Imagine my surprise when I read Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) Op-Ed in the New York Times that included stuff like this:

Democrats have too often hesitated from taking on those misguided policies directly and unflinchingly — so much so that many Americans don’t know what we stand for. Not after today. Democrats will show the country that we’re the party on the side of working people — and that we stand for three simple things.

[As with all political stuff, I think you should read it yourself first.  It’s short, and as talented as I claim to be, you can still make up your own mind without me.]

I’ve been complaining for some time now that Democrats only talk about what they’re against, not what they’re for.   Knowing what they’re against is easy: Republicans.  Not that I disagree with that (hence the oxymoron “Republican ideas”), but it’s not enough.  Do Democrats really believe “Health care is a right?”  Sounds good, but they’re not saying it.  What about income inequality?  They talk about it, but don’t say anything.

In the end, Democrats haven’t been giving us anything to believe.  It’s why I’ve almost given up on the party as a whole.  Sure, Republicans lost their soul ages ago, but the Democratic response has been to follow them down the same rat hole.  Weird.  Still not as bad as Trump’s party, but it feels like Democrats value ‘winning’ — staying in power — above most other things.

And Democrats keep looked to the Republicans, even after they’ve lost everything.  If someone shrieks “Race you to do bottom!”, you’d think the easy answer would be “Thanks, no.”  And yet, they keep tagging along.

Until now, when Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) go and do something remarkable.  Just when I thought I’d made up my mind, too.  Schumer writes today about the fixed system that blocks people working hard to get ahead, the way markets are tilted toward monopolies and the rich, and how, instead of making things better, the government increases that bias.

Nothing new so far.  Democrats talk a lot without saying a anything specific.

And then Schumer goes into details that are actionable and accountable.  It’s still high-level stuff, but it’s much, much more specific than anything they’ve said up to now.  Schumer talks about the minimum wage and more family leave (neither a big surprise, but still good to hear), stronger antitrust laws (big surprise to me), Medicare negotiating drug prices (still a very good idea), a Democratic infrastructure plan (waaay late, but might be good, and guaranteed better than massive Trump giveaways), along with a host of smaller initiatives that range from excellent, to questionable, to ‘not overly harmful’.  Overall, a strong positive balance.  You might even call it ‘Progressive’.

Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit.  Who knew they had it in them?

Schumer admits that the Democrats are the minority party in… well, everywhere, and that they can’t pass these initiatives on their own.  While ideologically, there might be a few Democrats who disagree and a few more Republicans who don’t, politically it’s all ideological lockstep.  Nothing changes until that changes (don’t hold your breath), or until 2018.  But with something to fight for, I think Democrats might have a better chance of doing something good.

So, good news there, for once.