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“If you start with all people are created equal, only Democracy is possible. If you don’t start with it, only tyranny is possible.” - An Idaho Democrat
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MAGA runs on emotional connection. People belong. They have an emotional home. And that belonging, that emotional home, has meaning. MAGA gives people purpose. It doesn’t matter what it’s based on, that sense of belonging and purpose are real, and they are powerful.
And what do we offer? What is our emotional home? What is our sense of purpose?
We certainly don’t offer unity. We don’t even offer direction anymore. That lack of direction is all you read about, endless calls to change our brand, to be about this, or that, or something else entirely. The truth is, we’ve been about stopping Donald Trump for almost a decade. That’s been our purpose, stop Trump because he’s going to break what is. And what is, is the status quo. We have transformed ourselves into the champions of the status quo in the eyes of a lot of the public. Well, the status quo sucks for a lot of people! When you’re the champion of the status quo and you’re running against true believers who say they are going to bring big change, you’ve dug yourself a very deep hole indeed.
We’ve become the party of political operatives, and focus groups, and elitist causes. We are endlessly fixated on the next election, which means we are endlessly fixated on the quick fix. And we’re up against a massive, behind-the-scenes operation that thinks very long-term, that has a plan, and .. yes .. enormous financial resources dedicated (long-term!) to making that happen. You can bet they’re laughing right now, watching us scramble around. Their plan has worked to perfection.
Yes, MAGA’s emotional home is based on lies and a gigantic media operation. Yes, it plays to the darker impulses in the human heart, but it works. By keeping their eye on the prize, those unseen forces have turned a permanent minority party into something that threatens to tear down democracy itself.
“Eye on the prize” is not an accidental turn of phrase. If you haven’t watched the documentary by that name, you’d better do so, quick. Our power as Democrats is about caring. Our emotional home is the Common Thread of working for a better America that stretches back through the Women’s Movement and the Civil rights Movement, back through every single American who has struggled to move this country forward. Our identity passes straight through Abraham Lincoln, all the way back to those precious hours in 1776 when James Madison, despite being a slave owner, was inspired to rise above himself and pen those words: all people are created equal.
That Common Thread is our emotional home. It is our Purpose, and it is our power. Holding up that banner of values and vision is how we march out of the hole we’re in and reclaim this nation’s future. That emotional home is based on ideas. It is founded on values and vision. And those ideas, in turn, lead to very real power, the power to create change. If you still doubt the power of emotion, if you still cling to the old ways, take another long look at what is going on in our country. Donald Trump stands as living proof.
Yes, at election time, campaigns have to be based on all the things they’ve always been based on. There has to be messaging and tactics and all the rest. But the subconscious allure of that “D” on the ballot will be decided for most folks long before they walk in. And it will be based on their sense of emotional connection. We can’t be emotionally connected to one group or another, not if we want to win big. We have to be connected to everyone, to Americans, to every single person that doesn’t have hate in their heart. The political path to get there is complicated. But the emotional path, the sense of identity and purpose we all crave, is quite simple indeed.
Recent adoptions of the Democratic Creed
Carroll County Democratic Committee, Georgia
Fayette County Democratic Party, Texas
Coalition of Democratic Allies, Texas
Northwest Ohio Indivisible Coalition, Ohio
