I told myself that it was devastating. I knew inside my mind that this

When Democrats and pundits claim we lost political ground because of Black Lives Matter protesters, think about what that means. By all objective accounts, we need better, more responsible, less repressive, more engaged, less militarized and more comprehensive public safety. Democrats would be both morally wrong and politically foolish to deny those objectives. That does not mean we have to take the activists’ “defund the police” slogan literally. We can achieve progressive objectives through more moderate means without abandoning our convictions.
Trump’s management of the pandemic foundered on the false choice of either shutting down the economy or defeating the virus. He positioned Democrats as advocates of “national shutdowns” or “mask mandates,” arguing that the cure would be worse than the disease. The truth is that unless we defeat the virus the economy will suffer. People will not risk serious illness or death to shop for shoes or have dinner out, but they can do all that and more safely if we take seriously the precautions that public health experts have advised. Defeating the virus by denial was never going to work for Trump. Disassociating the virus from people’s economic needs won’t work for Democrats. We can have and must have both health safety and a functioning society.
The most maddening false choice we face is the one between the impact of a media campaign versus grassroots organizing. It’s maddening to me, personally, because the emphasis on media advertising seems most often to win out. Both have value. But I am convinced that Democrats and our agenda suffer from the lack of a permanent grassroots infrastructure. Because we have not everywhere invested the time and money to develop local relationships, neighbor to neighbor, community by community, we are easily tagged as elites, out of touch with local needs. And because Republicans have invested the time, what people know about Democrats in many places in America is what Republicans have been telling them.

Progressives are no less bold if we deliver universal care by a blend of public and private strategies. And if we do moderates are no less exposed to standard Republican cries of “socialism.” Remember Republicans want to take health care away from Americans, even in the midst of a public health emergency, and have no alternative of their own. Apparently, any health care solution that involves the government is too radical for them. So let’s stop trying to adjust our agenda to theirs.

Waking up to see that one of the activists I met down in Louisville was murdered yesterday was just another kick to the broken ribs that 2020 had already given me since the beginning of the year.

We have much to celebrate, but still so much work to do. I hope the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress will go big and bold, unyielding in their goals and willing to compromise on how best to achieve them, progressive and moderate at once. I hope we won’t listen to those who want to push voices and views out of our party and our politics because they are new, brash or jarring, especially at a time when we need to model the kind of politics that says we don’t have to agree on everything before we work together on anything. And I hope we will keep our eye on what America needs most, which is not more partisans but more progress.

So we have work to do. We have a democracy to repair. We have a pandemic to defeat, and an economy to revive. We have an immigration system to modernize, a health care system to reform, and a planet to save. We have to address the lasting damage that recession does to families, communities and small businesses, and that racism does to generations of citizens. Many good ideas surfaced during the Democratic primaries. There is more to learn by listening to people in urban neighborhoods and rural communities, to workers and management in small and large companies, to people who have solutions not just grievances.

I am a proud and loyal Democrat. I know you don’t have to hate Republicans to be a good Democrat. You don’t have to hate business to believe in and work for social justice. You don’t have to hate police to believe Black lives matter. Choices like these are false, yet they are the steady diet of modern politics. And they are holding us back.

To see what Democratic success can be, look at what Stacey Abrams has built in Georgia. Over many years of showing up, listening, and engaging in community organizing, Abrams and her coalition of grassroots organizations registered 800,000 voters in Georgia. She was pushing neither a progressive nor a moderate agenda. She has been about solving the problems people are facing and she has been focused on helping those who often do not vote, a community that tends to skew younger, less affluent and more racially diverse than the electorate at large.

Healthcare is a perfect example. Democrats want every American to have affordable, accessible, quality healthcare. Republicans don’t. That contrast could not be clearer or more important. How we deliver on our commitment is less important than that we deliver the desired outcome.That is, after all, what Republicans want. Republican charges of “socialism” or “tax and spend” or you name it are predictable. To an irritating degree, they cause us to start negotiating with ourselves. Republicans should care about universal health care, affordable housing, modern infrastructure and quality education, just as Democrats care about economic competitiveness, job creation, budget deficits and military readiness. Instead of being defensive about our objectives, Democrats ought to challenge Republicans to come up with better means.Because Abrams’ coalition emphasizes problem solving over party, because they are a permanent part of the communities they serve instead of an operation assembled for the next election and dismantled right after the vote, Georgia “turned blue” for Biden in 2020. Imagine taking a portion of the obscene amounts of money spent on television ads this cycle and investing instead in organizing at the grassroots to meet local needs. And imagine doing so in every community in every corner of America. Not only would it be a foil for the massive Republican propaganda machine, with it’s sometimes inventive but mostly recycled attack lines, it would position Democrats for electoral success and Americans for fundamental change well beyond Georgia.I find it disingenuous and disrespectful when people call the deceased their “friend” or “family” if there was never that type of relationship. I feel as if saying that type of thing is really to stroke the person’s ego who says it with no regard for the friends and family who were actually in those roles in the deceased person’s life. I frequently want to check people and let them know that it isn’t their place to be calling themselves those titles when they are the farthest thing from friends or family.In Massachusetts, we delivered health coverage to over 98 percent of our residents. No other state has yet achieved that goal, and we did not use a single payer system to get there. Medicare-For-All may well be the best means to achieve universal national coverage in the end. But if Biden’s public option achieves the same outcome within the ACA, isn’t that success?In reality for most people most issues are interconnected. For example, we need an expanding economy because everyone needs work and an opportunity to provide and to flourish, but we need those opportunities accessible to everyone and the conditions of work to be fair. Similarly, most people understand that we can transition to a carbon free future without turning off the lights because it’s already happening. In these examples and others, we can have and, more importantly, must have both. Treating them as alternatives is a false choice.Loyalty is essential to me. It is foundational to who I am as a person. When someone dies who I met only a few times, I often find myself stuck in an odd, uncomfortable middle ground. Everyone handles grief differently, but I am never one to claim someone as a friend or family if they have not fit into my life in that type of capacity.

You never know what each new day will bring. Sometimes days are full of beauty and hope. Other days are full of devastation and despair. Today was one that fit the latter category.

Democrats must be careful not to fall for a false choice posed today within the party itself. Though we succeeded in winning the White House, we were less successful down ballot, which led to party infighting over whether being “progressive” or “moderate” is a better way to win elections. Here again, we need both. As long as all sorts of Americans in every corner of the country are dealing with economic fragility, social isolation and despair, we need bold, progressive ideas that help people help themselves. But those ideas must work, must put us on the best path for lasting, meaningful change. Progressive objectives are often achieved by moderate means.

We have much to celebrate, but still so much work to do. I hope the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress will go big and bold, unyielding in their goals and willing to compromise on how best to achieve them, progressive and moderate at once. I hope we won’t listen to those who want to push voices and views out of our party and our politics because they are new, brash or jarring, especially at a time when we need to model the kind of politics that says we don’t have to agree on everything before we work together on anything. And I hope we will keep our eye on what America needs most, which is not more partisans but more progress.

I cannot even count the number of people I have lost over the years, so loss is a very familiar experience. When I heard the news about Travis, my initial emotional reaction was to enter into a state of numbness, which is always my first reaction.

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