It is too easy to say that the Republican party set the stage for the rise of Candidate Trump. Yes, they intentionally adopted the "southern strategy" after seeing the success of George Wallace. Yes, they courted votes from churches and followers of the most extreme form of Christian Fundamentalism. And they have long been aligned with oligarchs and corporate interests to the detriment of the middle and lower classes, all while scapegoating minorities, women, the poor, the liberal media and LGBT people.
But the current political climate, one where racism and xenophobia is the dominant theme of Donald Trump’s campaign (and to be honest the focus of the rest of the Republican candidates, just not as outrageously as Mr. Trump) did not arise solely because of the Republicans’ cynical political tactics. If the Republicans have committed sins of commission, the Democrats have committed sins of omission over the last three decades.
To use a cliche, it takes two to tango, and for many years Democrats have enabled the Republicans increasing drift to the far right, by following them in rejecting the interests of the political coalition FDR created and later Democratic politicians expanded. By promoting the interests of large multinational corporations and, in particular, Wall Street, at the expense of Labor, the working class and even African Americans, the Democratic Party establishment helped create the conditions for the extreme income and wealth inequality that now exist in our country. Let’s look at the evidence, shall we.
Who supported, promoted and succeeded in achieving the adoption of the largest (at that time) trade agreement, NAFTA? Democratic President Bill Clinton who had this to say back when he signed that treaty:
On signing the treaty in 1994, then-President Bill Clinton said, “NAFTA means jobs. American jobs, and good-paying American jobs. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t support this agreement.” He promised that NAFTA would result in “an export boom to Mexico,” and claimed that such trade deals “transcend ideology” because support for them “is so uniform that it unites people in both parties.”
We now know the result of that infamous trade pact upon the American economy, and particularly on the the fate of American workers.
Rather than creating the promised hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs, NAFTA has contributed to an enormous new U.S. trade deficit with Mexico and Canada, which had already equated to an estimated net loss of one million U.S. jobs by 2004. [...]
NAFTA has contributed to downward pressure on U.S. wages and growth in U.S. income inequality. NAFTA’s broadest economic impact has been to fundamentally transform the types of jobs and wages available for the 63 percent of American workers without a college degree. Most of those who lost manufacturing jobs to NAFTA offshoring and import competition found reemployment in lower-wage jobs in non-offshorable service sectors. They added to the glut of workers seeking jobs in these growing sectors, pushing down wages. There is broad consensus among economists that recent trade flows have been a significant contributor to the historic rise in U.S. income inequality; the only debate is about the degree of trade’s responsibility.
Yet in the face of such disparate impact on American workers, the leaders of the Democratic Party establishment continue to support and seek the adoption of even larger, more corporate friendly trade agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. President Obama, posted a statement regarding his support for the TPP with language strikingly similar to the words President Clinton used to tout the benefits of NAFTA.
This partnership levels the playing field for our farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers by eliminating more than 18,000 taxes that various countries put on our products. It includes the strongest commitments on labor and the environment of any trade agreement in history, and those commitments are enforceable, unlike in past agreements. It promotes a free and open Internet. It strengthens our strategic relationships with our partners and allies in a region that will be vital to the 21st century. It’s an agreement that puts American workers first and will help middle-class families get ahead.
The same Democrats (not all Democrats, mind you, but certainly the highest elected officials and leaders of the party and many other “Centrists”) repealed laws that gutted the protections of the New Deal regarding Wall Street. In particular, the repeal of the Glass-Steagle Act, which previously operated to prohibit the consolidation of Commercial Banks, Insurance Companies and other financial institutions with Investment Banking Firms such as Goldman Sachs. This example of toadyism by the Democratic Establishment toward its Wall Street and the Big Bank campaign contributors played a significant role in the 2008 financial crisis that crippled millions of American families and led to the further decimation of the middle class.
The DLC branch of the Democratic party (at this point essentially the party establishment) also eviscerated those parts of the social safety net that provided the bare minimum support to the poorest members of our society when they worked to pass President Clinton’s welfare reform bill. Centrist Democrats also voted with Republicans to pass the Bush Tax cuts, which again benefited the wealthy and large corporations to the detriment of the working class.
Allegedly, Democrats who supported these and similar measures, who claimed to be “centrists” or “moderates,” did so on the theory that it was easier to win elections by shifting away from the progressive left, the so-called liberal wing of the party. In fact, their actions did little to advance the Democratic brand, much less make them more electable. By failing to give the electorate a clear alternative to the Republicans on economic policy, many Democrats allowed the Republicans to pull ever further to the right.
And let’s be clear, increasing income inequality has been the result of “centrism.” With such inequality and with a “recovery” that for many people looks like simply a continuation of the recession for most Americans, the working class, especially the white working class, has been ever more receptive to racist and xenophobic demagoguery by faux populists on the right like Trump. His appeal among working class whites, if anything, is broader than George Wallace’s appeal back in the late 60’s.
We live at a dangerous moment in history, but we didn’t get here simply because the Republican party is the source of all evil. We got here in part because of choices many Democrats made beginning in the late 80’s to abandon New Deal economic policies, to give short shrift to their base and to accept Wall Street money to finance their campaigns. Instead of consistently standing for the interests of the working class, and by adopting the economic and trade policies of bankers and multinational corporations, the Democrats helped create the political crisis we now face, one which has led to the rise of Trump, a man who has adopted the fascist tropes of racism, nativism and super-nationalism.
I am reminded of the failure to adequately address the economic concerns of its citizens by the center-left and center-right parties of the late Wiemar Republic in post-WWI Germany. Hitler was a fringe politician, until he wasn’t. His rise to power was as much the result of weak opposition and poor governance by the ruling parties as it was anything inherent in Hitler’s ability as a politician. A healthy society, one where the the government provides people with economic security and the opportunity to obtain a better life for themselves or their children, does not provide the conditions for extremist ideologies, whether from the right or the left, to thrive. Unfortunately, we do not live in such a society at this moment in time. And in such times, people often turn to those who provide simple answers by stoking their emotions of fear and anger and directing those emotions toward scapegoats.
We can rightly place most of the blame for Trump on the policies and electoral tactics of the Republican party. However, to ignore the failures of the Democratic Party over the last thirty years that helped create the conditions where a candidate such as Trump could arise, would be a grave mistake. We can do nothing to alter the GOP. We can do something regarding the message, the platform and the policies of the Democratic party starting with the candidates we choose to support.