Reestablishing Democracy

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21. Jesse's run was an inspiration for me

...a real personal renaissance.

It made me feel connected to politics and party in a way I hadn't been before.

Of course, this was a different era for Jackson and our party. I used to bombard the WP with letters in support of Jackson and his initiatives. Right after his bid, the party closed ranks and adopted rules basically hindering a run like he had.

I argued that representation of Jackson and his initiatives was good for all Americans, not just the folks he was focusing most of his energy on to enfranchise into our party politics. There were just a handful of black legislators in Congress at the time.

I haven't forgotten a moment of that and how grudging the party was to his effort to expand our political base of voters.