The Making of a Committed Democrat

By Jan Knippers Black

A strong democracy needs a strong Democratic Party, one that in opposition dares to oppose and in office dares to govern unswervingly in the public interest.

Since then I have been a Democratic Party officer or delegate at the state level in three states and active in Democratic politics also in the District of Colombia. I have been in California since 1991 and on the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC) for almost a decade. I am now on the Executive Committee of the MCDCC as well as on the Executive Board of the California Democratic Party (CDP). I also serve on the state party's Platform Committee, and I am Vice President for the Central Coast area of the California Democratic Council, a CDP affiliate representing Democratic clubs statewide.

For my day job, I am a Professor in the Graduate School of International Policy Studies of the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

I believe that the greatest underemployed strategic tool of the Democratic Party, and, more important, of the American people, is Truth. We cannot expect that our governments will refrain from demanding "plausible deniability" unless the Democratic Party is willing to speak straightforwardly about the extent to which the path of government has diverged from the ideals of our founding fathers and unless the people are willing to hear.

Apart from the legacy of a State Senator and Judge who made politics a noble profession, my commitment to the Democratic Party has always been based on the conviction that this party is the most promising means of sowing truth and moving a heavy-footed country in a progressive direction - toward peace and justice and equity across race and class and gender and all other artificial barriers to real community at home and abroad.