Seven Habits of Happily Effective Democrats

Andy Levin’s address to the Benzie County Dems Annual Honoree Dinner

September 27, 2025

We are living through dangerous and horrifying times, when our very democracy is at stake. It is customary for people like me to make speeches that can become litanies of all the terrible things Donald Trump and his minions and the spineless majorities in Congress are doing.

I’m not making light of that – at all! It’s very real. It’s massive. It’s hurting people badly and affecting all areas of domestic and foreign policy.

But I’m not going to spend my time excoriating the orange blob or complaining.

One of the big mistakes Democrats have made over the last decade is focusing solely on the negative, warning people about Trump, instead of focusing on what we want to do. Let’s admit, the lives of working people in America suck – they are living paycheck to paycheck, they can’t afford housing, childcare, healthcare and other necessities of life. They don’t have adequate retirement savings – and they don’t see a way to fix that. They can’t afford life’s little luxuries and pleasures like eating out and vacations that have defined middle class life. And they don’t think Democrats are the ones who can fix all this.

Plus, in bad times, you can’t just be dour and in a defensive crouch all the time. We have to have fun, think big, be creative.

Therefore, without further ado, instead of complaining, I want to share some ideas – a playbook, if you will – about how to be a joyous Democratic warrior in the worst of times! I present to you . . . Seven Habits of Happily Effective Democrats.

Habit One: Be Authentic

Example: Elissa Slotkin and Bernie Sanders seemingly hold up opposite ends of the Democratic Party’s big tent, but they both succeed. Why? Because they are both authentically who they are. Just because you live in a rural, agricultural, majority Republican county, don’t be shy about being who you are! Don’t hold back your ideas or stay quiet. Of course, it’s always good to be nice, diplomatic, and strategic in how we express ourselves, but being genuine, being yourself, and saying how you really feel is a great starting point for change!

Habit Two: Challenge Received Wisdom

Another problem Democrats have had is being driven by consultants and polls and being afraid to step out even when we know we’re right and we have ideas that we think people will like. An up-to-the-minute example is many European countries recognizing a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly happening right now. It’s not just Trump who told them not to do this. Many pundits have said that’s a pointless exercise. Don’t do it.

You’ll look foolish. A two-state solution is meaningless as long as we have Netanyahu’s far, far right government, Trump, etc. And many Palestinians have questioned the sincerity or force of such a move when the war in Gaza and settler violence in the West Bank rage on.

But guess what? The Europeans did it anyway, because of course Palestinians should have self-determination, and in fact there’s no future of peace and security for Israel unless and until Palestinian political and human rights are realized. And look what happened? Trump suddenly said he won’t let Israel annex the West Bank. Whether true or not, he moved.

Then he announced his peace plan. The Arab and Muslim-majority countries took notice. Etc. The point – don’t worry about what talking heads say on TV or what highly paid consultants say. Do what’s right and what works on the ground in Benzie.

Habit Three: Be Unified

When we have lost the White House, House and Senate and are under such relentless attack – often unconstitutional and illegal attack – it’s natural to gossip about whose fault it is. To find someone to blame. Don’t fall for it! To go back to Slotkin and Sanders, let them each be their authentic selves. They’re both important. If Bernie wants to talk about oligarchy (and we’re certainly living in plutocratic times), Elissa shouldn’t criticize him for it – just keep doing your own thing. And vice versa. So, keep growing the Democratic movement joyously in Benzie, and breathe a sigh of relief that none of us has a monopoly on strategy or truth, and none of should take ourselves so seriously.

Habit Four: Be Bold

Lest you think Habit Three suggests this progressive warrior has gone all wishy washy, I’m not arguing for bland centrism. Indeed, one of our big problems is that voters and working people aren’t clear that Democrats really stand for something – and will fight for it. As Jim Hightower used to say, the only things in the middle of the road are yellow lines and dead armadillos. Let’s take as an example Zohran Mamdani’s proposal for universal free childcare in New York City. Now NYC is about as far politically from Benzie County as you can get. But don’t dismiss the significance of what’s happening there out of hand. This young man separated himself from a crowded field of candidates by speaking directly to the needs of the electorate. And economists are clear this isn’t just some pie-in-the-sky socialist idea – it’s hard to imagine the economy doing its best if so many people stay out of the workforce to take care of their kids because they can’t afford childcare. Plus, educational outcomes are improved, we lose less time to sick days – the benefits are manifold.

And guess what? When I was on the Ed and Labor Committee fighting to keep universal childcare costing no more than 7% of any family’s income in the Build Back Better package, Elissa Slotkin, who wasn’t on the committee, was right by my side. Mikie Sherrill (the next Governor of New Jersey!) and Abigail Spanberger (the next Governor of Virginia!) were there, too! These more conservative colleagues knew this proposal was super important to the suburban women who had propelled their election. So, let’s not shy from bold ideas we believe in, whether Medicare for All or a bullet train from Detroit to Chicago (and Grand Rapids and Traverse City) or one of my favorites, what I call the All-American Pension Plan that would replace our alphabet soup of ineffective ways to help Americans save and give them real pensions again, but in an up-to-date way. Social Security would run it so we’d have super low costs and transparency, allowing all employers to contribute retirement savings throughout your working life, and you’d get a monthly annuity on top of your SS benefit in your retirement years.

Habit Five: Protest – Keep Protesting – And Get Creative!

Whenever we make signs, amass in a town square, or walk on a picket line, we are prone to doubt ourselves. Are there enough people here? Is our message getting through? And when we have to do it over and over, we can get tired or discouraged.

Please take heart. Any reading of history makes clear that protest movements are what drives positive change. Women’s right to vote? Civil rights? Stepping up to deal with the AIDS crisis? Marriage equality? Action to deal with the climate crisis? Saving democracy in Poland, the Phillipppines, the Czech Republic, and here in America?

There’s no question, we’ve got to march and march and march again.

But what I want to emphasize is to be creative. Remember the group Act Up in NYC during the AIDS crisis? They scaled buildings, unfurled banners, engaged in street theater. As I turn 65, the things I remember best from a whole life of activism are the times we got creative. [Stories about anti-apartheid activism, supporting striking workers who made caps and gowns, etc.] So, please don’t think, “We’re in a rural backwater no one pays attention to.” In the days of social media, the creative protest ideas you put into action in Beulah or Benzonia or Frankfort just might reach the whole world! And, anyway, you’ll have fun, entertain your neighbors, and get your point across in a media-saturated environment.

Habit Six: Be Social

This habit isn’t something I need to tell you about, it’s something I and others can learn from you. It’s so important that we build our activism and political structures into more than an obligation, or drudgery, or just showing up to canvas and vote every two years. Let’s learn the lesson of the decline of the American labor movement. When workers had picnics and bowling leagues and charity events as part of their unionism, when it was the center of their social life, it lent tremendous strength to the movement.

So, congrats on having your own meeting space! Congrats on eating together, watching movies together, and more. Let’s help every county Democratic organization have book clubs and knitting circles and bike rides – whatever brings people together, builds a social fabric, and enhances our outreach and staying power.

Habit Seven: Be Awesome (Set Hard but Achievable Goals – and Meet Them!)

While it’s vitally important that we be authentic, think big thoughts, have fun together and so forth, we have to admit that the Benzie County Democratic Party exists for a specific purpose – to grow political power and win elections. And in our core function of building a more perfect union by getting Democrats elected, i.e. in our political organizing, it’s always good to set concrete goals for ourselves – goals that are ambitious enough that they will require hard and eFective work and make a big diFerence, but also achievable, goals, things we really believe we can accomplish if we do our best work.

So, in preparation for tonight I looked at the last five elections, and in particular at how many people in Benzie County voted for the Democrat at the top of the ticket in every two years in the last decade. Here’s what I found:

When I looked at these data, here’s my first reaction: I was so impressed by how far you’ve come! Wow, from low four thousands in 2016 and 2018 to mid five thousands in the last off-year election in 2022 and high five thousands in 2024. Way to go!!

What is more, as soon as I looked at these numbers, a goal jumped out at me, a new threshold you could cross for the first time ever, or certainly in many years. Are you ready for it? How about getting 6,000 votes for our U.S. Senate and/or gubernatorial candidate in 2026? What do you think? It can be either one, whichever is higher. Do you think you can do it? [Roar from audience] OK, let’s go!

I want to emphasize something, something that goes with my whole theme tonight. I want to convince you that your happy Democratic work is just as important as what we do down in SE Michigan, where 45% oF our state’s ten million people live. The City of Detroit and Wayne County and Oakland and Macomb may get all the attention. But winning 500 more votes for a statewide Democratic candidate in Benzie is exactly as important as winning 500 more votes for them in mighty Wayne County. Right? You have to admit it! Do you realize that if you get 6,000 votes for our U.S. Senate candidate in Benzie that I can pretty much tell you they will be our next U.S. Senator?!

So, let’s practice the seven habits and be happy warriors for justice. And let’s pour our hearts into Habit #7, break the 6,000-vote threshold, and make Benzie County the hero of 2026 for Michigan – and for our nation.

Thank you!!