The Democratic Renaissance Project (DRP) exists to cultivate promising new policy ideas, political strategies, and candidates for the Democratic Party in the long term. Guided by a deep foundational commitment to the Party's core values, we seek to foster innovation in policy and politics, without regard to longstanding taboos and orthodoxies in liberalism. Our purpose is to lay groundwork for the decades-long project of designing a positive, progressive Democratic vision that is rooted in values, not political expediency.

Ours is, perhaps, a "fourth way," respectful of the New Democrats' willingness to eschew liberal orthodoxy, but also steadfast in defending the values that make us Democrats. We believe that the future of the Democratic Party, if it is to have a future, lies beyond mere centrism. We reject the notion that innovation in policy simply means reducing our commitment to Democratic values, and look instead to the words of John F. Kennedy, who wrote that political courage demands "compromises of issues, not of principles." We believe that the most effective way to succeed politically is to set aside immediate political concerns while building a renewed Democratic movement, updating treasured values to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

The DRP maintains that a tolerant, unified America is at once a widely shared goal and a specifically progressive aspiration. To develop and articulate real answers on issues from domestic prosperity to national security, Democrats must seize on commonly held American values ignored by the notorious "red-blue" thesis of American political sociology. Democratic values are American values, and it is in this fact—not in mere reflexive opposition to the abuses of Republicans presently in power—that our Party can find policy solutions to offer the American people, and a convincing political message for the American public.

We measure the merit of new ideas and the promise of new candidates on the basis of their ability to put our values into practice for the benefit of America—instead of how completely they can oppose, or how effectively they can imitate, the Republicans.

As politically involved young people, we know and recognize the pressures and forces that govern politics. But we also see that knowledge and analysis can help us alter those forces by creatively commanding the insights of disciplines ranging from history and literature to economics and linguistics. We know from our studies that the only limiting factor on change is time, and we are patient.

A proactive, innovative, values-driven, politically viable Democratic Party will take a generation to rebuild. Our generation is ready for the challenge.