I'm planning on writing a fair bit in the near future about where Democrats can go from here. As I wrote yesterday, I think we do great on issues and ideas, but have some work to do on thematic packaging. So as a first step, I'd like to propose a provisional Mission Statement for the Party. In the days to come, I'll go on to apply that Mission Statement to various issues and ideas that come up in elections.

This is a big job and I'm looking for some help. But I'm ready to start the ball rolling with the following proposed MISSION STATEMENT:

The Democratic Party will provide an enlightened government that will help Americans be free, safe, healthy, and prosperous.

Let's look at it phrase by phrase:

will provide - A positive statement - not wants or tries to provide. Is there a better word than provide? Something more active and muscular?

Enlightened government - I italicized and bolded this one because it is so crucial. If we boil our mission statement down to a single phrase, the phrase is enlightened government. That phrase is the instrumentality that reaches all our goals: freedom, safety, health and prosperity.

We don't differentiate ourselves from the other Party by wanting those goals. We differentiate ourselves by dedicating ourselves to enlightenment: to light. Enlightened evokes both the Enlightenment, i.e., the birth of an age of knowledge, and spiritual enlightenment, a renewed age of faith. In other words, we act in faith and in touch with the divine, but only in the fullest education and understanding we can bring to bear on problems. We do not demand that God provide answers to us in our ignorance, but search for answers with all the faculties that have been provided to us, believing that God helps those who help themselves. We reject the idea that it was some act of divine deceit that gave us brains that can study and come to understand the manifest evidence of scientific nature. We, therefore, trust nature, logic, and God, but our willingness to find scientific answers to questions means that we place little trust in ideology.

We believe that government can help achieve goals, especially enlightened government. And we believe in the power of human wisdom, as expressed at the ballot box, to shape government into the proper tool of society. Government should be neither too large nor too small; it should not regulate too much nor too little; it should not interfere with our lives nor be unavailable when needed; instead, it should be the right size, regulate the right amount, and be a support for us in our hour of need. With science, computerization, data collection, and an endless thirst for knowledge and willingness to experiment, we can discover what kind of government works best and create it.

freedom - Freedom is the first goal. It is what our nation symbolizes. We are free to think, to speak, to worship, to assemble, to criticize, to control our own homes and bodies. We are proud to carry our ACLU cards, not because the ACLU is always right, but because in this nation dedicated to freedom no legal analysis should ever lack for a voice arguing for freedom. Freedom is not our only value, but it is our primary value.

safety - Safety is traditionally the first role of government, and but for our nation's unique dedication to liberty, would be first in this list. The trailing goals, health and prosperity, can be aided by the dedication of some governmental resources, but those resources can only come from the remainder once our essential security is provided.

This emphasis does not mean that safety is the be-all and end-all, nor that we must insist on perfect security and dedicate all our nation's resources to that end until perfection is reached. With courage, confidence, American ingenuity, and the fruits of a vibrant, high-tech society, only a portion of our vast productive capacity need be dedicated to security. An enlightened government can determine what is the right portion to dedicate.

health - We hope that, some future day, the provision of first-class health care to every American will be such a basic given that this goal can be removed from the list. But for today, although we have the most advanced medical care system in the world, glaring and seemingly intractable problems with health care costs and delivery make health an area of emphasis all to itself.

We are looking for answers to these overwhelming problems, and the other Party, frankly, is looking to put them off. Health is a key part of our mission statement, and we promise to work in an enlightened way on those cost and delivery problems.

prosperous - Like the Constitution's Commerce Clause, the goal of prosperity can function as a sort of catch-all phrase for political issues of various stripes. But what we want to emphasize is our determination to provide enlightened assistance to help every person become a more productive member of society: such assistance as basic education, higher education, job training, day care, unemployment insurance, and targeted loans. All these programs have been proven to create wealth and to help lives work.

We believe in the dignity of labor, that any job can ennoble the worker who does his or her best at the task. We want to assure that the work of every such laborer is valued, and that no one who puts in a full day's work will be unable to provide food, clothing, shelter, utilities, and the other necessities of life.

This may be the last of the four goals, but it is the most complex of solution, and will likely require the most energy and thought. But our mantra will be the enlightened provision of practical assistance. We will focus on the tested and true but with continued experimentation to widen the bounds of knowledge about how government can effectively help create economic prosperity for individuals, families, and our nation.

Finally, a note: I left off happiness because I think happiness is up to the individual. Government can only help make it possible.

I crave comments, criticism, and suggestions.