One of the few unpleasant illuminations brought forth at last weekend’s DCI training sessions was the general concern, dismay and admittance that the Democratic Party in Massachusetts has lost significant support from minorities and those residing in the inner cities of our Commonwealth. It appears that its not so much that our traditional base doesn’t like us anymore as is that they don’t know us anymore.
We’ve grown to look so much like Republicans that they have been regularly voting for Republican Governors for over 20 years – as one astute and experienced politico expressed it – ” Since both parties are alike, minds well vote for a Republican and get the real thing!”.
Those Demos who love to fondly opine about Bobby Kennedy or Jerry Brown or even as far back as Ellenor Roosevelt, to say nothing of Martin Luther King, seem to have forgotton that these folks were never shy to mix with the people – wherever they were. They all easily traversed the inner city, the rural backroad and took positions and stood their ground for the the helpless, hapless and forgotten. And those they met along the way never forgot them – even over a generation. They didn’t need a zip code, a poll or a bag of buzz words to find people, they simply went and looked for themselves and did something about what they saw and heard. TV blitzes are no match for such simple integrity and true character.
Last weekend a group of South Shore ” activist Democrats” set up a few booths in the Hanover Mall and talked to the citizens passing by about Democratic principles and offered them some brochures and invited them to sign campaign petitions. More surprising than the over 600 signatures they got was the surprise that people expressed at the fact that Democrats were even in the Mall – meeting and talking to people of all things. Just think of it…real live Democrats out talking to anyone who will listen? What a strange and unique idea -doesn’t even take the bravery of a MLK or RFK who used to regularily get his cufflinks, shirt sleeves and sometimes shirts ripped off his body by residents of the inner cities who never forgot that he even cared enough to come to them. Feel free to stop by the Hanover Mall this weekend and see for yourself- those activist Democrats are apparently going back again for more.
While we Democrats brag about our Big Tent we should be alert that the door into that tent is getting smaller each year. We need to either get out and meet and invite new voters in or get a bigger door and hope they notice. On the other hand maybe we should do both?
Pericles
