New Democrat Update - November 1996
Changing Times
In 1991, New Democrats, led by then-DLC Chairman Bill Clinton, adopted a series of resolutions entitled: The New American Choice: Opportunity, Responsibility, Community. This specific public policy agenda, rooted in mainstream values, offered a new course for Democrats by focusing on equal opportunity instead of equal outcomes; responsibility instead of entitlement; and community instead of interest-group solidarity.
Shortly thereafter, the Colorado DLC state chapter was formed. Led by Governor Roy Romer and House Minority Leader Peggy Kerns, the work of the Colorado DLC is changing the Democratic Party for the better. In 1996, Colorado's New Democrats are making their presence strongly felt.
At the federal level, US Senate candidate Tom Strickland, US Representative David Skaggs and 4th Congressional district candidate Guy Kelly are advocating the DLC message. The ranks of New Democrats are sure to grow in the legislature with candidates like Jim Dyer, Mike Feeley, Ken Gordon, Dan Grossman, Martha Guillory, Bob Hagedorn, "Moe" Keller, Paul Lhevine, Tony Marino, Carl Miller, Alice Nichol, Peggy Reeves, James Riesberg, Carol Snyder, Ron Tupa, Anne Tupler, Mark Udall, Frank Weddig, Suzanne Williams and Cole Wist. Many other legislators and candidates are increasingly expressing interest in embracing our agenda.
These candidates are advocating initiatives that emphasize economic prosperity through the private sector and support an active government that equips people to solve problems instead of trying to do everything for them. They believe in mainstream values like liberty of conscience, individual responsibility, tolerance, work, family, faith and community. They want to reinvent government so that it is more responsive to those it serves and more accountable to the taxpayers who pay the bill.
This agenda represents a far cry from the Democratic party's platforms of the past. Economic policy no longer rests on redistribution schemes and massive government jobs programs. No longer is the focus on making specific overtures to special interest groups - promises which convinced middle class Americans that Democrats were not looking out for them. These New Democrats realize that we cannot create a program for every problem.