Revolution for the Democrats
EXCITEMENT will run high this weekend in Worcester, where the state Democratic Party convention will be held, because Worcester Mayor Tim Murray is running for lieutenant governor. Arriving Democratic delegates and dignitaries will get a look at downtown ``Worcester on the move" while Murray supporters pack the convention hall to cheer on their mayor. Who knows? In a state starved for political leadership, maybe some history will be made in Worcester.
It would not be the first time. Historians such as Ray Raphael now argue that the American Revolution began in Worcester. Armed local patriots forced officials appointed by the crown to resign and prevented the courts from sitting in the summer and fall of 1774. Only logistical problems led the redcoats to march on Lexington and Concord rather than Worcester, where the radicals were ready.
They rushed toward Boston to join the fight, and over the next few years they gave George Washington a hand, helped write a Constitution for Massachusetts, and, when the war was over, joined rebel Daniel Shays to fight Boston merchants trying to steal the fruits of their revolution. In more ways than one, Worcester was and remains ``the heart of the Commonwealth."
Democrats gathering this weekend may want to make history again. Unfortunately the once-lively party has pretty much cut its ties to America's democratic aspirations. As avidly as Republicans, Democrats pursue economic development through the low risk capitalism of tax breaks, publicly funded infrastructure, and guaranteed loans. They ask insurance companies to help write legislation on healthcare, they pass on more costs to local governments, they make public higher education a weak alternative to our prestigious private universities, and they would quickly lower but never, never raise taxes.
Democrats seem entranced by the GOP mantra of limited government, low taxes, strong defense, and family values. That platform is the opposite of what our democracy requires. It is a formula for private wealth and public impoverishment, for growing gaps between rich and poor and an unraveling of the social fabric, and for our ever increasing reliance on military power to keep an angry world at bay.
Instead, we need strong, effective government and public revenues adequate to public responsibilities. We need fair taxes and an equitable sharing of community resources. To be safe and secure we require more international cooperation and less reliance on the unilateral use and threat of military force. Of course we need family values, but not mean-spirited campaigns against imagined enemies. We need honest efforts to make sure all people have access to housing and education and healthcare.
We all hope our families will prosper but none of our private goals will be worth anything if our country falls apart. So a new platform for the Democrats: strong government with fair and adequate revenues, internationalism as 21st century Americanism, and socially responsible, politically intelligent families.
Democrats should confront a growing reform movement that will draw all of us into civic action to affirm three simple propositions grounded in our tradition.
First, there is a public interest that takes precedence over private interests. Follow the siren song of limited government and tax cuts and only private wealth and power will matter. Public safety, good schools, clean air and water, and safe food are goods without which private prosperity will only breed anxiety and disappointment. However, the public cannot expect elected officials to protect its interests if it does not organize to support them when they do .
Second, international cooperation. We live in a more interdependent world than the people of 1776, but they had imperial experience and world-shaking ambitions. We have the capacity to help shape a world of cooperation, or we can make choices for power and privilege that will doom our children and grandchildren to a never-ending clash of civilizations.
Third, self-government. We have to govern ourselves because, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, we lack angels to do the job for us. Self-government means just that, acting as good citizens every day, at work and school, in the neighborhood and workplace, and especially in voluntary organizations and party politics.
With little effort, Democrats could fill Worcester's DCU Center with energetic, competent, patriotic young people who could make Massachusetts once again a laboratory of democracy.
David O'Brien is a professor of Roman Catholic studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. 
