Budowsky: A Democratic convention to change the world

As Democrats convene for one of the most important political conventions in history, they are as strong as the Rock of Gibraltar, as noble as the ideals of Mount Rushmore, and as united as previous generations of Democrats who nominated the great Democratic presidents of American history.

While the conventions this year are unlike any others, in large measure because of a Republican president whose negligence has allowed a deadly virus to spread across our country and bring economic pain to Americans across our land, in the most critical way this convention is different than the historic conventions of the past.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who will soon be the nominee of a party spending the coming months in a great crusade to revive the American economy, protect American democracy and restore American ideals to the presidency, has said this campaign is nothing less than a battle for the soul of America.

Truer words were never spoken.

America has never had a president like Donald Trump who works to bitterly divide our nation race against race, citizen against citizen, state against state as a core political strategy. Or a president who even abuses the Postal Service to attack the right to vote, and works to delegitimize and destroy an election he appears poised to lose. Or a president who praises dictators and mocks the very notion of America as leader of the free world.

Joe Biden understands this, and stands against it. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who would be a historic vice president if elected, understands this and stands against it. Leaders of the Democratic progressive movement, such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) understand this, stand against this, and to their historic credit are going all-out to elect Biden and inaugurate the next great era in American presidential history.

The timeless Democratic spirit and credo was brilliantly championed in the speech of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) to the Democratic Convention in 1980. Kennedy said that sometimes great leaders must sail against the wind, keep their rudder true, backed by those who give their hearts as well as their help, fighting on behalf of all who comprise the great mosaic of America and battling for those who are hungry and homeless and jobless — not only those who are wealthy and powerful and privileged.

Kennedy said “for all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.”

Truer words have never been spoken. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris believe in the dream that never dies, fight for it, and will carry it to the White House and a Democratic House and Senate if elected.

The timeless Democratic spirit was brilliantly championed by then New York Gov. Mario Cuomo at the Democratic Convention in 1984.

Cuomo spoke of America as a tale of two cities, those who have much and those who have little, those who prosper greatly and those who suffer in pain. Cuomo’s credo, the Democratic credo and the American credo is that in America we are part of a great American family, united by shared ideals and the timeless truth that in America we are all in this together.

Truer words about America were never spoken. Trump has contempt for them. Biden, Harris, everyone attending the convention in person or spirit believes in an America that is not a cauldron of divisive hate but is a great American family. They will champion this cause as a core vision of the next Democratic president, Senate and House.

When Barack Obama spoke at the site of the Berlin Wall before he was elected president he spoke then, to hundreds of thousands of cheering believers in American democracy, as Biden speaks now and can speak to millions of people when he visits Berlin as president—about the America that is special and wonderful and extraordinary that Democrats celebrate at their convention to change the world.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the House of Representatives. He holds an LLM in international financial law from the London School of Economics.