The Courage of Our Convictions

I went to the public library a couple weeks ago to check out a specific book, but they didn't have it in. Not wanting to go home empty handed, I browsed the shelves and found the latest book by former Sen. Gary Hart called The Courage of our Convictions.

The Courage of our Convictions is a call to Democrats to return to their core principles and values to solve the issues we face today. Though, I didn't have enough to time to finish the entire book (I have a bad habit of starting books and not finishing them), I read part one and the books is going on my reading list for this summer.

Hart begins by discussing the the values and principles the Democratic party has traditional held. Hart writes...

...from 1932 to 1968, the Democratic Party had one big idea, and it was: The national government has a central and positive role to play in bettering the lives of all Americans.

Hart then discussess why the move towards Centrism in th 1990's and adandoning the political philosophy of FDR, Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson has led Americans believe that Democrats are timid and lack the courage to lead the country. Hart writes...

Some mystery rhetoric about the "vital center" may have been sufficient to see Bill Clinton through the interim between the Cold War and the war on terrorism, but it did not leave in its wake a set of principles upon which to base a political party in a new century... Triangulation and centrism are tactical positioning maneuvers but are not a basis for governing.

This is a theme that I have written about many times on this blog. Hart concludes the first section of the book by saying...

The Republican Party is and will remain the party of the individual and private interests. Democrats are obliged, therefore, to become once again the party of common good, of community, and of justice for all. To fail in this task is abandon our heritage and to become some ill-defined "centrist" party with no compass, no clear purpose, and little reason for existence.

Here's hoping the Democratic Party finds a nominee for President in 2008 that puts the common good first.