Many of us have argued that the DNC has to take the party in a new direction. A lot of time has been spent arguing about 1) whether we need to become more liberal or more moderate and 2) about the difference between the DLC and reform Democrats. I've tried to combine these two questions and make the case for becoming the party of reform. I believe a reform agenda can allow the Democratic Party create a viable majority without sacrificing our core values. I think the following figures illustrate this well (more below).
Rather than thinking about a liberal conservative spectrum we need to expand our thinking to include other equally important metrics, in this case reform vs. status quo. By limiting ourselves to one dimension we are missing a lot of the subtleties that are made clear when comparing two dimensions.
I believe that the question about whether or not we need fundamental government reform is just as important in defining people's voting preference as traditional liberal vs. conservative issues. I base this on the fact that over 30% of people don't vote because they don't think either party represents them, many Democrats and Greens don't feel there is much difference between Republicans and Democrats, and reformers such as Ross Perot and John McCain have broad appeal across party lines.
I would define a reform agenda as supporting some or all of the following:
- first and foremost removing the corrupting influence of money on politics through comprehensive campaign reform;
- election reform-including voter verified paper trails;
- end gerrymandering of congressional election districts;
- tough ethics rules including eliminating the lobbyist-congress revolving door;
- supporting greater transparency in government.
- support for media diversification;
- tax simplification.
While few people would point to these issues in opinion polls, I believe they are expressed in low voter turnout and most people's opinion that government doesn't represent them. Most people across the political spectrum are unhappy with the way government works and feel reform is needed.
This is illustrated in the figure below. In this figure the liberal-conservative spectrum is shown on the horizontal axis and the status quo vs. reform spectrum is shown on the vertical axis. I made this up off the top of my head, and we can argue about the exact position of some of the boxes, but I think it approximates reality. In this depiction, it is clear that corporate money has a disproportionate influence on politics, both parties support the status quo, even though the general public doesn't. It also shows that the DLC has no natural constituency, in order to fight for corporate money, they are forced to move away from most democratic voters and fight with the Republicans over a few independent voters. I think this is reflected in the tepid support of liberal democrats and greens for mainstream democrats and the low voter turnout in general. Liberal Democrats and Greens feel that there isn't much difference between the parties because, according to this depiction, both the DLC and Republicans are far removed from their positions.
In contrast, without moving dramatically left or right, a reform candidate can move to the center of mass for most voters (see graph below). By adopting reform policies, democrats can excite the base and greens while winning over many independents and even fiscal conservatives. We may also win over many of the almost 40% of people that don't vote. Even a small proportion of nonvoters could dramatically influence the elections.
The downside is that we will lose most of the corporate funding the Democrats currently get. In the short term we will have to rely on small donations, in the long run we can work to remove the corrupting influence of big money on politics. Along with the electoral benefits this has for Democrats, the bigger benefit is that it is good policy. There will of course be powerful forces, including much of the media, aligned against a reform candidate, but I don't think the current Democratic position is tenable in the long run.
In the last election, image was more important than policies, and we lost the image war. We lost credibility because our policies didn't match our core beliefs and people knew it. By embracing a reform agenda and standing up for our core beliefs (health care, education, good jobs, fair taxes, fiscal responsibility) we can regain that credibility and, I believe, win back a majority.