Wake Up

Today Howard Dean launched a new political organization, Democracy for America.

“I will do everything I can to help John Kerry beat George W. Bush in 2004, to revitalize grassroots democracy, and to move America in a better direction,” Dean said. “To defeat George W. Bush, we must stand up strong for our principles, not paper over our differences with the most radical Administration in our lifetime. To win, we must aggressively expose the ways in which George W. Bush’s policies benefit the privileged and the most extreme ideologues. To win, we must confidently advance a policy agenda rooted in hope and real American values–opportunity, integrity, and community.”

Dean explained that Democracy for America would have five goals:

1. Recruit and encourage progressive candidates to run for office at every level. We will help them find the resources to campaign successfully with small donations from grassroots supporters, to begin to break the stranglehold special interests have on the political process.

2. Raise funds for Congressional candidates for whom financial support could be the key to winning, and whose election will be key to winning back a House of Representatives that has become the tool of the Republican right wing.

3. Develop strategic partnerships with other progressive organizations to maximize resources for candidate recruitment, training, and organization.

4. Build relationships with other political initiatives to focus on the failed, destructive policies of the Bush administration.

5. Harness the power of the Internet to enlarge and support our grassroots organization committed to taking back America from special interests that control the right wing leadership of our Congress and the White House.

I’m glad to see Dr. Dean putting the organization he built during his bid for the Democratic nomination to such good use, and I hope Democracy for America will be a force in American politics well beyond the 2004 elections.