Progress Illinois

Something interesting happened last week: longshoremen up and down the West Coast held a one-shift work stoppage to protest the Iraq war -- on economic grounds. “We won’t stand by while our country, our troops and our economy are being destroyed.” said Bob McEllrath, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

The interesting part about this protest is the broadening of the union agenda beyond the wages, benefits, and working conditions of its members. While their reasons for coming together may differ, anti-war protesters and blue collar union workers represent a potent alliance that could move the war debate forward.

More important, however, is the example it sets for the Democratic Party – nationally and locally. Imagine if traditional Democratic constituencies found ways to link agendas: minorities and environmentalists would team up to reduce the urban pollution that boosts asthma rates in poor neighborhoods of Chicago and the south suburbs.

Health care reformers and women’s rights advocates would work together to fix a medical system that unfairly burdens women and children. Indeed, if Governor Blagojevich assembled such a coalition, his health reform proposals might have more legs.

Immigrants and small business owners could jointly promote legal reforms that allow them both to function and thrive in the American economy. Such an alliance might add momentum to the immigration reform movement in Illinois, which mounted one of the largest demonstrations in the Chicago’s history two years ago.

Our political system is inherently divisive. Candidates with much in common highlight minor differences in hopes of shaving off a point or two from their opponents. They find wedge issues to drive apart people who otherwise would be in agreement.

The Democratic presidential candidates share many policy prescriptions, but the heated primary process forces them to amplify what small differences do exist. While both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama favor alternative energy, higher fuel standards, and strong enforcement of anti-pollution laws, they now find themselves arguing over a proposed gas tax holiday that will save the average American family less than $30.

Both say they will create a new model for trade agreements, but in the meantime argue over what Clinton might have thought 15 years ago when her husband was passing NAFTA.

While they both want to pull out of Iraq by 2011, it is only her 2002 vote to authorize the war and his 2002 speech against it that distinguishes them.

In the past, party leaders played a larger role in shaping a national agenda. Today, however, the candidates set the agendas and the only remaining role for these leaders appears to be deciding who is most electable – rather than who is most in line with the party’s philosophy.

Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean is reduced to establishing and enforcing the rules of the nominating process and staging a convention that has become a mere formality. Meanwhile, no one pays attention to the congressional agenda in the heat of a campaign.

Together with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Dean should use the 2008 election to redefine the Democratic Party and solidify a long-term policy agenda that unites progressives at the federal and state level, links traditional constituencies to a common set of goals, and sets the table for real and meaningful change from which political success will follow.

People need to know both what and who they are voting for.

Peter Cunningham is president of the Bread and Butter Forum, a Chicago-based political organization formed to promote economic security for working Americans.