Our leaders are not making it clear to the American people what the Democratic party stands for.

In 1992 when the Republican party was coming apart at the seams they did not worry about just one race here and there. They walked and chewed gum at the same time, they made investments in infrastructure, took time, even when it meant losing a few battles, took time to figure out their plan in a war - a war against, I believe, values that have made this country strong and fair.

Perhaps you were expecting me to share with you a formula for how to win in your counties or what specifically we should do as a party on issues, but I am going to talk to you about how I think we need to be talking and who we need to be talking to.

To be perfectly honest - I think most of you have the nuts and bolts of politics figured out. In fact I'm sure of it. You're smart enough and disciplined enough to be here I have seen the strides you have made losing by less and less every time, adding voters, canvassing.

So I want to pursue a different line of inquiry with you - one that doesn't get talked about often enough.

Let me begin by stating the obvious. Many if not all of you are well on your way to being true humanitarians. You are here because in fact you share a set of attitudes and values that go far beyond political rhetoric. There are issues and questions that you truly care about. This organization is more than a network - this organization is dedicated to harnessing your power to make a difference in the local community and across your counties. The committees you serve on and the projects you support are truly for the greater good.

My professional life involves thinking, writing and speaking critically about the political issues and political figures of our day. I spend most of my waking hours coming up with questions - questions that will help us understand political power and the way it is being applied across a wide spectrum, that and being yelled at by Ann Coulter and trying to get a word in edgewise with Joe Scarborough or Tucker Carlson.

I love my work.

I find it challenging and rewarding.

I am privileged to be engaged in a profession that places me at the intersection of politics and media - the juncture where it is always a challenge to keep one's eye on the prize of objectivity by resisting the spin which deflects the light of truth from the contours of our political landscape.

And yes I want more than that. I want to matter - I want to make a contribution that is not only important and valued, but one that will be remembered.

You have the power to transform the world around you! Think about running for office. Every level of government from the town council to the state legislature-- to the Congress and the executive branch -- needs individuals like you with your talents and energy.

I don't need to tell you that we live in a very difficult time. I know how easy it is to turn off the news, because so much of it seems so bad.

From the war in Iraq to the tragedy of New Orleans to the spiraling deficits that keep growing exponentially to the ever-present threat of a terrorist attack - take your pick. But our strength and our greatness as a people - our character as Americans, as Democrats - is all about facing adversity and turning challenges into opportunities.

It may sound like a cliché but it's true - every epoch of history brings with it struggles and challenges - every moment in history is the best of times and the worst of times - every generation faces down new challenges that seem to threaten its survival.

I am not pessimistic. I know and you know that we will endure because we have the power to face the time in which we live with honesty and integrity, returning to the values that shaped us as a nation. Values of fairness and equity, values of compassion and generosity.

Armed with such values you have the power to continue to be of service by taking up a cause in your community and making a difference in the outcome of an issue that will change lives. You have the power to be transformational leaders, which means standing on the shoulders of your democratic brothers and sisters and then helping to make new leaders - I want to see more young people here next time I visit you guys, put that on your to do list - teach them why it matters to them - why it is A HREF="http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/flavia/archives/002700.html">relevant to their life to be involved!

And when you do this with others - your power - your strength as political activists -- will increase exponentially.

Margaret Mead, a pioneer in the field of anthropology, gained powerful insights from her work about human behavior. Among her many writings there is a line that I always turn back to - "Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have."

As I look out at all of you this morning I think of those words and I imagine how much service can come from this room - how much power you possess collectively to change your communities and to touch the lives of so many people in ways that are important and meaningful.

I encourage you to look around and to see in each other what Margaret Mead saw - the energy of caring people, the only ones who can in fact change the world.

We are constantly reminded of the fact that America is a divided nation. Red states and blue states, divisions and fissures that divide us over issues related to the economy, end of life issues, questions of marriage and sexual orientation, the war in Iraq - the list goes on and on.

But I wonder...

How often any of us takes the time to realize that we are of service to others when we listen with compassion to their beliefs and opinions, especially when they are on "the other side" of a question?

Believe me, sometimes compassion gets put to the test, like when Pat Buchanan is yelling at you on live TV.

When the history books are written, I predict, that one of the most serious indictments of this administration will be that Bush ran as a "uniter not a divider", but they have governed in a way that has divided this Nation in a way more seriously than at any time in the last generation.

"What America needs today," as Bobby Kennedy once remarked, "what America so desperately needs today, is not more anger (and I know it is easy in this climate to get angry, please resist), but as he said, we don't need more division or more hatred, what America needs today is more compassion, more brotherhood, more common ground, and yes, more love for one another."

And we can achieve that unity by appealing to the better instincts of the American people, not their baser instincts. Appeal to their better angels, Lincoln would say, even when we suspect they don't have any. One of my Philadelphia heroes, Ben Franklin, used to say, sometimes feigning a virtue like patience or tolerance can be just as good. We are what repeatedly do and I think in time it not only helps to cultivate the quality for real, but it also, in many cases, brings out the best in others.

But we need to stop flocking to events to see the next flavor of the month, the democratic "Karl Rove" who will solve it all. I don't even want you to watch me on TV or read my commentary and think that I want you to think like me, I just want us all to keep thinking together, working together, I want and must learn from you, and we must all learn from each other. There is no shining knight waiting to rescue us - in this battle the hero will have to be you!

We should hold each other to a higher standard. We should challenge each other, and we should embrace political leaders who challenge us, and reject those that do nothing but pander.

If you take anything away from my time with you today, I hope it's that each and every one of you realize that your democratic equity, I will call it, can make a difference.

And your contribution can be large or small on different days; most of life is showing up, right? I forget who said that.

I grew up in a family that honored public service. From my family I've learned that the important thing in life is not what you take out of it, but what you put back in. What's important is not who helps you, but what you can do to help others. That's what life is really all about, that is what makes life worth living.

To create jobs for people who want to work for a living and provide for their families, to expand healthcare and make sure every American has access to it, to raise our environmental standards, it is a civil right for every child to drink clean water and breathe clean air. To improve our schools and to make sure that the quality of our children's education is not determined by what the zip code on their mailing address is.

And I learned from experience that this great enterprise that we call public service, is not some theory, its not political science. No, Harvard could not teach me what is most important about this nation, about the strength of its people, and about what we must do to help preserve Her.

I have learned from experience that this great enterprise we call public service is not about high political theory or low political demagoguery. It is about the practical undertaking that we can do together to improve the quality of opportunity in the daily lives of people. Person by person, precinct by precinct, county by county.

And you know what? That, in a very profound way, is the genius of America. Each generation trying to do right by those who will follow in our footsteps. To try and give them more opportunity and more freedom, more hope, more security - so that they can have a better way of life.

And here this morning, I can tell you that I am deeply concerned - deeply concerned, that if we don't do something to guide our nation in a better direction, that we're on the cusp of becoming the first generation in the history of this nation to not keep faith with the children of California or of my home state of Pennsylvania. We can not let that happen, we must not let that happen.

It's going to change when we go to the American people, and convince them that it's going to take all of us together to move this country forward.

We need to start telling the American people the truth, the truth the other side doesn't want them to hear. Karl Rove and those folks, they're good at dividing this country along lines of race or ethnicity, or religion or orientation, for cheap short-term political gain. But it hurts this country.

We need to do better than that. We need to be better than that. By reconciling differences, by building bridges across the divide, by reminding the American people of the truth that we know in our hearts to be true, that we're one people, with a common legacy, a common destiny, and we have a common bond that transcends all the divisions that we think separate us. That is the truth.

But we have to be honest with our neighbors honest with ourselves - be weary of politicians, even democrats, who come into our communities and try to be all things to all people. Don't think it was always this way and thus must be such.
Robert Kennedy was once asked by a group of wealthy people who was going to pay for the health care system he proposed. He said, "you are". Can you imagine a politician being that honest and frank today?

We tell them we can cut their taxes endlessly and still pay for the services they want. We use Orwellian Double-Speak to avoid telling Americans the truth. We cut protection for clean air and call it "The Clear Skies Initiative". We undermine our most basic American liberties, and call it "The Patriot Act". But some time soon, somewhere, some politician is going to connect with the American people by doing one simple thing, talking to them like adults and telling them the truth.
We need to help them do that!!

Tell our leaders in DC that we don't just need cookie cutter candidates who pass focus groups, cause frankly if you need a focus group you have no focus.
We need ones who will speak truth to power - because guess what, Wellstone and many others found out, good policies is good politics.

I've read a lot about the "Greatest Generation", a generation I only know from the history books and from sitting at the knees of my grandparents and their friends.

The generation that stared down the great depression and then won World War II. They did not become the greatest generation because they were afraid to be challenged.

I think we ill serve the American people by thinking that they won't accept a challenge. That they don't know how to step up to the plate. When has Her people, not Her leaders, Her people been asked to step up, and did not? We are a nation of good men and women, men and women who love this country and are willing to serve Her when asked, be it in different capacities.

We need to call the American people to a deeper kind of patriotism. I am very blessed to get many e-mails from our men and women in Iraq. And you would be proud of these young men and women. I am so proud of them! Many of them complain to me about mismanagement and a lack of a plan and troop morale, but they find reasons to try in their own way to make a positive difference. They find ways in the midst of chaos to better themselves; it is truly inspiring.

And they're putting it on the line each and every day. And too many of them end up in places like Walter Reed Army Hospital. Cheney got teary eyed, 'the hardest day of his life" shooting his friend in a hunting accident, I want to see that level of emotion from him when he is interviewed about our men and women who have to witness death every day, and yes, see their friends die, and sometimes by friendly fire in the confusion of war. I want to see that emotion when he is asked again, like he was last week about the genocide in Darfur, when he responded without emotion that we are doing all we can and it is sufficient. And yes, if you are Paul Wolfowitz, an architect of this war, don't you dare step on the floor of Congress and not know the number of men and women who have perished, be hundreds off - they are our sons and daughters!!!

I sometimes stay up at night; these people, these heroes, have made the ultimate sacrifice. Their families - we don't talk about those heroes enough - make the ultimate sacrifice.

What about me I ask myself, what about us? What are we doing to strengthen this country? What are we doing to make it more secure? What has our President called upon us to do to defend America?

Of course we must support our troops, but the question is how do we best do that? Give them the equipment they need, the honor and the respect they deserve, the health benefits and retirement plans and training and rotations that are fair to their families.

We should treat their wives and daughters as if they were our own. Our government cannot say they support the troops, we must make them show us they do!

Yes, outrage is merited when we have to send our men and women body armor, when their families must send them jackets to keep them warm, but action is needed more than outrage.

Lobby your leaders, write letters to your papers, we can not stop, must not stop till our men and women have all they need.

And in the meantime we can't just wait for a government that allowed for 80% of deaths caused by wounds to the torso to happen, that's what we have learned from the Pentagon. 80% of those deaths could have been prevented if the administration had done their job and provided our troops with body armor!

We can't wait for them, our men and women died while we waited. Reach out to Intrepid fallen heroes and help make sure families of those who have fallen are taken care of, the burden and sacrifice they have carried for this nation is great, and at the most difficult time of their lives, after losing a loved one, the last thing they need is more burdens.

Reach out to IAVA, Iraqi and Afghanistan Veterans of America, other Veterans groups; see what you can do to help!!!

Send care packages, write letters, help raise money and awareness about PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder, our men and women are not getting the help they need. Know that if a vet is blessed enough to come back alive and seemingly with no injuries, know that it is very likely they will never be the same again, their life has been changed forever.

If you want to help and don't know where to begin, please come up to me after the speech and I will help you help them.

As an aside, on the way here I saw a huge gas guzzling SUV with a yellow magnetic support the troops sign, most likely made in China, let's hope I don't see one on the way back, as I was too tired to totally lose it in the wee hours of the morning

I don't know about in California, but I know that when I travel the country, folks talking to me on the street, say, "What can I do? What can we do?" Americans are a generous people.

Can you remember when the president of the United States was asked that question? There was about a week's worth of silence, and then do you know what he said? Go to the mall, go shopping, go out. That's what they assigned America to do, that's what they call leadership. It's not leadership! We can do better than that.

How about going on Television and saying "We need a new declaration of independence in this country. A declaration of energy independence. Because it's not right, that we're as dependent as we are on places like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Russia.

It's not good for our economy, its not good for our nation's security, and we need to do something about this now to make sure we leave this place better for our children.

This isn't pie in the sky stuff. There are hybrid cars; some of you may drive them. Fuel additives that get 20 to 30 percent more miles per gallon. I have a friend who owns a car that runs on vegetable oil and another's whose is electric. And there are other technologies and things that can make a real difference.

If you are crazy like me you can just walk around with no car, I think I am the only person under 80 with one of those pull carts to go to the grocery store.

This administration has just dropped the ball.

Our men and women are dying, losing limbs. Coming home with post traumatic stress disorder which will haunt them for life - they are enduring all of this in the name of spreading democracy. Not only do we need to demand that our party have a unified vision on Iraq to bring our troops home, not a cut and run plan, but like Jack Murtha's, which I am happy to talk about in the question and answer period, since it was so misrepresented by the media.

He had the guts to talk tough and true, not afraid of the attacks that would come, not afraid of being called a coward. He wasn't afraid of being called a coward, because he has shown in a lifetime that he is anything but. The day he took his stand his district, a conservative one just like Wellstone and Feingold have found in the past, supported his view because they saw their conviction. Saw the mark of integrity and character that Jack Murtha wears with grace. (good policies= good politics)

But the other thing we must do to honor our men and women is to not allow the Bush administration to undermine that which they are fighting for, democracy. And you know exactly what I mean

Yes, the President is mismanaging Iraq. Yes he and his appointees bungled Katrina. Gas prices are rising And, yes he first tried appointing someone to the Supreme Court with as much experience on the bench as your local fry cook at McDonald's then followed up with someone who I think may attempt to roll back so many of the rights that have made this country great.

Tom DeLay and frankly a good deal of the Republican leadership have become a symbol of the corruption that runs deep in politics.

No, Republicans cannot run the country. But, the Democrats still can't run their own party. That's the rub.

Polls back it up. Despite all of President Bush's massive failures, he would still beat John Kerry if the election was held today, according to pollster John Zogby, and that's not a Republican poll.

Think of the Democrats like a symphony orchestra. Before the conductor comes out at a concert, all the instruments are practicing pieces on their own, and the sound is disorganized and harsh to the ear, like my brother as a little boy banging on pots and pans, his drum set for the day.

But when the conductor steps in front of them, with a baton for the orchestra to follow, the result is some of the most beautiful music known to man.

The Democrats don't have anyone leading the ensemble with a positive vision for the future. "No, no, no," Democrats tell me. "We're going to repeal the Bush tax cuts, put money into education, and save Social Security." First, no one knows any of these things because the party is never on the same page about their message, so some people are harping on Social Security while others are talking up health care. This laundry list is not a vision. People do not vote for a party whose grand vision is limited to things like repealing tax cuts.

Newt Gingrich, a man I almost always disagree with, understood this. I can't recall a single thing that was in the Contract with America, but the name is definitely seared into my brain, and I remember it was ostensibly about reducing the size of government, increasing personal responsibility, and removing barriers to individual success. That was a vision. I remember that every single Republican played off the same page, as Newt conducted them. Republicans still play off the same page today under the conductor President Bush, and have added a new stanza - defeating Islamic extremists, whatever that means. According to every study and think tank their policies have created more terrorists not less of them.

Bill Maher said it best, the Republicans have a screwed up vision, but at least they have one.

Vision and unity equal conviction in the eyes of voters. The Republicans understand that, and that's why they gained power and held onto it, even as they have run the country into the ground, and why the Democrats, who have proven themselves better at governing, are still struggling to convince America to give them that power back.

This is where you come in - the Democratic party does have a vision, does have values that resonate with the American people, I'll talk specifics with you issue by issue in the Q & A if you like. Political operatives in DC tell our politicians to take half measures, try to have it both ways, and the result is the public perceives they have a lack of conviction.

We know this is not true of true democrats, why would you be here, why would you work so hard if not for conviction - our leaders must reflect those values.

Do you know how many people voted against their interests last election? How many people who have everything to lose by Bush being president? A lot, and not because they are dumb (and this is important the democrats can not start looking down upon their own voters!), but because they felt he, Bush that is, stood for their personal values, and more importantly that he stood for something and had conviction.

Grassroots activists must, must, lead the way in being bold. We must lead and show them how it is done!

Speaking about values, another concern I have as a progressive and a person whose faith is very important to them. I straddle between the two sides and have been very saddened that the gap between the two is getting greater, not closing, and make no mistake we are losing countless elections because of it.

Instead of sitting down and listening to communities of faith, Democrats read polls. Polling tells them that more and more people consider "moral values" of utmost importance when determining their vote. The reaction is either to dismiss this group as "religious extremists" who are out of touch with reality, or do what far too many Democrats do, suddenly proclaim they love Jesus too.

The lazy reading of the polls is what has led to such simplistic reactions to religious voters. A deeper examination finds some interesting results. Yes, for some evangelical Christians, the phrase centrally expressed an antipathy to abortion or opposition to gay marriage. But to many other voters, "moral values" meant caring for the poor, safeguarding the environment and expressing kindness to neighbors.

This is exactly what Democrats miss because they are not sitting down and listening to religious communities. I don't want or need them to quote me Bible versus or tell me they were alter boys, I am Catholic and I know most times that is something you do for allowance money.

I want them just to listen. Not with the deaf ears that discriminate, judge, or patronize but with an open heart and an open mind.

If they did listen, they would learn what I did when I worked closely with the board of pardons in Pennsylvania. I learned that besides men like Ed Asner and Mike Farrell and a few liberal activists, it was Catholic priests and nuns who were on the forefront of the fight against the death penalty.

Before the Congressional Black Caucus or the left got interested in the Sudan, evangelical Christians were on the ground there, aiding those in need. The most effective environmental message I have ever seen were billboards in the rust belt calling for conservation that read, "What would Jesus Drive?" I have never forgotten it. It wasn't the Sierra Club or Greenpeace sponsoring the ad, it was the Evangelical Christian Network. When Pope John Paul was near death, he called the President not to talk to him about abortion or gay marriage or pornography. The most important issue to the Holy Father at the time was avoiding a war in Iraq. I say this because we need to start reaching out to these groups.

Bill Clinton understood this, and that it why he was the last politician to effectively reach out to the religious community. Unlike George Bush, Bill Clinton didn't wear his religion on his sleeve. He didn't brag about all the times he went to church, or claim that he had a direct line to God. What Clinton did, with great mastery, was sit down and listen to communities of faith and let them know he heard them, understood them, and would work with them where they saw eye to eye. On issues they did not see eye to eye on, such as gay rights, he was honest about his difference of opinion and moved on.

I ran into Bill Clinton not too long ago, and asked him about this issue. He told me that religious communities are telling him that they would like to work with the left on issues like Iraq, the environment, Sudan, and the death penalty, but since Clinton left office, no Democratic politicians are calling them anymore.

Again we don't need to wear religion on our sleeves but we do need to start talking about issues in a way that connects with peoples values and connects to them in a visceral emotional way.

Republicans love to talk about "family values" Can anyone tell me that a hike in the minimum wage is not a family value.? This is a moral issue. And what could be more moral, more life-sustaining, than ensuring that a working family will be paid the wages that can keep its members functioning?

Do we not have a moral responsibility, is it "good values", to say to those great American workers, and I know we have a tremendous amount of labor here and let me say thank you, thank you for taking the lead in this moral fight, is it good moral values to say to those who may be dislocated through no fault of their own, but a changing world economy, not helped by the way, by our government giving our workers the shaft and allowing countries to cheat, and that is what it is when we have unfair trade policies, make no mistake about that.

From a moral standpoint we must reach out to those Americans who are displaced and ensure that they have an opportunity to get back on the ladder of success, that every American has the prospect of being upwardly mobile in the global marketplace and that we do not just say to them, well, if you did not get the education you need, if you happen to be employed in the wrong industry that is suffering dislocations, that is too bad for you, tough break. That is social Darwinism, and we cannot take that path we must not take that path. We must help to re-train these workers!

The bankruptcy bill, and by the way those that want to talk old testament or new, usury is discussed far more than gays, that's for sure. Is it a family value? To have a deadbeat dad have to pay a multi-billion-dollar corporation before providing for his own son or daughter?

Is it strong moral values for a Governor of Texas, now the President, to refuse to grant stays of execution to a man who was represented by a lawyer who constantly fell asleep at trial, as well as a number of mentally retarded defendants.

None of these people were fully able to grasp what they were being tried for, let alone capable of assisting in their defense.

It is time for people to demand that the United States, which is a beacon of hope and freedom, reclaim its place as the world's leader in establishing real moral values in the way it operates.

That means following the Geneva conventions, not deciding on your own whim to violate the 4th amendment, not naming something the Patriot Act which is anything but. We need to remind them that that is what the Democratic party is all about.

We need a revolution, one that starts from the ground up. DC, for the most part, has shown they are inept at speaking to the American people in a way they understand. Grassroots activism must reclaim its position of importance and we must set the agenda for DC to follow!

WE must set the work ethic. We must be relentless in our efforts to connect with new voters, bring new people into the fold, explain the values of our party in a compassionate and open way, and let our example be a light that shines all the way to the corridors of power.

The only cynical belief I hold dear, is the knowledge that many politicians care deeply about self preservation - my point is, results matter. Let's show our way, door to door. Understanding and knowing your neighbor and knowing what will move him or her works better than high priced consulting and ads that seem like electronic wall paper with nothing to say.

And lets continue to demand that they speak in unison and help us have something to sell, that will be echoed on TV and elsewhere.

And don't forget, and this is the most important thing of all, on a less political note, who we are as neighbors and human beings. How we say things is often more important than what we say.

Emerson's words echo in my ear and I will say them twice, let them wash over you - "who you are shouts so loudly in my ears I can not hear what you say."

I will leave you with two Latin calls to action, Carpe diem!!! You know what that means, and ESSE QUAM VIDERI, to be rather than to appear.