politics versus identity
Politics is how you make things happen.
Politics is about getting people elected, the endless campaign work, the messaging and meetings and rounding up volunteers and getting out the vote. And money. Politics is about endless amounts of money, and all the problems that brings.
Politics is also the art of governing. It’s about the mechanics of passing legislation, deciding on which issues to take on, fighting over policy and fending off (or giving into) the endless interest groups that overrun everything. Above all, politics is about compromise. Be it be it a local campaign for city council or passing a budget in the House of Representatives, politics is very, very much the art of the possible. It’s not about perfect, or even desirable, it’s about possible.
Identity is something else entirely. It’s permanent. It’s who we are. It’s why we got into this in the first place. Identity is our core values, the unchanging truth that makes us Democrats. Unchanging, and universal. As true twenty years from now as it is today. As true for all of us as it is for any of us. It means we are Democrats first and foremost, no matter who we are or where we live, or what else we believe.
We need both.
Why we need a Democratic Creed
We need to stand for something. Our identity needs to be bigger than the next election, bigger than policy, bigger than all the events crashing around us. As Democrats, we need to stand for something so basic and so true that it inspires each and every one of us, something that unites and gives meaning to everything we do.
We have existed too long as a machine to win the next election. Of course we need to win the next election. We need to win the next ten elections, and we have to work our butts off to do it. And that's exactly why we need purpose, and vision. It's why we need to inspire. A party official recently said, “We need to find another Obama to inspire us.” No, we need our party to inspire us. We need to inspire us.