Subversive Garden: Meet Paul Newell: Power Concedes Nothing Without Demand

I have known Paul for several years and know him to be a truly progressive, very bright, reform oriented democrat. He has fought for over a decade for progressive values. Whether working to elect progressive leaders, or bring needed services to children orphaned by AIDS, Paul has always believed in working together to achieve real change. He wants to make change for the better, for the people of lower Manhattan, health care for all, affordable housing and quality schools - for real, not as a campaign slogan. He knows this is a "Herculean task" ahead of him, but something worth the battle ahead. Go to his website and see what this campaign is about and of course donate. That is how we win until we have publicly financed elections.

This is what politics is about, not about backroom deals, but about people and democracy. Paul's task ahead is certainly a David versus Goliath endeavor, but it is not impossible, in fact it is likely once we set our sights on something worthy of our goals. It reminds me of the beautiful quote by Frederick Douglas:

"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation...want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.... Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."