The Call for an Open Party

Reflections on the College Democrats of America 2005 Conference.

By Geoff Aung, Andrew Garib, Vilas Rao and Kim Teplitzky

We didn’t walk into the College Democrats of America 2005 Convention expecting the fiery neocon-evangelical podium-slamming of the College Republicans National Convention. No one told us to go back to Africa. There was no ‘Wet Caucus Chair’ (although this is debatable). There wasn’t great cheesecake. And no Reagan swag. That didn’t mean we entered the Washington Court Hotel, where the Little Dems’ conference was held, without the mandate from our own consciences to be critical, thoughtful journalists.

What we found was complex, surprising, and perhaps very Democrat. The convention was filled with more than just an elite handful of career-minded Dems – there were inspired young progressives, too, active and eager to do their part in ushering in a new age of responsible government. There was evidence of a party far more focused than it has been in an off-year perhaps for decades, and a selection of speakers with undeniable progressive credentials and stirring speeches to back them up. As many have noted, this conference displayed nearly all of the necessary ingredients for a successful, inspiring weekend.

Yet this incredible potential for progressive synthesis was left largely untapped. The sunny side of motivated students and engaging speakers was punctuated by a disturbing sense of disconnect between CDA insiders and Democrats on the ground on college campuses. The overwhelming emphasis on electoral strategy drowned out any real discussion of substantial issues or criticism of the historic party’s own leaders.

Some of us are lifelong Democrats; others, skeptical independents who question the two-party system and the Democratic line far more often than not. Our personal motivations in covering this event were a mixed bag of questioning the two-party elite and making the Democratic party a stronger voice, but at our core was the desire to provide a fair and critical eye from an outsider’s perspective, in the hopes that among Democrats and the rest of America progressive values will increase in relevance and influence.

Perhaps the College Democrats of America need to live up to their name and provide a more open and democratic institution that not only allows, but encourages discussion and participation at the highest levels. Many college Democrats told Campus Progress that the CDA ’05 conference felt less like a discussion and more like a lecture. (CampusProgress.org has featured plenty of criticism, some of it along similar lines, about our own national conference.) Many college Democrats from across the country expressed their feelings that, for their own sake, for the sake of the Democratic Party, and for the sake of progressives in general, the CDA must answer this complaint in an intelligent and substantive way.

The CDA has clearly come a long way from the days of organizational shambles in the 1990’s. Its next step is to make itself the most vibrant and dynamic branch of the Democratic National Committee, where the next generation of progressive ideals is given a national forum and a national stature. The CDA is an organization that deserves to provide its members with national quality; but it also is an organization with an enormous potential to guide progressive values for the next generation. College Democrats we spoke to appreciated the CDA’s focus on strategy and elections, but wondered out loud why it seemed their voices had no chance of being heard. Perhaps questioning our own fundamental beliefs as progressives – including party lines – is a step in the right direction.

Far be it from us to dictate how the CDA should proceed in the future, but frightening speeches from the College Republicans’ conference aren’t enough to scare the non-Dems among us into filling Democratic ranks. Maybe with a more open party, even the most disaffected potential Democrats may decide to join hands to form a national progressive front, and take their place in the party of Roosevelt, Truman and Clinton.

Check out our coverage of the College Democrats of America 2005 National Conference, 21-23 July 2005 in Washington, DC.

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