What Would Wellstone Do?

It was 6 years today that Paul Wellstone died in plane crash while he was campaigning for reelection to the US Senate.



Elected Democrats would be helped if they would ask themselves on key issues, what would Wellstone do?

Paul Wellstone wasn't afraid to stand up for what he believed and what was right...

If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them.

Imagine Paul Wellstone in the Senate Today

4 years ago today, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash. At the time, I did not know much about him. Since then I have learned a great deal about him. His book, Conscience of a Liberal, is a great read. From page 1 you can tell that Sen. Wellstone truly fought for what he believed in and what was best for Americans. He stood with principle and with compassion. His campaign motto was simple and to the point..."Vote for what you believe in."

In an article posted on the Huffington Post today by Jonathon Tasini about Paul Wellstone, Tasini discussed how Wellstone was more than just speaking out on the issues.

Putting aside his policy positions, his vision of politics was so much more than what we see in the unbridled ambitions of the political machines that vie for power: "Politics is not just about power and money games, politics can be about the improvement of peoples lives, about lessening human suffering in our world and bringing about more peace and more justice," he said.

I have gotten some ideas for this blog from this book. I have posted often on this blog about the so-called Centrists. I base a lot of thoughts from this quote from the introduction of Conscience of a Liberal...

People yearn for a politics of the center" - not the "center" so widely discussed by politicians and pundits in Washington but rather a politics that speaks to the center of people's lives: affordable child care, good education for children, health security, living-wage jobs that will support families, respect for the environment and human rights, and clean elections and clean campaigns.

Wellstone ends the introduction with this line...

Politics is what we create by what we do, what we hope for, and what we dare to imagine.

Where does "Moving to the Center" get us?

Yesterday, I read this great article written by David Sirota about the so called centrists in Washington and how they undermining the Democratic party.

If Democrats ever want to regain their status as a majority party, they must move to the center. But that means moving to the real center -- one very different from Washington's definition of the term.

Inside the Beltway, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) is called a "centrist" because he still supports President Bush's misguided policies in Iraq; Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) proved his centrist credentials when he helped gut consumer bankruptcy protections; Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) is a centrist because he votes for corporate-written, wage-destroying trade deals. And former senator John Breaux (D-La.), now a corporate lobbyist, was labeled the ultimate centrist after working to stop Congress from cracking down on the drug and health industry profiteers who backed his campaigns.

These are just a few examples of how many high-profile Democrats promote the Beltway's idea of centrism -- focused on perpetuating the status quo and abetting the influence of corporate interests that finance political campaigns. But with a centrism like this, so far outside the real center of public opinion, no wonder the Democratic Party keeps losing congressional elections.

On the Iraq war, for instance, polls show a majority of Americans want a timetable for drawing down troops. On economic policy, most Americans support stronger government regulations to protect citizens. On trade, polls show the public is widely suspicious of free-trade deals that have destabilized the middle class. And on health care, surveys show that about two-thirds of those asked want a government-guaranteed universal health-insurance system -- even if it means tax increases.

This article reminded me of what Paul Wellstone wrote in Conscience of a Liberal.

I have never understood arguments for the need for politicians to "move to the center" to get elected. What is the operational definition of "the center"? If what is meant is that you need to have more votes than your opponent than I am all for being in the center. But that is too obvious.

If what is meant by the center is the dominant mood of the populace- the issues that are important issues to Americans and what they hope for- then I would again argue for the need to occupy the center. A politics that is not sensitive to the concerns and circumstances of people's lives, a politics that does not speak to and include people, is an intellectually arrogant politics that deserves to fail.

Sirota ends his peice by saying...

By pursuing similar policies at the national level, and rejecting Washington's faux centrism, Democrats will be able to reclaim a congressional majority.