“Hal Malchow is Going to Die on Thursday,” read the subject line from Jon Mandel.
Like most articles he forwards me, this one has a political connection.
It’s about one of the Democratic party’s most accomplished campaign consultants who has scheduled his own
end of life, because of advancing Alzheimer’s, and a new book he is leaving behind to chart a good course for the party.
Among other things, Malchow says the Democratic party should be
promoting itself, not its candidates.
I believe that too, but I'd go a step further. I'd recommend changing the name of the party to a common noun with a lower case d: the democratic party. Or
even better, the democracy party.
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Because in our battle for competing binary political realities, that's what the party stands for.
And because lately, it doesn't feel like the other
one is for the republic, in either the lower or upper case sense of the word.
Talking points aside, this election won't be about politics as usual. It will be about the war between the
mental states: one focused on America's democratic institutions, the rule of law and defending and protecting the Constitution; and one that is not.
I just ordered a copy of Malchow's new
book, Reinventing Political Advertising, and plan to review it in the near future.
