There’s also broad agreement in this country on who we are in communities, organized around respect, compassion, fellowship, mutual support and skill and ingenuity in solving public problems. Barn-raisings and the community ethic behind them are part of our history we all value. Churches, synagogues and mosques all tend at least to take care of their own. There is enormous energy behind community identity and community work.
The problem comes when the community becomes big enough to include people distant from us. Then community values can begin to fade. Democrats must find ways to help people stretch their concept of community—first across town, and then across the country and the world.
This stretching happens instantly after every natural disaster, no matter where it occurs. Democrats need to build on experiences like the national outpouring of support after Hurricane Katrina. The message is: our sense of community doesn’t stop at the other side of the tracks or the town line or the water’s edge; Americans have a practical, compassionate response to any pressing need because that is who we are.
Democrats need to speak louder than the cruel, heartless voice of social Darwinism. It’s the Achilles heel of the Christian Far Right and the Republican Party because it’s so directly counter to the American identity of generosity and fairness. The Christian Far Right says being poor means you have lost the favor of God. The secular Far Right says that if you are poor, you are lazy, stupid or lacking in discipline.
When it’s pointed out to them, most people, including many conservative Christians, will acknowledge that there’s a horrible emptiness to living life by such a cruel measure. They know that’s not who they are. Democrats need to remind Americans both of our competence as problem-solvers and of our generous and open hearts. Americans will respond, not just because we recognize this truth of who we are, but because each of us remembers the personal satisfaction of helping someone else in need.
Democrats need to help people focus on the nation as an expanded community. In this national community we need to treat each other with respect, fairness and compassion. We need to be disciplined and to work hard to solve public problems. And we need to take care of our own. Democrats must speak for a social safety net based on clear thinking and open hearts. Let’s talk about real choices. What would Jesus do with the tax dollars? Build a bridge to nowhere in Alaska, or help the victims of Katrina?
In international affairs, Democrats need to keep expanding the idea of community.
How do we live in the world? How do we relate to other countries? How do we deal with global problems?
Democrats need to describe America:
~ in a position of leadership but not arrogance;
~ motivated by self-interest but recognizing the need for global partnerships;
~ proud of our nation but also proud of our membership in the world community; and
~ taking good care of our own but also responding to global needs. (continue)
