The question is still what kind of country do we want to live in?
Republicans often play to the worst impulses in human nature and separate people from each other, scapegoating minority groups and dismantling our community support systems. We have a better answer.
We know what we believe.
We believe in community. We care about our neighbors and we help each other. We can provide a bright future to our children with a quality education and we can provide a secure retirement free from poverty and dependence for our grandparents. And we can accomplish it within a reasonable budget so we don’t leave a burden of debt on the next generation. Democrats are responsible and balance budgets. Democrats lift up the community and make sure that everyone has a chance for a future.
We believe in security. We will foster strong partnerships with other nations to ensure the secure and safe prosperity for all. We will reduce our dependence on resources that make us vulnerable to attack. We will use our American ingenuity to strengthen our own economy and our environment. We won’t start wars of choice and then perpetuate them to keep the military contractors in business. We will fund schools and investment in green jobs over funding bombers and missile defense our military doesn’t need or even want.
We believe in liberty. We respect every American’s right to practice their own religion and to live a life free from bigotry, abuse, and harassment. We will fight discrimination and deliver on the promise of equality for all Americans. We believe that no one, not multinational corporations nor the government, has the right to your personal information to keep tabs on you for profit or unwarranted policing.
We believe in community, security and liberty and we will never back down.
We will fight to live in a country that values those things we hold dear. Whether we are fighting corporate greed or right-wing attacks, we will stand up for what we believe.
So what does that mean for us in the next two years? That means that we must fight for our values against Republican attempts to dismantle any progress we have made. It will be our mission to make sure Americans know the difference between our values and Republicans — a choice between strong communities, security and liberty — or Republican division, greed, and fear.
President Obama said it best at the memorial service for those who were tragically gunned down in Arizona, “As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let’s use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy and remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together.”
I know we will fight even harder in 2011 and 2012 than we did in 2008 to make sure no Republican can turn back the clock on the advances we’ve made so far. We will defeat those who stand against the advances we have yet to make. We will not compromise our values in the name of political expediency. We will always fight to move America forward against those who are determined to force us back.
I want to hear from you. What do our shared values mean to you? What should be our priorities for the coming year? How will we work together to move America forward in 2011?
Our movement is best when it’s a conversation. You just heard from me and I want to hear from you. Please take a moment to a let us know your thoughts at DemocracyforAmerica.com or join me live at Daily Kos tonight at 9pm eastern for a live chat. I’ll answer questions and discuss with you what you care about most and your ideas on how to move forward on our shared values.
The State of the Progressive Movement is strong. This is our time to recommit to our work for a better America. You are the reason why we have come so far.
I look forward to working with you in 2011 and beyond.
-Howard
Governor Howard Dean, M.D.
Founder, Democracy for America
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
Looks like NH has a two-sided face when it comes to the GOP. Their state party elects a Tea party activist but yet Mitt Romney is the winner of the straw poll for possible presidential candidates.
I wonder if these tea bag mad hatters know that Romney supported the same type of health care reform that the TP’ers claim to hate? And if I am not mistaken, the requirement for mandatory purchasing of Romneycare was also pushed through.
Those tea bag mad hatters are a funny bunch. They proclaim loudly as to how independent they are and anti-establishment but yet then they pick Romney?
Seriously???
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41210870/ns/politics-more_politics/
Also – please note the wording in this article about the NH Republicans. They used the wording – we are at war.
Read Howard Dean’s words above and I don’t see him paint us as in a war. Dean does state that we should fight for our beliefs.
But fighting for one’s beliefs and thinking we are at war with the other side are two different animals – IMHO.
Just why do Republicans always have to make everything into a WAR????
RE: Indypendent’s observation, “why do Republicans always have to make everything into a WAR?”
Don’t know, but check this out:
Jim Robinson (Rebellion is brewing!! Nuke the corrupt commie bastards to HELL!!)
Jim Robinson runs the uber-Reich-wing website FreeRepublic.
And that’s his sig line.
Wow. CONs staying classy, as always.
I like Howard Dean and his words represent me and what I believe very well. I find it part of the climate of exaggerations the GOP has made their form of politics that Dr. Dean was accused of being overly emotional while Bachmann, Palin, Beck, Rush, Hannity, etc., etc. are respected spokespersons for their causes. Makes their rhetoric even sillier.
Michelle Bachmann has announced she will give a response to the President’s State of the Union address that represents the Tea Party Express shortly after Rep. Paul Ryan’s speech concludes.
What does it say to you when the GOP gives two responses representing two viewpoints?
Let’s keep in mind that Bachmann is the same woman who wanted citizens to believe that filling out the census may land them in an internment camp.
Would you guess that, at minimum, she could cause Boehner some headaches? (LOL!) What will the establishment do with their Mama Grizzles? They do seem to be blessed with more than their fair share of wingnutty women. As a female, I am ashamed of the type women the GOP attracts.
Fnord–
As a man, I’m ashamed of the kind of man they attract.
“Shoot a M-16 on full automatic at my ‘defeat Giffords rally!'”
Unbelievable.