Second of two parts
Re “Hayden, as Crisp as the ‘60s, Is Making War, Not Love, on War”
All speakers invited to the monthly meetings of the Culver City Democratic Club travel the identical well-trod path once they reach the podium: They wax on about their expertise, “and thank you very much for coming to hear me wax.”
The arch-activist Tom Hayden, never a slave to tradition or iron-clad matrixes in 50 years on the world stage, again demonstrated his mastery with audiences at Wednesday night’s Dem Club meeting at the Vets Auditorium.
Before deftly tucking his listeners onto his 71-year-old shoulders and taking them on an maven’s tour of how and why the present-day wars were and are doomed, the old anti-war veteran said the faceless masses have the power to alter and steer the direction of the national Democratic Party.
He wanted the crowd to know they are appreciated and vital to Democratic success. He cupped the audience in his hand, as if it were a frail sparrow requiring tender protection.
‘You Have Been Good’
In the mode of a teacher entering a classroom — a profession he still practices — Mr. Hayden reserved the first 20 percent of his speech to intricately laud, and elevate, their work to a lofty level, especially those who are individually invisible, far from the glamourous landscape of cameras and klieg lights.
“You are not only important but crucial to the Democratic Party’s success,” he said in praise of the activism of the presumed majority of the capacity audience, alluding to those hundreds of thousands of faceless party volunteers, grassroots members.
“Volunteers and the grassroots,” Mr. Hayden said, “continually assert themselves just when a lot of people think they are a nuisance or want to marginalize them.
“What you do is very, very important. You have a genuine role to play in the Democratic Party.
“When the grassroots is mobilized and empowered in the Democratic Party, it becomes more progressive. When the grassroots is demobilized and disenchanted, the party becomes more conservative.
“The balance of forces, in terms of whether the party becomes more progressive or conservative, is the role of idealists, volunteers and grassroots organizations.
“To give you a concrete example, if you did a poll on the Wall Street regulatory reforms, on healthcare, on the war in Iraq, you would find the activists would be the most progressive, the voters would be the second most progressive and the elites would be the least progressive in the organizational culture of the party.
“Ending the war in Afghanistan, which has been pushed by the President and pushed by party leadership, 77 percent of the voting Democrats, the rank-and-file Democrats, are against the war in Afghanistan. We have similar numbers for regulating Wall Street or healthcare.
“So the gap between the progressive base and the leadership in Washington, and the donors, is growing greater,” Mr. Hayden said. “I don’t know where it is going to go. But I do think the role of the grassroots is an essential tool for making the party more progressive, and therefore, the country more progressive.
“Thank you very much for what you do.”
