A recent article, “Elected officials seldom act in public interest”, published in the Badger Herald portrayed our president as a weak moderate and the College Democrats of Madison as a useless organization. As a whole, the College Democrats would like to refute the article’s absurd attacks on both President Obama and our organization.

There is plenty of room in this country for varying viewpoints — the Founding Fathers made sure of that. The author of the article in question proudly considers himself a radical, and in this country that is not only welcomed, but encouraged in the name of true political debate. The Founding Fathers also crafted a multi-branch system of checks and balances, purposely making radical change exceedingly difficult to enact. Calling President Obama a “fraud of a candidate” simply because he has not enacted “radical change” in his first year in office reflects a callow ignorance of our system of government. No matter how frustrating the slow pace of change is, the fact that a president with a sympathetic congress cannot simply pass whatever agenda he pleases is a testament to the stability of this system. President Obama, who in his first year in office has taken on universal health care and made enormous decisions to help rehabilitate our flailing economy, realized change would be a long process. Barack Obama, a pragmatist and refreshingly honest president, has warned people of the slow pace of government. While political extremists increasingly deplore ideological diversity and open dialogue, we as the College Democrats support our president and hope for a nation that works together to create better futures for our children.

Yet while we continue to support the president, the College Democrats need no reminder that elected officials come and go. We remain loyal to fighting for the fundamental platforms of the Democratic Party: supporting our students and education system, creating jobs that fuel our economy, establishing basic liberty and equality, and working toward a safer world, both domestically and internationally. Last semester we held campaigns for equal access to health care and for women’s sexual health. This semester we plan on doing even more. Our LGBT Caucus has been busy planning a leadership workshop to present at the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference, as well as a day of lobbying at the Capitol against the Wisconsin gay marriage ban. We plan to register voters as we bring students to the polls for the county board races this April and the midterm elections this fall.

It is wrong to confuse radical change with immediate change. College Democrats are true progressives who consistently advocate for fundamental transformations in our country, and yet recognize great changes happen over time. True progressives do not abandon their collective organization after one year of political and passionate debate. True progressives look past the first year and even the first term in office. Their lives may be short, but true progressives advocate for the lives of their childrens’ children and generations beyond.