[Mb-civic] Democratic Moral Values By Howard Dean

[Michael Butler]

    Democratic Moral Values
    By Howard Dean 
    t r u t h o u t | Perspective

     Monday 13 December 2004

     Four years ago, the president won 49 percent of the vote. The
Republican Party treated it like it was a mandate, and we let them get away
with it. Fifty-one percent is not a mandate either. And this time we're not
going to let them get away with it.

     Our challenge today is not to re-hash what has happened, but to look
forward, to make the Democratic Party a 50-state party again, and most
importantly, to win.

     The pundits have said that this election was decided on the issue of
moral values. I don't believe that. It is a moral value to provide health
care. It is a moral value to educate our young people. The sense of
community that comes from full participation in our democracy is a moral
value. It is a moral value to make sure that we do not leave our own debts
to be paid by the next generation. Honesty is a moral value.

     If this election had been decided on moral values, Democrats would have
won.

     It is time for the Democratic Party to start framing the debate about
values.

     We have to learn to punch our way off the ropes.

     We have to set the agenda.

     We should not hesitate to call for reform - reform in elections, reform
in health care and education, reforms that promote ethical business
practices. And, yes, we need to talk about some internal reform in the
Democratic Party as well.

     Reform is the hallmark of a strong Democratic Party.

     Those who stand in the way of reform cannot be the focus of our
attention for only four months out of every four years.

     Reform is a daily battle.

     And we must pursue those reforms with conviction - every day, at all
levels, in 50 states.

     A little while back, at a fundraiser, a woman came up to me. She
identified herself as an evangelical Christian from Texas. I asked her what
you are all wondering - why was she supporting me. She said there were two
reasons. The first was that she had a child who had poly-cystic kidney
disease, and that the illness made it impossible for their family to get
health care.

     The second thing she said was, "The other reason we're with you is
because evangelical Christians are people of deep conviction, and you're a
person of deep conviction. I may not agree with you on everything, but what
we want more than anything else from our government is that when something
happens to our family or something happens to our country - it's that the
people in our government act out of deep conviction."

     We are what we believe. And the American people know it.

     And I believe that over the next two... four... ten years...

     Election by election...State by state...Precinct by precinct...Door by
door...Vote by vote. . .we're going to take this country back for the people
who built it.

     Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, is the founder of Democracy
for America, a grassroots organization that supports socially progressive
and fiscally responsible political candidates.

 

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