Democrats Rock!

By Dale Bowling


Since this is the last blog post before the Democratic Party of DuPage County's Gala on Sunday, I really wanted it to be good. But as I tried to decide what to write about that would do justice to what a great year we've had as DuPage Democrats and what we can hope for this year and years to come, I found I couldn't just write about one topic. So this post is dedicated to what our Party has accomplished and will accomplish. This should all sound familiar, but good news is always worthy of repetition.

In past year, we re-elected our President Barack Obama even though the conventional wisdom of
Beltway punditry said it couldn't be done.

We were told that Democrats would lose the U.S. Senate. We not only kept it, we expanded our
majority.

We reduced the majority of Republicans in the U.S House of Representatives despite how they stacked the deck against Democrats with redistricting.

We kept the Illinois General Assembly Blue.

Here in DuPage we expanded the number of representatives in National, State and Local government
from 2 to 17 in the space of four years.

Not bad. But we don't want power for its own sake. We want it in order to build a stronger, better, fairer America. Here's what we did with it and what we are going to do.

Democrats prevented the Bush Recession from becoming the Bush Depression with the American
Recovery and Investment Act of 2009. It did precisely what the Hoover adminstration did not do in the 1930s - pump money into the economy to both find the bottom of the crisis and cushion the landing. This wasn't the safe thing to do politically for Democrats, but it was the right thing to do for America and it worked.

Democrats, led by President Obama created the first meaningful health care reform since the Great
Society of the 1960s. This meant that access to health care was no longer the privilege of the wealthy
or the lucky, but the right of all Americans.

Democrats, again led by President Obama ended the war in Iraq and are winding down the war in
Afghanistan and our President got Bin Laden.

Democrats proposed Immigration reform that would give the children of undocumented workers a path to citizenship, so they can continue to be productive members of American society. We're still fighting that battle and we're going to win it.

Democratic state legislatures around the country have proposed and in many cases enacted marriage
equality laws so that all Americans' rights will be protected equally under the Law.

Democrats prevented America from going over the Fiscal Cliff, stopped two more attempts at
Government Shutdown and are working hard to keep the Sequester from hurting the slow, but steady
economic recovery.

Democrats reformed Wall Street with the Dodd-Frank Bill, preventing some of the worst abuses which crashed the system under President Bush.

Democrats passed tougher emission standards on vehicles and will get tougher standards for power
plants in order to hinder climate change. We have also passed tax credits for R & D in the field of
Alternative Energy. We have a lot more work to do here and we will get it done.

Democrats are working hard on getting universal background checks on firearm sales and harsher
sentences for gun law violations in order to keep firearms out of the hands of felons, terrorists and the
mentally unstable.

Democrats have pushed hard for a renewal of the Violence Against Women Act that includes LGBT and Native Americans against the repeated attempts of conservatives to exclude them and that will pass shortly.

Democrats passed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which mandates that employers pay women the same as men for the same work. In fact, it was the first bill that President Obama signed into law. Over whose strenous objection do you suppose that was passed?

And much, much more...

Democrats have made great progress and are making even more today in our fight to build a better America. We deserve a day to celebrate that.

See you all at the Gala.