Howard Dean's Speech in Washington

Please take a minute to read the short speech, included below, and pass it
along to anyone you know who's concerned about the future of our party. And
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Thank you very much.

Tom McMahon
Executive Director

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of government.

Remarks by Governor Howard Dean On the Future of the Democratic Party
The George Washington University

Thank you, Melissa, for that introduction. It's a pleasure to be here.

Let me tell you what my plan for this Party is:

We're going to win in Mississippi
...and Alabama
...and Idaho
...and South Carolina.

Four years ago, the President won 49 percent of the vote. The Republican
Party treated it like it was a mandate, and we let them get away with it.

Fifty one percent is not a mandate either. And this time we're not going to
let them get away with it.

Our challenge today is not to re-hash what has happened, but to look
forward, to make the Democratic Party a 50-state party again, and, most
importantly,
to win.

To win the White House and a majority in Congress, yes. But also to do the
real work that will make these victories possible -- to put Democratic ideas
and Democratic candidates in every office -- whether it be Secretary of
State, supervisor of elections, county commissioner or school board member.

Here in Washington, it seems that after every losing election, there's a
consensus reached among decision-makers in the Democratic Party is that the
way
to win is to be more like Republicans.

I suppose you could call that philosophy: if you didn't beat 'em, join them.

I'm not one for making predictions -- but if we accept that philosophy this
time around, another Democrat will be standing here in four years giving
this
same speech. We cannot win by being "Republican-lite." We've tried it; it
doesn't work.

The question is not whether we move left or right. It's not about our
direction. What we need to start focusing on... is the destination.

There are some practical elements to the destination.

The destination of the Democratic Party requires that it be financially
viable, able to raise money not only from big donors but small contributors,
not
only through dinners and telephone solicitations and direct mail, but also
through the Internet and person-to-person outreach.

The destination of the Democratic Party means making it a party that can
communicate with its supporters and with all Americans. Politics is at its
best
when we create and inspire a sense of community. The tools that were
pioneered in my campaign -- like blogs and Meetups and most importantly,
community
building -- are just a start. We must use all of the power and potential of
technology as part of an aggressive outreach to meet and include voters, to
work with the state parties and to influence media coverage.

The most practical destination is winning elective office. And we must do
that at every level of government.

The way we will rebuild the Democratic Party is not from consultants down,
but from the ground up.

We have some successes to build on. We raised more money than the RNC, and
we did so by attracting thousands of new small donors. This is the first
time
in my memory that the DNC is not coming out of a national campaign in debt.
We trained tens of thousands of new activists.

We put together the most sophisticated get-out-the-vote operation our Party
has ever had. We registered millions of new voters, including a record
number
of minority and young voters. And we saw those new voters overwhelmingly
vote Democrat.

Now we need to build on our successes while transforming the Democratic
Party into a grassroots organization that can win in 50 states.

I have seen all the doomsday predictions that the Democratic Party could
shrink to become a regional Party. A Party of the Northeast and the Pacific
Northwest.

We cannot be a Party that seeks the presidency by running an 18-state
campaign. We cannot be a party that cedes a single state, a single District,
a single
precinct, nor should we cede a single voter.

As many of the candidates supported by my organization Democracy for America
showed -- people in places that we've too long ignored are hungry for an
alternative;
they're hungry for new ideas and new candidates, and they're willing to
elect Democrats.

Since we started Democracy for America last March, we raised over $5
million, mostly from small donors.

That money was used to help 748 candidates in 46 states and at every level
of government.

We helped a Democratic governor get elected in Montana and a Democratic
mayor get elected in Salt Lake County, Utah.

We helped Lori Saldana in San Diego. Lori, a Latina grassroots environmental
organizer was outspent in both the primary and the general, won a seat on
the
state assembly.

We also helped Anita Kelly become the first African-American woman elected
to her circuit court in Montgomery, Alabama.

Fifteen of the candidates who we helped win last month never ran for
elective office before.

And in Texas, a little known candidate who had been written off completely
ran the first competitive race against Tom Delay in over a decade.

And others who lost came very close, including Scott Kawasaki who lost by
only 45 votes in an Alaska state legislative race -- in a very Republican
state.
We can win in these states, and we will.

There are no red states or blue states, just American states. And if we can
compete at all levels and in the most conservative parts of the country, we
can win... at any level and anywhere.

People will vote for Democratic candidates in Texas, and Alabama and Utah if
we knock on their door, introduce ourselves and tell them what we believe.

There is another destination beyond strong finances, outreach and campaigns.

That destination is a better, stronger, smarter, safer, healthier America.

An America where we don't turn our back on our own people.

That's the America we can only build with conviction.

When some people say we should change direction, in essence they are arguing
that our basic or guiding principles can be altered or modified.

They can't.

On issue after issue, we are where the majority of the American people are.

What I want to know is, at what point did it become a radical notion to
stand up for what we believe?

Over fifty years ago, Harry Truman said, "We are not going to get anywhere
by trimming or appeasing. And we don't need to try it."

Yet here we are still making the same mistakes.

Let me tell you something: there's only one thing Republican power brokers
want more than for us to lurch to the left -- and that's for us to lurch to
the
right.

What they fear most is that we may really begin fighting for what we
believe -- the fiscally responsible, socially progressive values for which
Democrats
have always stood and fought.

I'll give this to Republicans. They know the America they want. They want a
government so small that, in the words of one prominent Republican, it can
be
drowned in a bathtub.

They want a government that runs big deficits, but is small enough to fit
into your bedroom.

They want a government that is of, by and for their special interest
friends.

They want a government that preaches compassion but practices division.

They want wealth rewarded over work.

And they are willing to use any means to get there.

In going from record surpluses to record deficits, the Republican Party has
relinquished the mantle of fiscal responsibility.

And now they're talking about borrowing another $2 trillion to take benefits
away from our Senior Citizens.

In going from record job creation to record job loss, they have abandoned
the mantle of economic responsibility.

In cutting health care, education, and community policing programs... and in
failing to invest in America's inner cities, or distressed rural
communities...
they certainly have no desire to even claim the mantle of social
responsibility.

In their refusal to embrace real electoral reform or conduct the business of
government in the light of day, they are hardly the model of civic
responsibility.

In their willingness to change the rules so that their indicted leaders can
stay in power, they have even given up any claim on personal responsibility.

And in starting an international conflict based on misleading information, I
believe they have abdicated America's moral responsibility, as well.

There is a Party of fiscal responsibility... economic responsibility...
social responsibility... civic responsibility... personal responsibility...
and
moral responsibility.

It's the Democratic Party.

We need to be able to say strongly, firmly, and proudly what we believe.

Because we are what we believe.

And we believe every person in America should have access to affordable
health care. It is wrong that we remain the only industrialized nation in
the world
that does not assure health care for all of its citizens.

We believe the path to a better future goes directly through our public
schools. I have nothing against private schools, parochial schools and home
schooling.
Parents with the means and inclination should choose whatever they believe
is best for their children. But those choices must never come at the expense
of what has been -- and must always be -- the great equalizer in our
society; public education.

We believe that if you put in a lifetime of work, you have earned a
retirement of dignity -- not one that is put at risk by your government or
unethical
business practices.

The first time our nation balanced its budget, it was Andrew Jackson, father
of the Democratic Party, who did it. The last time our nation balanced its
budget, it was Bill Clinton who did it. I did it every year as Governor.
Democrats believe in fiscal responsibility and we're the only ones who have
delivered
it.

We believe that every single American has a voice and that it should be
heard in the halls of power everyday. And it most certainly must be heard on
Election
Day. Democracies around the world look to us as a model. How can we be
worthy of their aspirations when we have not done enough to guarantee
accurate elections
for our own citizens.

We believe in a strong and secure America... and we believe we will be
stronger by having a moral foreign policy.

We need to embrace real political reform -- because only real reform will
pry government from the grasp of the special interests who fight against
reform
and progress.

The pundits have said that this election was decided on the issue of moral
values. I don't believe that. It is a moral value to provide health care. It
is a moral value to educate our young people. The sense of community that
comes from full participation in our Democracy is a moral value. Honesty is
a
moral value.

If this election had been decided on moral values, Democrats would have won.

It is time for the Democratic Party to start framing the debate.

We have to learn to punch our way off the ropes.

We have to set the agenda.

We should not hesitate to call for reform -- reform in elections, reform in
health care and education, reforms that promote ethical business practices.

And, yes, we need to talk about some internal reform in the Democratic Party
as well, and I'll be discussing that more specifically in the days ahead.

Reform is the hallmark of a strong Democratic Party.

Those who stand in the way of reform cannot be the focus of our attention
for only four months out of every four years.

Reform is a daily battle.

And we must pursue those reforms with conviction -- every day, at all
levels, in 50 states.

A little while back, at a fundraiser, a woman came up to me. She identified
herself as an evangelical Christian from Texas. I asked her what you are all
wondering -- why was she supporting me. She said there were two reasons. The
first was that she had a child who had poly-cystic kidney disease, and that
the illness made it impossible for their family to get health insurance.

The second thing she said was, "The real reason we're with you is because
evangelical Christians are people of deep conviction, and you're a person of
deep
conviction.

We may not agree with you on everything, but what we want more than anything
else from our government is that when something happens to our family or
something
happens to our country -- it's that the people in office have deep
conviction."

We are what we believe. And the American people know it.

And I believe that over the next two... four... ten years...

Election by election...

State by state...

Precinct by precinct...

Door by door...

Vote by vote...

We're going to lift our Party up...

And we're going to take this country back for the people who built it.

Governor Howard Dean -- December 8, 2004