The Democratic Party not only needs to find new leadership and new direction, they also need to now compete with the Republicans for the loyalty of people who think in heterodox ways and who have new ideas. RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard went to Trump and were embraced with open arms, now set to take top positions in his administration. They didn't have to become conservative to do so either, they didn't have to start agreeing with Dick Cheney about anything, or begin espousing that the W. Bush years were actually good. And so did non-political people like Joe Rogan, who if you've listened to him for long is a pretty stock liberal guy, he can go to Trump and feel welcomed.
On one side you've got a coalition that's welcoming to people who aren't even on their side of the political spectrum, and on the other, you've got a priesthood who isn't welcoming to people who have been with them for decades because they don't agree with just one of the dozen extremely fringe doctrines they are now obsessed with. The up-mountain climb people with fresh ideas will have to take to get anywhere with liberals, just isn't going to look worth it.
Further, I think one just has to look at the reactions by the Democratic Party so far and see them for what they are: willful delusion. They are tying themselves into pretzel knots of denial trying to claim that these cultural issues, which are of supreme importance to themselves, cannot mean anything to the idiot flyover-country voter, who predictably only cares about petty matters of cost. Their prole existence being confined to worrying about eating more eggs and bacon, and buying cheap gas to help them get home from work quickly in order to watch more network sitcoms. Liberals have a superiority complex sustained by delusional thinking that will not be dismantled before they hit rock bottom. And rock bottom is a long ways down. They're going to attack or demean anyone trying to help them break free of what they already deep-down know is a lie, the same way any addict will.
"you've got a priesthood who isn't welcoming to people who have been with them for decades because they don't agree with just one of the dozen extremely fringe doctrines they are now obsessed with."
Bari Weiss recently in writing what determines woke and how it can be either left or right said something to the extent of woke is cultural totalitarianism. Woke doesn't allow for alternative or competing thoughts, you either agree, or you are a heretic.
I agree that wokeism gives off totalitarian vibes. The question in my mind is what can socially moderate Dems do about it? So long as voters conflate all Dems with the "shadow party" of cultural extremists, it's hard for any singular Dem candidate to avoid being fatally tainted.
Dems who are not members of the authoritarian woke movement need to get the balls, guts, eggs, or whatever they need to start talking about common sense reality. Boys grow into men and girls grow into women, women and men cannot change sex, favoring criminal activity over law enforcement supports crime, etc. The Dems I know are all white, middle and upper middle class snobs who denigrate everyone who disagrees with their bizarre beliefs as "stupid, fascistic, authoritarians," but at the same time, the Dems in question demand that the same reviled people vote for Dem candidates. That has to stop.
Recently I had a young progressive defend cold-blooded murder and took it a step further to wish the same for Elon, Bezos, and any other billionaire (also wanted to confiscate their money and property). Die-hard Dem, laughed whenever I offered a sane rebuttal.
This amoral, casual attitude about murdering people is becoming increasingly scary. Generally, the progs are anti-gun, and neither own them or know how to use them. If all the killing they advocate actually occurred they would be running for their safe spaces. But they encourage the unhinged to act out their impulses for them.
The Democratic Party will have an immediate opportunity to show that they have learned a lesson and can change. When Trump comes to office at the top of his agenda is immigration. Not high earning H1-B visas but low wage illegal immigration. The reaction of the Democratic Party to coming deportation will either be an opportunity, or a way to bury the party for the coming election cycle.
The DNC and the Democratic Party rather than being obstructionist should aim for a humane way to repatriate people to the countries they've come from. The Biden administration and "the groups" encouraged the massive immigration of the past 4 years, they should be a constructive participant in repairing the damage.
America faces many more issues than immigration, and Mitch McConnell type obstructionism is not a viable choice. We don't have 4 years to hope Trump fails. Next up taxes, deficit spending, and debt.
Correct me if I’m wrong but in his ‘inflammatory’ comments, Moulton didn’t so much argue that males should be restricted from girls sports as that it was an issue that concerned parents and should at least be open to discussion among Democrats. The fact that any topic should be closed off to discussion is chilling. (For me, a lifelong Democratic Party voter, the turning point was when-with very little public discussion or notice to the broader public-the Biden administration totally overturned Title IX by changing the relevant language to protection of ‘gender’)
While I appreciate the insightful analysis of what is wrong with the Democratic Party by several of the writers on this substack, they all keep repeating in various ways, as this article says, the theme that "the party must reclaim its identity as the party of the common man and woman". Surely they know that the current leaders and many of the most committed voters in the Democratic party despise the "common man and woman" and want nothing to do with them, except if they can be duped, coerced, or deceived into voting for the Democrat candidate who will proceed to vote against the interests of these people once they get into office. Some articles elsewhere even recommend that the Democrat candidates lie to the voters to appear more conservative than they actually are, although the articles are not quite so blunt about it as this.
Truth is, the Democratic party is very well satisfied with itself as it is now, they are just angry with the voters for not recognizing the magnificence of their leadership and for not being grateful for the scraps of government money the Democrats in office choose to bestow upon the despised working class. As other articles have stated, the Democrats do not believe that the cultural positions they advocate resonate at all with voters, they are just distractions promoted by deceptive Republicans. They think that sprinkling some programs paid with taxpayer money on the voters is all they need to do, and that the people don't understand how gracious and generous Democrats are with other people's money. They also think they need to explain their programs at higher volumes and more often and the stupid voters will finally hear them.
I realize that this Substack is by Democrats who want to save the party, but I think it's beyond redemption at this point. There is nothing coming out of the party today except toxic cultural ideas they are trying to force on everyone, open borders, hugely destructive "green energy" programs that are nothing but giant grift machines dispensing unaccountable money to their cronies (that are pushing our debt to unsustainable levels), over-regulation that is destroying our businesses, DEI stupidity that has further corrupted the culture and, worse, damaged our military readiness in a very dangerous world that the Democrats are making more dangerous every day, and so much more. I think that the party should be abandoned to the crazy Left and the sane liberals should concentrate on building a new party along the lines that have been laid out in many posts to this Substack and elsewhere.
"Truth is, the Democratic party is very well satisfied with itself as it is now, they are just angry with the voters for not recognizing the magnificence of their leadership and for not being grateful for the scraps of government money the Democrats in office choose to bestow upon the despised working class."
Really great observation and well written post! I completely agree with all of it.
The DNC has proven over and over again to be a top-down organization that is run by a very small group of insiders. There is no way that the party's identity can be transformed via the influence of people like this author or anyone else who contributes to this substack. I personally think the DNC is banking on a massive recession or god knows what else to hit before 2026.
You guys never talk about Covid.. Its weird... Even the mainstream pundits admit that there " is a problem with trust". When did that start? During covid. Come on, guys. You can talk about it.
Want to add another one.....not something that others haven't seen, but one that my wife and I feel is critical:
Progressives look down on Trump voters. Read comments in WaPo and NYT....and commenters.
Trump voters are "low information" voters who "vote against their own best interests" (i.e., are so stupid that they would do this), who are racists and misogynists.
And the ballot box was a place to strike back. So, James Carville can write a column in the NYT about how he was wrong to think Harris would win (although he still doesn't know why).
Trump voters, LOUDLY and in unison said to the world: "You thought Harris would win.....so who are the REAL low information voters?"
p.s. Many of those individuals slammed by progressives are our neighbors, children, uncles, and so on. So we 50-year voters for Democrats voted this year for Trump because we are not going to tolerate allowing people we love to be talked about in this way.
Inflation and immigration aside, perhaps more important than anything else, the new DNC Chair must help the party find empathy and respect, for voters lacking college degrees and incomes below 6 figures.
It would be interesting to know how many times Dem pundits, pols and candidates, used the term "lower class" and "uneducated". Why not just cut to the chase, and inform voters, in plain English, they are too poor and too stupid, to know what is good for them?
While rarely mentioned, it seems fairly clear, many Dems embraced open borders, because they view new arrivals, as superior workers and more worthy of government assistance, than sparsely educated Americans, with limited skills, especially those in Fly Over Country.
Sherrod Brown, like JohnTester, and Tim Ryan, talked a good Populist game. Then they voted for every Progressive fantasy, Dems brought to the floor, regardless of how negatively the legislation, affected Working and Middle Class living standards. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, I will find another candidate to support.
"It would be interesting to know how many times Dem pundits, pols and candidates, used the term 'lower class' and 'uneducated'. Why not just cut to the chase, and inform voters, in plain English, they are too poor and too stupid, to know what is good for them?"
I can't recall having heard political insiders describe voters in such disparaging terms on air or in writing. Knowing what they say about regular people when their guard is down would require someone to speak out of school, something that doesn't happen nearly often enough.
However, what pundits commonly do instead is just as offensive. They'll dissect a current political issue on cable TV or a podcast and come to an agreement about its significance. Then they'll all nod while one of them observes that the matter they just finished hashing out could only be of interest to inside-the-Beltway geeks like them. The average Joe or Josie is much too preoccupied with, say, getting the kids to school to concern themselves with such weighty matters. In actuality, it is rare that the topic is as recondite as they believe to be. They're just relishing the rarefied circles they run in.
Somebody needs to say it, so I will. The problem with the Democrat party is one of too many "educated" (i.e., indoctrinated) irrational radical females dominating the party apparatus and thus the other Democrats would need to go to war against these largely lesbian vulnerable narcissists and risk getting tagged with that career-destroying label of misogynist (I am sure they will find a way to also claim racist and anti-trans too). For the standard issue Democrats to reclaim the party as attractive to the average American, they will need to support the Republican agenda to Make America Great Again.
"the DNC will have to contend with two powerful groups—activists and donors"
Expanding from my point below, the DNC is such an insider driven organization that even supposedly powerful donors are completely shut out of any decision making. If you remember correctly, it was primarily the donor class that was told to go to hell after the debate (keep in mind that voters are beneath even being acknowledged by the DNC). It's more functional to think of the DNC as a mafia organization in disarray with multiple families backstabbing each other.
Instead, it was "I can't afford gas or eggs, and meanwhile the Democrats/Progressives are more worried about pronoun usage."
Carville, in this article, is trying to say what a lot of "progressives" are saying which is that "we really won so don't have to change anything. YAY!!!"
In 1992 the economy was recovering from the 1990-1991 recession, with unemployment rates around 7.4% leading to Bill Clinton's victory. In 2008 George W. Bush was clueless about the economy after the collapse of Lehman et.al. which led to Obama's landslide victory. Trump's economy will not be impacted by who uses what pronouns, nor by his high hopes for more drilling for oil but by the dynamics of the global economy including any tariffs he may impose.
The price of eggs will be impacted by the impact of the bird flu virus. The price of gasoline will be impacted by how fast China introduces electric vehicles in China and the rest of the world and the response of OPEC.
Mr. Judis, you call crime, immigration and gender "cultural issues." Yet you don't include abortion and climate change, and I suspect you regard those as issues with a deep moral dimension involving personal autonomy and global survival, much as 19th century abolitionists viewed slavery as a deeply moral issue.
The thing is, Progressives view crime, immigration and gender as issues with deep moral dimensions, not simply fashionable stances. They don't regard these as aspects of their cultural identity, but as integral elements of their human identity.
If you don't expect the Democratic Party to be neutral or silent on abortion and climate change - that is, not make room for Democratic candidates who are out-and-proud pro-lifers or climate skeptics - then you should not expect the Progressives to mask their views on issues they sincerely believe are matters of basic human rights. You may not see those issues that way, and the majority of voters may not see them that way, but you will be hard pressed to remake the image the electorate associates with your party so long as the Progressives play a key and vocal role in it. Even if they try to mask or minimize their beliefs, they won't be able to answer questions about them any better than Kamala Harris did when confronted with her 2019 primary campaign positions.
I think the Democratic Party no longer stands for, wants to stand for, or is capable of standing for the moderate values you correctly believe are the keys to winning major elections. If you want to build a winning coalition, you probably have to jettison the Progressive wing of the party. Just know this: while you are arguing for wrenching the party's identity away from the Progressives, they are plotting to take over your party, as Thom Hartmann in his Alternet piece, "New lessons for progressives — from the far right."
As long as Democrats keep whining about electoral math, they are missing a key point. Vermont is barely larger than Wyoming and growing faster. RI and DE are smaller than MT. HI is smaller than WV. CT is smaller than OK. CO is smaller than MO. And, of course, NY and IL are smaller than TX and FL. The key point is to be found elsewhere in the article and the whining, which is a reflex now, distracts you.
It is not so much the mores of Park Slope and Mountain View that need to be exorcised, it is the mores of Ann Arbor and Cambridge. The former are merely virtue signaling fellow travelers while the ideas come from the latter.
But don't worry the Republicans have similar divisions and either screwups or bad luck will put the unreformed Democrats back in charge. And thus we will continue to get the wild policy swings we have experienced in the Age of Trump. The fix is populist fusion and the exclusion of the Establishment from the new populist party.
Unfortunately, this seems to put the DNC in the difficult position of trying to be all things to all people. It is like an octopus. But can it really be all things to all people? Nope
The DNC should strive for a NATIONAL BRAND of supporting UNIONS, ANTI-TRUST legislation, WEALTH TAXES, and a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT to get corporations and money out of politics. Just like after the Gilded Age.
Then every time Republicans try to cut Social Security, Medicare, or Healthcare, the DNC should yell over and over again about Republicans hurting the little guy.
The best solution for a Constitutional Amendment is the https://projectleapfrog.org/ effort via state legislatures.
The Democrats have forgotten what it is to be an American, and what America stands for.
It was founded so people may be FREE, free to think what you what, free to do what you want, and free to spend your money as you wish.
The Progressives ( in reality Totalitarians) want to tax your money away to give to their favorite grifters, and tell you what you Should be thinking, and regulate every aspect of your life with an ever increasing bureaucracy that only exists to create ever more rules, regulations and restrictions. None of which is necessary for the Pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness.
Trump's appeal is more than popularism, it is a return to a deep down feeling and understanding by the people of what America was and should be. The last great hope for mankind.
The Democratic Party not only needs to find new leadership and new direction, they also need to now compete with the Republicans for the loyalty of people who think in heterodox ways and who have new ideas. RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard went to Trump and were embraced with open arms, now set to take top positions in his administration. They didn't have to become conservative to do so either, they didn't have to start agreeing with Dick Cheney about anything, or begin espousing that the W. Bush years were actually good. And so did non-political people like Joe Rogan, who if you've listened to him for long is a pretty stock liberal guy, he can go to Trump and feel welcomed.
On one side you've got a coalition that's welcoming to people who aren't even on their side of the political spectrum, and on the other, you've got a priesthood who isn't welcoming to people who have been with them for decades because they don't agree with just one of the dozen extremely fringe doctrines they are now obsessed with. The up-mountain climb people with fresh ideas will have to take to get anywhere with liberals, just isn't going to look worth it.
Further, I think one just has to look at the reactions by the Democratic Party so far and see them for what they are: willful delusion. They are tying themselves into pretzel knots of denial trying to claim that these cultural issues, which are of supreme importance to themselves, cannot mean anything to the idiot flyover-country voter, who predictably only cares about petty matters of cost. Their prole existence being confined to worrying about eating more eggs and bacon, and buying cheap gas to help them get home from work quickly in order to watch more network sitcoms. Liberals have a superiority complex sustained by delusional thinking that will not be dismantled before they hit rock bottom. And rock bottom is a long ways down. They're going to attack or demean anyone trying to help them break free of what they already deep-down know is a lie, the same way any addict will.
This line you wrote rang a bell,
"you've got a priesthood who isn't welcoming to people who have been with them for decades because they don't agree with just one of the dozen extremely fringe doctrines they are now obsessed with."
Bari Weiss recently in writing what determines woke and how it can be either left or right said something to the extent of woke is cultural totalitarianism. Woke doesn't allow for alternative or competing thoughts, you either agree, or you are a heretic.
I agree that wokeism gives off totalitarian vibes. The question in my mind is what can socially moderate Dems do about it? So long as voters conflate all Dems with the "shadow party" of cultural extremists, it's hard for any singular Dem candidate to avoid being fatally tainted.
Dems who are not members of the authoritarian woke movement need to get the balls, guts, eggs, or whatever they need to start talking about common sense reality. Boys grow into men and girls grow into women, women and men cannot change sex, favoring criminal activity over law enforcement supports crime, etc. The Dems I know are all white, middle and upper middle class snobs who denigrate everyone who disagrees with their bizarre beliefs as "stupid, fascistic, authoritarians," but at the same time, the Dems in question demand that the same reviled people vote for Dem candidates. That has to stop.
Recently I had a young progressive defend cold-blooded murder and took it a step further to wish the same for Elon, Bezos, and any other billionaire (also wanted to confiscate their money and property). Die-hard Dem, laughed whenever I offered a sane rebuttal.
This amoral, casual attitude about murdering people is becoming increasingly scary. Generally, the progs are anti-gun, and neither own them or know how to use them. If all the killing they advocate actually occurred they would be running for their safe spaces. But they encourage the unhinged to act out their impulses for them.
The Democratic Party will have an immediate opportunity to show that they have learned a lesson and can change. When Trump comes to office at the top of his agenda is immigration. Not high earning H1-B visas but low wage illegal immigration. The reaction of the Democratic Party to coming deportation will either be an opportunity, or a way to bury the party for the coming election cycle.
The DNC and the Democratic Party rather than being obstructionist should aim for a humane way to repatriate people to the countries they've come from. The Biden administration and "the groups" encouraged the massive immigration of the past 4 years, they should be a constructive participant in repairing the damage.
America faces many more issues than immigration, and Mitch McConnell type obstructionism is not a viable choice. We don't have 4 years to hope Trump fails. Next up taxes, deficit spending, and debt.
Correct me if I’m wrong but in his ‘inflammatory’ comments, Moulton didn’t so much argue that males should be restricted from girls sports as that it was an issue that concerned parents and should at least be open to discussion among Democrats. The fact that any topic should be closed off to discussion is chilling. (For me, a lifelong Democratic Party voter, the turning point was when-with very little public discussion or notice to the broader public-the Biden administration totally overturned Title IX by changing the relevant language to protection of ‘gender’)
While I appreciate the insightful analysis of what is wrong with the Democratic Party by several of the writers on this substack, they all keep repeating in various ways, as this article says, the theme that "the party must reclaim its identity as the party of the common man and woman". Surely they know that the current leaders and many of the most committed voters in the Democratic party despise the "common man and woman" and want nothing to do with them, except if they can be duped, coerced, or deceived into voting for the Democrat candidate who will proceed to vote against the interests of these people once they get into office. Some articles elsewhere even recommend that the Democrat candidates lie to the voters to appear more conservative than they actually are, although the articles are not quite so blunt about it as this.
Truth is, the Democratic party is very well satisfied with itself as it is now, they are just angry with the voters for not recognizing the magnificence of their leadership and for not being grateful for the scraps of government money the Democrats in office choose to bestow upon the despised working class. As other articles have stated, the Democrats do not believe that the cultural positions they advocate resonate at all with voters, they are just distractions promoted by deceptive Republicans. They think that sprinkling some programs paid with taxpayer money on the voters is all they need to do, and that the people don't understand how gracious and generous Democrats are with other people's money. They also think they need to explain their programs at higher volumes and more often and the stupid voters will finally hear them.
I realize that this Substack is by Democrats who want to save the party, but I think it's beyond redemption at this point. There is nothing coming out of the party today except toxic cultural ideas they are trying to force on everyone, open borders, hugely destructive "green energy" programs that are nothing but giant grift machines dispensing unaccountable money to their cronies (that are pushing our debt to unsustainable levels), over-regulation that is destroying our businesses, DEI stupidity that has further corrupted the culture and, worse, damaged our military readiness in a very dangerous world that the Democrats are making more dangerous every day, and so much more. I think that the party should be abandoned to the crazy Left and the sane liberals should concentrate on building a new party along the lines that have been laid out in many posts to this Substack and elsewhere.
"Truth is, the Democratic party is very well satisfied with itself as it is now, they are just angry with the voters for not recognizing the magnificence of their leadership and for not being grateful for the scraps of government money the Democrats in office choose to bestow upon the despised working class."
Really great observation and well written post! I completely agree with all of it.
The DNC has proven over and over again to be a top-down organization that is run by a very small group of insiders. There is no way that the party's identity can be transformed via the influence of people like this author or anyone else who contributes to this substack. I personally think the DNC is banking on a massive recession or god knows what else to hit before 2026.
You guys never talk about Covid.. Its weird... Even the mainstream pundits admit that there " is a problem with trust". When did that start? During covid. Come on, guys. You can talk about it.
Agree with all points.
Want to add another one.....not something that others haven't seen, but one that my wife and I feel is critical:
Progressives look down on Trump voters. Read comments in WaPo and NYT....and commenters.
Trump voters are "low information" voters who "vote against their own best interests" (i.e., are so stupid that they would do this), who are racists and misogynists.
And the ballot box was a place to strike back. So, James Carville can write a column in the NYT about how he was wrong to think Harris would win (although he still doesn't know why).
Trump voters, LOUDLY and in unison said to the world: "You thought Harris would win.....so who are the REAL low information voters?"
p.s. Many of those individuals slammed by progressives are our neighbors, children, uncles, and so on. So we 50-year voters for Democrats voted this year for Trump because we are not going to tolerate allowing people we love to be talked about in this way.
Inflation and immigration aside, perhaps more important than anything else, the new DNC Chair must help the party find empathy and respect, for voters lacking college degrees and incomes below 6 figures.
It would be interesting to know how many times Dem pundits, pols and candidates, used the term "lower class" and "uneducated". Why not just cut to the chase, and inform voters, in plain English, they are too poor and too stupid, to know what is good for them?
While rarely mentioned, it seems fairly clear, many Dems embraced open borders, because they view new arrivals, as superior workers and more worthy of government assistance, than sparsely educated Americans, with limited skills, especially those in Fly Over Country.
Sherrod Brown, like JohnTester, and Tim Ryan, talked a good Populist game. Then they voted for every Progressive fantasy, Dems brought to the floor, regardless of how negatively the legislation, affected Working and Middle Class living standards. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, I will find another candidate to support.
"It would be interesting to know how many times Dem pundits, pols and candidates, used the term 'lower class' and 'uneducated'. Why not just cut to the chase, and inform voters, in plain English, they are too poor and too stupid, to know what is good for them?"
I can't recall having heard political insiders describe voters in such disparaging terms on air or in writing. Knowing what they say about regular people when their guard is down would require someone to speak out of school, something that doesn't happen nearly often enough.
However, what pundits commonly do instead is just as offensive. They'll dissect a current political issue on cable TV or a podcast and come to an agreement about its significance. Then they'll all nod while one of them observes that the matter they just finished hashing out could only be of interest to inside-the-Beltway geeks like them. The average Joe or Josie is much too preoccupied with, say, getting the kids to school to concern themselves with such weighty matters. In actuality, it is rare that the topic is as recondite as they believe to be. They're just relishing the rarefied circles they run in.
Somebody needs to say it, so I will. The problem with the Democrat party is one of too many "educated" (i.e., indoctrinated) irrational radical females dominating the party apparatus and thus the other Democrats would need to go to war against these largely lesbian vulnerable narcissists and risk getting tagged with that career-destroying label of misogynist (I am sure they will find a way to also claim racist and anti-trans too). For the standard issue Democrats to reclaim the party as attractive to the average American, they will need to support the Republican agenda to Make America Great Again.
"the DNC will have to contend with two powerful groups—activists and donors"
Expanding from my point below, the DNC is such an insider driven organization that even supposedly powerful donors are completely shut out of any decision making. If you remember correctly, it was primarily the donor class that was told to go to hell after the debate (keep in mind that voters are beneath even being acknowledged by the DNC). It's more functional to think of the DNC as a mafia organization in disarray with multiple families backstabbing each other.
James Carville gets it. It was, is and always will be the economy, stupid.
He is wrong. It wasn't the economy.
Instead, it was "I can't afford gas or eggs, and meanwhile the Democrats/Progressives are more worried about pronoun usage."
Carville, in this article, is trying to say what a lot of "progressives" are saying which is that "we really won so don't have to change anything. YAY!!!"
Drill, baby, drill will not lower the price of gas or eggs.
Not sure how your comment relates to mine. Can you explain?
In 1992 the economy was recovering from the 1990-1991 recession, with unemployment rates around 7.4% leading to Bill Clinton's victory. In 2008 George W. Bush was clueless about the economy after the collapse of Lehman et.al. which led to Obama's landslide victory. Trump's economy will not be impacted by who uses what pronouns, nor by his high hopes for more drilling for oil but by the dynamics of the global economy including any tariffs he may impose.
Thank you.
I stand by my comment.
The price of eggs will be impacted by the impact of the bird flu virus. The price of gasoline will be impacted by how fast China introduces electric vehicles in China and the rest of the world and the response of OPEC.
Mr. Judis, you call crime, immigration and gender "cultural issues." Yet you don't include abortion and climate change, and I suspect you regard those as issues with a deep moral dimension involving personal autonomy and global survival, much as 19th century abolitionists viewed slavery as a deeply moral issue.
The thing is, Progressives view crime, immigration and gender as issues with deep moral dimensions, not simply fashionable stances. They don't regard these as aspects of their cultural identity, but as integral elements of their human identity.
If you don't expect the Democratic Party to be neutral or silent on abortion and climate change - that is, not make room for Democratic candidates who are out-and-proud pro-lifers or climate skeptics - then you should not expect the Progressives to mask their views on issues they sincerely believe are matters of basic human rights. You may not see those issues that way, and the majority of voters may not see them that way, but you will be hard pressed to remake the image the electorate associates with your party so long as the Progressives play a key and vocal role in it. Even if they try to mask or minimize their beliefs, they won't be able to answer questions about them any better than Kamala Harris did when confronted with her 2019 primary campaign positions.
I think the Democratic Party no longer stands for, wants to stand for, or is capable of standing for the moderate values you correctly believe are the keys to winning major elections. If you want to build a winning coalition, you probably have to jettison the Progressive wing of the party. Just know this: while you are arguing for wrenching the party's identity away from the Progressives, they are plotting to take over your party, as Thom Hartmann in his Alternet piece, "New lessons for progressives — from the far right."
As long as Democrats keep whining about electoral math, they are missing a key point. Vermont is barely larger than Wyoming and growing faster. RI and DE are smaller than MT. HI is smaller than WV. CT is smaller than OK. CO is smaller than MO. And, of course, NY and IL are smaller than TX and FL. The key point is to be found elsewhere in the article and the whining, which is a reflex now, distracts you.
It is not so much the mores of Park Slope and Mountain View that need to be exorcised, it is the mores of Ann Arbor and Cambridge. The former are merely virtue signaling fellow travelers while the ideas come from the latter.
But don't worry the Republicans have similar divisions and either screwups or bad luck will put the unreformed Democrats back in charge. And thus we will continue to get the wild policy swings we have experienced in the Age of Trump. The fix is populist fusion and the exclusion of the Establishment from the new populist party.
Everything written here seems comprehensive.
Unfortunately, this seems to put the DNC in the difficult position of trying to be all things to all people. It is like an octopus. But can it really be all things to all people? Nope
The DNC should strive for a NATIONAL BRAND of supporting UNIONS, ANTI-TRUST legislation, WEALTH TAXES, and a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT to get corporations and money out of politics. Just like after the Gilded Age.
Then every time Republicans try to cut Social Security, Medicare, or Healthcare, the DNC should yell over and over again about Republicans hurting the little guy.
The best solution for a Constitutional Amendment is the https://projectleapfrog.org/ effort via state legislatures.
Who in the Republican party tried to cut Social Security or Medicare? As far as healthcare, if you're defending Obamacare, can't be enrolled in it.
The Paul Ryan RINOs who are in the process of being exorcised.
look at this
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/21/fact-sheet-80-of-house-republicans-release-plan-targeting-medicare-social-security-and-the-affordable-care-act-raising-costs-and-cutting-taxes-for-the-wealthy/#:~:text=On%20Wednesday%2C%20the%20Republican%20Study,and%20housing%20costs%20%E2%80%93%20all%20while
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/21/fact-sheet-80-of-house-republicans-release-plan-targeting-medicare-social-security-and-the-affordable-care-act-raising-costs-and-cutting-taxes-for-the-wealthy/#:~:text=80%25%20of%20House%20Republicans%20released%20a%20Budget%20that%3A&text=Calls%20for%20over%20%241.5%20trillion,69%20and%20cutting%20disability%20benefits.&text=Transitions%20Medicare%20to%20a%20premium,raise%20premiums%20for%20many%20seniors.
80% of House Republicans released a Budget that:
Cuts Medicare and Social Security while putting health care at risk for millions
Calls for over $1.5 trillion in cuts to Social Security, including an increase in the retirement age to 69 and cutting disability benefits.
The Democrats have forgotten what it is to be an American, and what America stands for.
It was founded so people may be FREE, free to think what you what, free to do what you want, and free to spend your money as you wish.
The Progressives ( in reality Totalitarians) want to tax your money away to give to their favorite grifters, and tell you what you Should be thinking, and regulate every aspect of your life with an ever increasing bureaucracy that only exists to create ever more rules, regulations and restrictions. None of which is necessary for the Pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness.
Trump's appeal is more than popularism, it is a return to a deep down feeling and understanding by the people of what America was and should be. The last great hope for mankind.
John, I know you don’t have a favorite but do you believe that any of the viable candidates can turn the party around? If so, which ones?
I don't have a favorite. I am not optimistic about any of them being able to turn the ship around.
Keepin’ it real!!