Setting the Stage for the DNC

“It’s time for Democrats to stiffen our backbone and stand up for what we believe.”

That quote from Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts resounded through the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., Tuesday night. The question is will it resound through the nation because now, more than ever, we must decide what type of nation we want to be. Do we want a selfish, vindictive, xenophobic America? Or do we want a generous, forgiving, inclusive America?

For too long Democrats – as well as moderate Republicans – have been willing to acquiesce to the extreme right of the GOP, to hide for fear that acknowledging the Democratic Party’s basic principles will lead to members being labeled big-government, big- spending liberals. It is a label Democrats have been running from for decades.

But Tuesday, Patrick gave voice to what many Democratic voters have been longing for: A strong party that stands by ideas for the common good, the sense of community over the selfishness of the Ayn Rand acolytes.

“We Democrats owe America more than a strong argument for what we are against,” Patrick said. “We need to be just as strong about what we are for.”

The question, Patrick said, is “what do we believe?”

“We believe in an economy that grows opportunity out to the middle class and the marginalized, not just up to the well connected,” he said. “We believe that freedom means keeping government out of our most private affairs, including out of a woman’s decision whether to keep an unwanted pregnancy and everybody’s decision about whom to marry. We believe that we owe the next generation a better country than we found, and that every American has a stake in that. We believe that in times like these we should turn to each other, not on each other. We believe that government has a role to play, not in solving every problem in everybody’s life, but in helping people help themselves to the American dream. That’s what Democrats believe.”

Patrick was not the only one who pushed for Democrats to be Democrats, but he may have been the most vehement.

First Lady Michelle Obama reiterated Patrick’s lament, arguing that President Barack Obama should be re-elected because those ideas are at the heart of what is and should be America.

The president “believes that when you've worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity you do not slam it shut behind you,” she said. “You reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.”

“I know from experience that if I truly want to leave a better world for my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, if we want to give all our children a foundation for their dreams and opportunities worthy of their promise, if we want to give them that sense of limitless possibility – that belief that here in America, there is always something better out there if you're willing to work for it – then we must work like never before,” she continued.

And there lied the heart of what this election – and America – is about. It is one thing to extoll America’s “exceptionalism.” It is another to live up to it. Most recently, we have failed on the latter.

“The days we live in are not easy ones, but we have seen days like this before, and America prevailed,” said Julian Castro, the mayor of San Antonio. “With the wisdom of our founders and the values of our families, America prevailed. With each generation going further than the last, America prevailed. And with the opportunity we build today for a shared prosperity tomorrow, America will prevail.”

Indeed it will if we take the right action.