In Honor of the Dean Brothers

Teri Mills is a longtime Democracy For America community member. Her guest column on health care appears on Blog for America on Fridays and she blogs at www.nationalnurse.org.

What better way to celebrate the holiday season than to honor two brothers, Chairman Howard Dean and Chairman Jim Dean, both who are trying to invigorate the Americans by telling the truth and empowering them to stand up for democracy and the Democratic values of honest government, a balanced budget, healthcare for all, jobs with a living wage, a strong education system, security at home and abroad, and protection of our environment. When you consider what this administration and Congress have done to our country in achieving these goals, you will realize how much we have regressed and how poorly we are doing.

Chairman Howard Dean says, "We can do better." Under his leadership as DNC Chair, Dean has made sure that the infrastructure of the Democratic Party has been built in all 50 states by giving the necessary dollars and manpower to build each state party. We are beginning to see results, with the Democratic victories in the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia last month. We also saw all of Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot measures go down in defeat. Howard Dean understands the power of individuals and communities, thus he introduced a program called Democracy Bonds. Buying a democracy bond will help to reform the political process by building a political party beholden only to the people, not the special interests; build the Democratic Party from the ground up in every precinct so that we can compete everywhere; and help us to win elections in every state and territory of the United States, at every level of office.

Like his brother, Chairman Jim Dean also spends a great deal of time on the road, working to train individuals the mechanics of running a successful campaign and encouraging all to run for office. The mission of Democracy for America that Jim Dean has dedicated himself to is strengthening grassroots participation, and the recruitment and election of fiscally responsible and socially progressive candidates to all levels of government. Democracy for America is committed to finding ways for every one of us to participate, be it through this blog, hitting an occasional bat, signing petitions, and joining DFA-Link. Again to keep our organization strong, we must be willing to contribute, and DFA has put a holiday card online to help us encourage others to do just that.

Many of us remain committed to the ideals of the DNC and DFA and one special person, Renee in Ohio, has initiated a website. The website is an online group of Dean inspired activists and we invite you to join us.

This holiday season, please take action and think of Howard and Jim Dean when you are making those last 2005 contributions. Remember that even in its darkest days, this country belongs to all of us and it is up each one of us to make it better.

Teri Mills, RN, MS, ANP
Democracy for Oregon

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