood play field for your kids, even if they voted for the Antichrist. It’s tough to refuse fresh garden produce shared by a neighbor, even if they grew it organically (while drinking latte, too!)
We need to learn our neighbor’s names and get to know them, even if they’re not part of “our” crowd. Can we, somehow, put the awesome power that was mobilized to start this change, into furthering it at the neighborhood level?
What do you think, Dr. Dean?
Sincerely,
TygrBright
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