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From the Ground Up
By Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.
This is one in a series of weekly syndicated columns written by Governor Howard Dean.
Over the past thirty years, Republicans have become the majority party in America by building a terrific grassroots organization. If we are to take our country back for ordinary working Americans, Democrats will have to match or exceed the Republicans ability to motivate voters.
Grassroots organization really has to be based on two way communication. In our Presidential campaign we started with no money, no base, but a great number of enthusiastic grassroots activists. We ceded decision making power to local folks and let them run things in their areas as they saw fit. This turns out to have been our single most important innovation, and it is the only one that wasn't copied by any of the other campaigns, either Democratic or Republican. Everything else, the small donor programs, the house parties, the interactive Web sites and organizing was used by others. The reason that the most important piece wasn't copied is because it requires a real change in thinking by people who run for office and their consultants, not just adopting new techniques or technology.
Letting go of central control is what gives voters real power. When I used the phrase "You have the power" during the campaign, I meant that by working together, Americans could overcome the forces of the right-wing and reassume their constitutional role in running the country. What I didn't understand was that "You have the power" was more than that. It didn't apply only to people's ability to change America, it also applied concretely to their ability to make every day decisions about how they would cause that change.
In our campaign, Americans without any previous political experience made decisions about when to leaflet, what to say in the leaflet, where to leaflet and how to organize. They organized and ran hundreds of organizations such as African-Americans for Dean, Latinos for Dean, Punx for Dean, Irish Americans for Dean, etc., which sprang not from a central "outreach" desk in Burlington, but spontaneously all over the country, finding each other on the Web, and creating a national organization from local ones
The idea of a decentralized campaign terrifies most politicians who have gotten used to putting out ideas and letting others respond. We discovered that the path to power, oddly enough, is to trust others with it.
The true mark of a modern campaign will be to listen to Americans and let them shape campaigns instead of simply allowing them to respond.
Our campaign was far from perfect, and we did not win. But our organization today is almost 600,000 strong that we know of, and there are more people in the organization today than there were on the day I dropped out of the presidential race. People still meet monthly in about 500 locations across America to talk about how to bring reform, and then they act on their plan locally.
I wish I could tell you that this was all because of my leadership and charisma; that is not so. The reform movement lives because it isn't mine. Our people know that they have the power in their own communities, linked across the country, to elect reform-minded people. They did exactly that on six months notice all across the country in places like Utah, Alabama, and Idaho, not just New York and Ohio.
If Democrats use this model, we will effectively leapfrog the Republicans, who despite their discipline and organization, are still a top-down, control and command organization.
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The Legacy of Dr. King
By Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.
On Monday, January 17th, we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Facing obstacles that would have deterred most of us, Dr. King fought tirelessly for what he believed in.
On the eve of the second inauguration of an Administration that has promoted the interests of the privileged few at the expense of most Americans, it is more critical than ever that we follow Dr. King's example.
Like Martin Luther King, Jr., we must also have the courage of our convictions. We must stand up and vigorously defend our beliefs. We must start framing the debate and setting the agenda. And we should not hesitate to call for reform—reform that will benefit all Americans, not just a privileged few.
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I'm Running
By Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.
As I have traveled across our country, I have talked to thousands of people who are working for change in their own communities about the power of politics to make a difference in their own lives and in the lives of others. Every group I have spoken to, I encouraged them to stand up for what they believe and to get involved in the electoral process—because the only sure way to make difference is to step up and run for office yourself.
Today, I'm announcing my candidacy for the Chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee.
The Democratic Party needs a vibrant, forward-thinking, long-term presence in every single state and we must be willing to contest every race at every level. We will only win when we show up and fight for the issues important to all of us.
Another integral part of our strategy must be cultivating the party's grassroots. Our long term success depends on all of us taking an active role in our party and in the political process, by volunteering, going door to door and taking the Democratic message into every community, and by organizing at the local level. After all, new ideas and new leaders don't come from consultants; they come from communities.
As important as organization is, it alone can no longer win us elections. Offering a new choice means making Democrats the party of reform—reforming America's financial situation, reforming our electoral process, reforming health care, reforming education and putting morality back in our foreign policy. The Democratic Party will not win elections or build a lasting majority solely by changing its rhetoric, nor will we win by adopting the other side's positions. We must say what we mean—and mean real change when we say it.
But most of all, together, we have to rebuild the American community. We will never succeed by treating our nation as a collection of separate regions or separate groups. There are no red states or blues states, only American states. And we must talk to the people in all of these states as members of one community.
That word—'values'—has lately become a codeword for appeasement of the right-wing fringe. But when political calculations make us soften our opposition to bigotry, or sign on to policies that add to the burden of ordinary Americans, we have abandoned our true values.
We cannot let that happen. And we cannot just mouth the words. Our party must speak plainly and our agenda must clearly reflect the socially progressive, fiscally responsible values that bring our party—and the vast majority of Americans—together.
All of this will require both national perspective and local experience. I know what it's like to lead hands-on at the state level and I know what it's like to run for national office.
With your help, this past election season, Democracy for America, already started creating the kind of organization the Democratic Party can be. This past election cycle, we endorsed over 100 candidates at all levels of government—from school board to U.S. Senate. We contributed almost a million dollars to nearly 750 candidates around the country and raised millions of dollars for many more candidates.
Together, we helped elect a Democratic governor in Montana, a Democratic mayor of Salt Lake County, Utah and an African American woman to the bench in Alabama. Fifteen of the candidates we endorsed had never run for office before—and won.
I also have experience building and managing a local party organization. My career started as Democratic Party chair in Chittenden County, Vermont. I then ran successful campaigns: for state legislature, lieutenant governor and then governor. In my 11-year tenure as governor, I balanced the state's budget every year.
I served as chair of both the National Governors' Association and the Democratic Governors' Association (DGA). And as chair of the DGA, I helped recruit nearly 20 governors that won—even in states like Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Mississippi.
All of these experiences have only reaffirmed what I know to be true. There is only one party that speaks to the hopes and dreams of all Americans. It is the party you have already given so much to. It is the Democratic Party.
We can win elections only by standing up for what we believe.
Thank you and I look forward to listening to your concerns in the weeks ahead.
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Keep the Election on Track
By Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.
This is one in a series of weekly syndicated columns written by Governor Howard Dean.
The Bush administration is strongly encouraging elections in Iraq to take place on January 30th, and I believe that is the right course to take. The only chance America has to get out of Iraq, without long term damage to our national security, is to let Iraqis take over their country's government as soon as possible.
The Iraq War has been a foreign policy and defense disaster based on deceit, unwillingness to listen to experienced military and diplomatic advice and a total misunderstanding of terrorism. We need to bring our troops home without additional damage to our national security, our international reputation and of course additional loss of American and Iraqi lives.
Pulling out the troops at once is not compatible with either national security or what shreds of our international credibility are left. Now that we are in Iraq, we need to do our best to leave behind a stable nation. At best, Iraq would be a secure country with a democratic government, equal rights for women and a stable economy. What will more likely transpire is a Shiite theocracy with ties to Iran. The worst outcome, and unfortunately the most likely one, is a prolonged civil war with a growing opportunity for terrorists to turn what is left of Iraq into permanent terrorist bases.
I believe that the Shiites, under the guidance of Ayatollah al Sistani, will win these elections. Whether they can be prevented from setting up a theocracy is unknown. But, delaying the elections will lead to an even more prolonged period of violence and further destruction of Iraqi infrastructure. This will increase what the American taxpayer is already paying for the Iraqi invasion, and make a successful transition to Iraqi independence even less likely.
I support allotting a certain percentage of seats in these elections for the Sunnis. This is the only way to protect at least 20 percent of the seats in the new Iraqi parliament. In the likely case that there will be a much reduced Sunni electoral participation due to various boycotts and the direct threat of violence against both voters and office seekers. Guaranteeing the Sunni seats is also an attempt to prevent what will surely be an understandable temptation for the Shiites to use their electoral majority to enforce what our founding fathers successfully avoided in our own constitution, the "tyranny of the majority."
When the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam, we were deeply worried about the consequences of a communist takeover. But the feared "domino effect" never occurred, and today we have diplomatic and economic ties with our former enemy, despite the lack of democracy or political freedom in Vietnam. Although we lost nearly 60,000 brave Americans in Southeast Asia, our actions did not threaten long term American national security. We will be fortunate to have a similar outcome in Iraq.
While our casualties have been lower in Iraq, the long-term danger which an American defeat poses is far greater. We are already discovering that this is a war we likely cannot win in conventional terms—a lesson which should have been obvious to anyone who grew up in the Vietnam era. The question is, can we end the conflict without broader damage to our security, as occurred with Vietnam, or will the outcome be worse?
Elections are the only possible path to a tolerable and stable government in Iraq. Early elections are the only hope we have to ensure that America will not be worse off than we were with Saddam Hussein in power, in terms of both our long term security and our credibility as an effective superpower.
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