To Push Back Against Trump, The Democratic Party Must Be Transformed Into A “For-Democracy” Organization.

This is a revision of the paper that I distributed last night at our January  meeting of the Montgomery County Democratic Party Executive Committee.

Regardless that the election of 2024 was a big disaster for Democrats, the leadership will not be held accountable. Liz Walters is secure in her position as ODP Chairperson — reporting to a small clique of insiders called the Ohio Democratic Party Executive Committee — ensconced in a 19th century organizational structure. It’s pretty impossible for rank-and-file Democrats to have any influence.

Our first chance to push back against Trump and the corrupt Republican Party will be at the ballot box in 2026.  Voting against our Republican congressman, Mike Turner, will be the one way that OH-10 citizens will be able to express their disapproval of Trump and his policies.

Our challenge is to generate a credible challenge to Turner. We will need a candidate, a campaign, and a message that will stimulate a grassroots movement of hundreds and thousands — including many habitual non-voters. This sounds impossible, I know, but our task of leadership is not to throw up our hands in despair, but, to actually show leadership.

Let’s start with the good news that in the ten congressional districts in Ohio controlled by Republicans, this district, OH-10, is the most competitive. It is the least gerrymandered. If Ohio Democrats have any hope of pushing back against Trump in 2026, it will be here in the Miami Valley. We need a credible plan that will gain wide support by Democrats throughout Ohio.

I like the saying that, “There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” I believe the idea of democracy is powerful and that, more than ever, now is democracy’s time. More and more citizens are waking up to the fact that we could lose our democracy. The way forward for the Democratic Party, I believe, is to do the hard work needed to be branded the “for-democracy” party. To defeat Mike Turner, I believe this should be the MCDP Executive Committee’s POV:

Our goal is to nominate and to elect a candidate of the people to represent all of the citizens in OH-10, who, when elected, will empower all interested citizens within a 21st century system of participatory democracy.

We need to be the party of participatory democracy that empowers rank-and-file citizens. In the 19th century, it would have been crazy for a candidate to promise that, if elected to the US House, he or she would return every week from Washington and engage in a meaningful discussion with a Citizen Assembly of 5000 constituents, or more — organized as a deliberative democracy. But we are in the 21st century. What not long ago would have been difficult and expensive, now is doable with little expense. Our opportunity is to become a 21st century party that leads in the use of technology and artificial intelligence to empower ordinary citizens.

I’m working on a muti-chapter paper that deals with the topics in this post. For fun, I instructed ChatGPT to design a book cover with the paper’s working title — “Blueprint For A Miracle: Transforming The Democratic Party, Vitalizing Democracy, Winning In OH-10.”

There are 50,000 registered Democrats in the county, but, as it is, our county organization, mostly, is just the members of the MCDP Executive Committee — 168, at last report, and many members are inactive. We are a weak organization.

The MCDP organizational structure reflects the 19th century political boss system that dominates the state party. There are over 800,000 registered Democrats in Ohio and the leader of the Ohio Democratic Party is elected by a tiny ODP Executive Committee — 148 members — only 66 members of whom are elected in Democratic Primaries. The ODP Executive Committee is dominated by the 82 members who are party insiders, union leaders, and other power brokers.

Ohio Democrats are welcome to become card-carrying members of the ODP, but the ODP, like the MCDP, is not a real organization. The leader of the ODP, Elizabeth Walters, is the “Chairperson of the ODP Executive Committee.” Likewise, the MCDP is not a real organization. Rank-and-file Democrats are urged to become members, but, there are no meetings, no officers. Mohamed Al-Hamdani is the “Chairman of the MCDP Executive Committee.”

In order to challenge Turner, the MCDP must become an actual organization of hundreds and thousands of rank-and-file Democrats. The way forward for the Democratic Party, I believe, is the democratizing of the Democratic Party. Our goal must be to become the “for-democracy” party that builds community and harmony and that advances the practice of participatory democracy. Our task of leadership is to envision how we can become the strong effective organization that we have the potential to become. We need to use 2025 to develop the Democratic Party in Montgomery County that the crisis of our time sorely needs.

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