Speaking Up about our Principles
Participation in democracy begins with having a plainspoken sense of what you believe and what direction you want your country to go, and communicating it regularly to family, friends, associates, and government representatives through ordinary channels: conversations, letters and emails, public hearings, and of course elections. Speaking up is one of the foundations of citizen governance.
Why speak and write our principles? Because power is brokered first through spoken and written principles—even simple ones like the progressive principle "All persons are created equal" or the movement-conservative principle "Some people are better and more deserving than others". Principles are more than just words. They are ideas about how the world works, about how we live, about who deserves freedom, opportunity, and respect.
Progressives believe that all persons are created equal and all have a right to freedom, opportunity, and respect. But some Americans, usually those who call themselves conservatives, believe there is a favored class who are better than others and deserve a bigger share of the goods—rights and resources. Our lives and happiness depend on which principles win the day, not just election day but the ordinary business day. We need to speak up for a balance of political power, for democracy, if that's what we hope to live in.
Simple Tips for Speaking Up
- Don't be afraid to promote your progressive principles. Remember, you are not telling people what to believe: You are telling them what you believe, and you are proposing that they consider believing, or at least respecting, these principles too.
- Embrace tradition. Democracy, founding principles, our Constitutional system of government, established institutions, the American flag. Don't be afraid to believe in something.
- Promote your progressive principles through all media. In letters and calls to your government representatives and to newspapers and television stations, on the internet, in schools and churches and social gatherings. Why not progressive billboards on the boulevard?
- Promote your progressive principles every day of every year. Principles are too important to wait for elections. And the principles actively promoted and communicated between elections are the principles that will end up on the agenda at election time.
- Know the value of personal bonds. Share your progressive principles with your friends, family, and contacts all across America.
- Keep your promise. If we lose an election, we don't lose our principles and start looking for more popular ones. Principles are for the long term. The harder the going gets, the more we need our principles to guide us.
The Promise can help you make sense of elections and candidates.