A theme that stuck with me early in the convention, based on several early convention speeches and less formal addresses at various events, was the so-called "politics of posterity." This is a term I heard Gary Hart use and it seemed to capture clarify a major difference between the party of progressives and the party of the Right.

Even before Senator Obama took the stage on Thursday night to expound his campaign message of "change" with a forward-looking speech about progress and the future of America, it was evident that the progressive values shared by most participants in last week's convention are in part defined by a profound concern for the wellbeing of future generations. This offers a stark contrast to the way conservatives have governed, especially over the last eight years.

Snatch and grab. Loot and pillage. Filter the nation's wealth into the pockets of the few at the expense of the many. Do this through reckless tax cuts and privatization schemes (Halliburton providing basic services to soldiers overseas, private security firms like Black Water taking on traditional duties of the military abroad and the National Guard at home, using public education dollars to pay for private school vouchers).

Everything about this right-wing formula for governance screams "short-term thinking" ... as does the neglect of global warming and public health concerns caused by industrial pollution ... and the continued guzzling of finite natural resources. Basically, every inconvenient truth that might affect short-term profit is ignored. If the wealthiest Americans can consolidate all the wealth, then THEIR futures and their families' will be protected. Society can crumble around them, but if they have enough money, they will be safe in their secure, gated communities. The misery of unemployment and lack of healthcare, never mind the deterioration of every social safety net and the public education system, will never touch them.

But progressives, being that we feel a sense of community (the basic "we're all in this together" mentality), care about the future of everyone's children, as well as our own. We care about the world we leave to our posterity. We are our brothers' keepers. This is a basic truth about why our worldview, in my humble opinion, is the more compassionate, and the more moral, in the clash of ideas between conservative and progressive ideology. And it's a relief to know that despite some bad votes, some political miscalculations and the inherent minimal level of corruption that can infect any institution, the Democratic Party is still at its core, committed to the most fundamental progressive values (with valuing each other topping the list).