Tom Vilsack posted this entry in the discussion section of his new Heartland PAC on Aug 1st, 2005 at 12:41 pm EDT
A Community of Ideas
To win elections – and to regain the majority status - we will have to draw a bright line between our party and our opponents. We will have to become the party of ideas and the party of candidates who inspire and take action.
That is why we are launching this online community and a marketplace of ideas at HeartlandPac.org. We are going to strive to bring big ideas from Americans and share them with candidates across the country to help them win.
It may sound idealistic, but that is the essence of what Heartland PAC is about. We all have to take the responsibility to help make the Democratic party the party of ideas.
We cannot divine a winning message from polls or past elections. We have to work together to craft a message that comes from the courage to confront the problems we face and the passion to make our communities better.
It is easy to get upset. It is easy to second guess ourselves or concentrate on the results of the last election. We can literally hold our breath until the red states turn blue but that is not going to affect the lives of Americans. It is not going to improve our schools, our healthcare system, our energy independence, our economy, or our position in the world.
And it is pretty clear that Americans are waiting for us to step forward. They are desperate to hear our ideas, because it is becoming clear to them that the ideas and actions of the Bush administration - and many Republican governors - are not working. But their failure is not our success. We have to give people a reason to believe we can do better.
We have to speak up and we have to listen to each other. We have to ensure everyone in this party has the opportunity to proudly declare our values and present voters with bold ideas and a compelling message.
Many in the online community have already begun to move our party in this direction, and this forum is one more tool to move the party forward and to elect Democrats in states across the country.
But the website is more than just a tool or a piece of software. It is that ideas will help draw the bright line between us and our opponents.
