We Relit the Flame. Now Comes the Work.

 

We relit the flame of liberty last Tuesday.

Americans of all stripes rose up to rekindle a light that had been flickering. Now the work gets harder. We’ve got to work together to keep it shining.

We have two years to show what a broad coalition of patriots — left, right, and center — can accomplish. We must “hang together,” as Franklin is said to have warned his fellow patriots. We face a formidable task, with a bitter and petty group bunkered in the White House and a Supreme Court that seems to have forgotten what the War of Independence was all about.

We need to hammer out a realistic plan, with clear priorities and enough common ground to turn an electoral rejection into lasting repair.

I keep thinking about the Americans who confronted the failures of the Articles of Confederation. Their disagreements were deep. The Constitution they hammered out through wrenching compromises was imperfect, sometimes tragically so. But building a workable republic required agreement among people who would never agree on everything.

My readers -- both of them! <grin> -- likely tire of my frequent reminders of the Constitution’s Preamble, shaped by Gouverneur Morris’s eloquent pen. Form a more perfect union. Establish justice. Insure domestic tranquility. Provide for the common defense. Promote the general welfare. Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

That statement of purpose should be kept before us always.

For the next two years, I believe our Democratic Congress should begin with measures that have the broadest public support: practical improvements in people’s lives and strong safeguards against the abuse of public power. Identify that common ground. Write sound legislation. Pass it. Then move to the next achievable task.

A likely presidential veto is no reason to abandon that work. Put clear, workable proposals before the country. Give Americans something concrete to judge, and make clear who supports those measures and who stands in their way.

None of us needs to surrender a deeply held conviction. But we must distinguish between what we hope eventually to accomplish and what we can accomplish together now. Measures requiring longer debate and harder compromises deserve that work; they should not prevent action where agreement already exists.

These two years will also be complicated by the jockeying for the presidency. Ambitious politicians in both parties are already looking toward 2028. Governor Pritzker, for example, has already offered an agenda with much to recommend it, and I have borrowed some of its proposals here. Others will bring their own ideas and ambitions. Fine. But we cannot allow competing presidential campaigns to derail the congressional work before us. If we squander this opportunity, we can lose our majorities and our chance at the presidency just as quickly as Republicans lost their majorities last Tuesday.

Here are some priorities I believe could command majority support, though we should test that belief by listening well beyond our own circles:

End the war in Iran. Investigate government corruption and strengthen the laws and oversight that prevent it. Protect our borders while ending cruelty in immigration enforcement. Support democratic republics abroad and rebuild our alliances. End the destructive tariffs and ensure that refunds reach consumers. Stop sweetheart deals for data centers.

Restore and adequately fund Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, SNAP, and our public-health programs. Raise the federal minimum wage. Restore Voting Rights Act protections and put abortion protections into federal law. Restore education programs and grants. Invest in infrastructure and clean energy nationwide. Replace lead water pipes. Strengthen FEMA’s ability to help people when disaster strikes.

That is more than enough work to require hard choices about what comes first. We need an order of action, with clear goals and an honest account of what each measure will cost and accomplish.

I believe this MAGA administration is the most corrupt in American history and deserves impeachment and removal. But Trump’s second impeachment taught us that even a Senate majority favoring conviction is not enough: removal requires a two-thirds supermajority of the senators present. We must weigh what is achievable and avoid letting an unlikely removal effort consume or obscure the legislative work Americans need.

Still, there must be accountability. Investigations, oversight, and any resulting legal proceedings MUST follow the evidence, respect due process, and apply standards we would accept for our own leaders. The public MUST be able to see the difference between accountability under law and vengeance against political opponents.

And We the People must be part of this effort from beginning to end. Members of Congress, governors, state legislators, and citizens throughout this coalition must explain what is being proposed, listen to objections, report progress honestly, and keep showing how each step serves the purposes of our republic.

We must also keep our humility. Treating the anti-MAGA tsunami as a blanket endorsement of the Democratic Party could undo everything we hope to accomplish.

Public trust must be earned through what we do next.

We are Democrats. Will Rogers knew us: “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” Well, we’d better get our act together — and keep it together for the next two years.

Our tent is big, and our disagreements will endure. But the circle guarding liberty’s flame must be wider still. We need every willing keeper — left, right, and center — to help it burn brighter, strengthen its shelter, and pass it safely to our children and theirs.

Even an eternal flame needs its keepers.