Sander Bellman -- The Democratic Message
This entry was posted on 8/21/2005 11:27 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
Yesterday, I attended a meeting of the State Democratic
Committee in Macon. The main topic of discussion was “message,” i.e., what do we stand for?
I had earlier submitted my entry as essentially re-written from the information from the
front page of this web site.
We were all handed out a multi-page document
displaying the submissions of all those who had submitted them. Joe Martin (Joseph G. Martin Jr. executive director of the Consortium for Adequate School Funding in Georgia) gave the opening remarks. Then
Chairman Bobby Kahn asked anyone who wanted to do so to step to the mike and discuss his/her entry. He then called on me to step to the mike, after the
three initial speakers, to summarize my eight items to the most essential two or three. After some quick note scribbling, I distilled my points into four, instead of three. I began by saying that we are the real
Party of values. We are the Party that values:
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Protection
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Via a strong national defense, fire, and police forces
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Of our rights and liberties
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Of our environment
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Of those less fortunate, the elderly, the infirm, our children
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Justice for all regardless of race, gender, creed, or sexual orientation
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Fairness
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Honesty/Openness
I was followed by a long line of others, all of whom spoke to the same or similar messages. Most concluded that we are the party of the people that believes in liberty and justice for
ALL. Most said we should not be afraid to speak up for what we believe. If they call us liberals, then we should stand up and say, “Darn right – and proud of it.” After all, we are the Party that stands for liberty and justice for all. The word “liberal” comes from “liberty.” If we are not for liberty, then what are we for? As Joe Martin concluded in his
comments:
“Georgia Democrats are committed to fairness and opportunity. We are the true patriots. We should be proud of what we believe and proclaim our message clearly and boldly.”
Joe Martin also took extensive notes and will present a summary to the DPG Executive Board so as to formulate our response to Governor Dean’s request from the DNC.
