brooklynease: We Must Respond

Dear Sharra,

The transformation of the DNC will not be accomplished by external means alone. At such a time as this - as threatening an hour in the history of the United States as we have ever experienced - we must address more than policy. We must address people’s shock. We must address their panic. We must address their fear.

People are looking to us, and we must respond.

It has been ten days since President Trump’s Inauguration. There are great Democrats responding to the president’s actions, from Senator Chris Murphy to Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett to Governors Tim Walz and JB Pritzker and others. They are all Democrats speaking with just the tone and fervor that is needed to meet the moment.

What the DNC must provide is cohesion; we can become a force multiplier, creating a sense that Democrats are speaking with a unified voice. Our Democratic leaders are like golden threads and we must provide the loom.

That should be the task of the DNC: to build a system of collation, curation, and collaboration among all aspects of our party - from leaders, to candidates, to state parties - whereby our various political instruments are turned into a symphony of power. We will use every administrative, organizational, digital, and relational tool in our tool kit. We will show the people of the United States not that we agree on every policy, but that we aligned on our ideals... our values… our vision.

And this, most importantly: our powerful resistance to authoritarianism.

We do not have time to waste in further analysis of the past. The future of the United States is at stake and it is time to move on — not just from the November election, but from the way of doing things that led to it. We must all dig very deep within ourselves for the wisdom and sophistication to respond to the moment that's at hand.

In the words of Abraham Lincoln in his Annual Address to Congress in 1862, “The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise — with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”

We must disenthrall ourselves of outmoded paradigms and systems. We must disenthrall ourselves of old beliefs. We must open our hearts as well as our minds, to new thinking, new ideas, and new ways of relating to the American people.

We must have more than plans; we must have courage.

Our founders were not just geniuses. They were brave. They audaciously reached for something new.

And so must we.

I look forward to seeing you in D.C.