Bringing Democracy to the Democratic Party

By Jim Zogby

At the last meeting of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the impact of the work Our Revolution has engaged in was clearly in evidence.

But before I get into it, let me back up. I’ve been a Member of the DNC for 26 years. For 16 of those years, I served on its Executive Committee and for 11 years I chaired its Resolutions Committee. In all those years, believe it or not, we never had contested elections for officers of the body. And on only a few occasions did we ever have a debate on an issue of DNC policy. We, the DNC Members, were largely reduced to being props at meetings who listened to speeches and were asked to ratify decisions that had been made by the chair and their staff.

The 2016 election and OurRev’s follow-up work has changed all of that. It has introduced a new and, I believe, irreversible dynamic to the way the party operates.

To start with, we had the first-ever contested election for party chair, which spilled over into contested elections for every officer of the party. Some “party leaders” saw this as chaotic. I saw it as a real exercise in democracy. At that same meeting, we had a vigorous floor debate on a resolution to ban corporate PAC contributions. It was one of the first such challenges to party policy that I could recall since one we had in 1997 — when the Ethnic, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Councils worked together to defeat a rash and ill-founded decision by President Clinton to ban contributions from Green-card holders.

What has accelerated this change? It’s an energized base inspired by Senator Bernie Sanders — who brought his campaign’s agenda and energy into the party to challenge the conformity that had ruled for decades. In the last year and a half, Our Revolution was able to build on this new dynamism: in several states we were able to elect new DNC members and even party chairs; we identified and worked together with many of the DNC members who voted for Keith Ellison for Chair; and working within the Unity and Reform Commission that Bernie helped to launch, we were able to challenge some party procedures, create new structures to provide for increased accountability within the party, and pass an important change in convention rules banning Superdelegates from voting in the first round of balloting for the presidential nominee.

None of this would have been possible if Bernie hadn’t run and if Our Revolution hadn’t taken the baton handoff from that historic campaign and run with it.

I recall when Jesse Jackson created a similar dynamic in 1984 and 1988. He did increase black voter registration and made important electoral victories in the South and in mayoral races in the North and Midwest possible. But the Rainbow Coalition never focused on making real change within the Democratic Party.

2016 was different. We not only built on the change. We grew the change. We have not only helped to elect solid progressives to state and local offices across the country. We are now in a position to transform the Democratic Party — making it more democratic, more accountable, and more transparent.

This was in evidence at the last DNC meeting. We were able to pass a resolution calling for a debate on the Climate Crisis. In doing so we challenged a “rule” that had apparently been made by party leaders to prohibit such a debate and to penalize any candidates who participated in an “unsanctioned” debate. We objected to the fact that no DNC member had been involved in developing this “rule.”

When the party leaders indicated that they would seek to overturn the resolution, we objected and had a floor debate on the merits of our resolution versus their “rule.” While we lost the vote, our point had been made. Progressives were there, were organized, and were committed to being heard. This is a first at the DNC.

By way of example — In early 2003 I was on the Resolutions Committee and, together with Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., submitted a resolution calling on Democrats to oppose the war in Iraq. The party leaders would not let me do it! I fought back and in the end I was allowed to present the resolution, but they would not allow a second to the motion, thus causing it to die. I’m just thinking now, what a difference it would have made to have had the backing of a group as empowered and committed as the 70+ progressives we now have in the DNC.

As we look to the future, our path is clear: keep doing what we’ve been doing and do more of it. We need to continue to help elect progressive candidates on the local and state levels. AND we need to continue to elect more progressives to the DNC. As our numbers grow, so too will our influence in and our ability to change the direction of the party.

The bottom line for me is that after 26 years on the DNC, I am proud to say that the last 2 have been the most rewarding. I may not be on the DNC in the future but I am confident that, with the energy created by Bernie Sanders and the organizing work done by Our Revolution members we are on the road to transforming the party.