Party has come far

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Aug 20, 2000 by BILL ROY JR. Capital-Journal

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION

By BILL ROY JR.

Special to The Capital-Journal

What a difference 40 years makes. Twice the Democratic National Convention has been in Los Angeles --- in 1960 to nominate John Kennedy and last week to nominate Al Gore. But they are two very different conventions.

I was only a child in 1960. The history of that convention has been shared with me many times by Kansas' Docking-era Democrats. Last week I was living the history of the 2000 convention as a Kansas delegate.

In 1960, delegates convened with true suspense about who would ultimately be named the party's nominee for president. Smoke-filled rooms were the reality, with Kennedy and his challengers --- foremost among them Senate majority leader Lyndon Johnson --- making deals trying to secure the votes that would secure them the nomination.

The faces of the delegates then were very different from today. Then, the faces of delegates reflected only a narrow slice of American life. The convention was restricted to party insiders. Delegates were often hand-picked by party bosses. Bosses gave orders, and delegates followed. Coalitions would form and break apart. A week- long process, always in flux, would find a leader.

Many people turning on a television last week saw a very different convention. The faces of delegates looked like the faces of America, reflecting all aspects of American life. Delegates arrived in Los Angeles with decisions already made. But the decisions were developed by a process open to all Democrats that has been ongoing for many months all across the country.

Democrats are united by the successes of a Democratic administration over the past eight years. America is in the midst of the longest economic expansion in its history, surpassing only the Kennedy/Johnson expansion of the 1960s: more than 22 million new jobs, the lowest unemployment in 30 years and the highest homeownership in history.

We have gone from the largest deficits in history to the largest surpluses. If we stay on course, America can become debt-free for the first time since 1835.

For the first time in decades, wages are rising at all income levels. We have the lowest child poverty in 20 years and the lowest poverty rate for single mothers ever recorded. The average family's income has gone up more than $5,000 and for black families, even more. The number of families that own stock has grown by 40 percent.

Welfare rolls have been cut in half. Today, there are more than 7.5 million people who have moved from welfare to work.

Today, crime in America is at a 25-year low, with more than 100,000 new police officers patrolling our communities' streets.

Democrats gathered to nominate Al Gore and Joe Lieberman, to keep prosperity going by paying down the debt, investing in education and health care, moving more people from welfare to work and providing family tax cuts we can afford.

Contrary to what Republicans say, these achievements did not happen by chance. They happened by choice. Democrats, and Democrats alone without a single Republican vote, made the hardest choices in 1993 that reversed the tide of record deficits, skyrocketing debt and high interest rates. This November, voters will choose whether to continue the policies of the Democrats under the continuing leadership of Gore, or take a chance and return to the borrow and squander policies advocated by the Bushes.

As a party, as a convention, and as delegates, Democrats have united to revel in successes, find areas of agreement that will continue to move our nation forward, and nominate leaders to carry our ideas to voters. The party convention process is an American political institution in which it is an honor to participate.

But every citizen, with a single vote, has the opportunity to speak about where we go as a nation together. Exercise the right given you to continue the American process of self-government. This November, vote.

Bill Roy Jr., Topeka, was a member of Kansas' delegation to the convention.

Delegates arrived in Los Angeles with decisions already made. But the decisions were developed by a process open to all Democrats that has been ongoing for many months all across the country.