America is a tremendously diverse country. It is the only country in the world that is based on an idea — liberty and justice for all — not a race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, or other identity group. In such a nation, successful political movements must appeal to a broad spectrum of people. If they have difficulty reaching some people, they need to engage more with those people, not less — and this should be done respectfully, in a spirit of empathy and inclusion.
For these reasons, I was saddened to read Markos Moulitsas’ recent article in which he framed progressivism as a movement that should double-down on its existing demographic base of support among women and people of color. (And if you don’t think that’s what he was saying, I guarantee you, that’s exactly how most people outside the progressive bubble would perceive it.)
Markos characterized his article as “a first step in a long conversation. Because we’re doomed as a movement if we don’t get this right.”
I agree. But I think Markos' preferred framing and strategy for progressive Democrats is wrong and would doom the Democratic Party to long-term minority status in the United States government. So let’s continue this conversation; indeed, it’s an important one — perhaps the most important of all.
From both a philosophical and strategic perspective, it is unwise to frame American politics as a contest between identity groups, such as a white faction (conservatives and Republicans) and a non-white faction (progressives and Democrats). Guess who wins that contest? The numerical majority. Want to energize white people — by far, the majority — to trudge through pouring rain and snow to vote Republican? Tell them that Democrats primarily represent tribes they don’t belong to.
But let’s say people of color become the majority in America, as is predicted to happen in a few decades. In that case, a racially branded Democratic Party would win. But do we really want a country in which politics is a tribal battle between white and non-white? Is that the idea of America?
As for gender, Democrats currently have a “man problem.” Too many men perceive the Democratic Party as wimpy, which is the kiss of death for support among males. It is difficult for a political party to win a governing majority by writing off an entire gender as hopelessly unreachable. Democrats have probably already maxed out the women’s vote, so now it’s time to try to expand our base of support by crafting a political message and style that can appeal to both women and men.
I say this as a man who works mostly with liberal women, both in my day job and in my volunteer service to my local Democratic Party and Women’s Huddle groups. My boss is a woman, most of my coworkers in our progressive organization are women, and most of the local progressive activists are women. In all our many political discussions, I have never heard them say that we need to try harder to get women interested in progressivism. The progressive movement has already got that covered, and an amazing new generation of female leaders are starting to rise up the ranks of influence on the left — something I’m excited to see.
As a progressive white man, I passionately support equal rights for women, people of color, LGBT people, and all other people who are different than myself. We’re all human beings and we’re all Americans, and therefore we must all enjoy the same rights and freedoms — because that’s what America is all about. That is the core of who we are as a people — the American people. Or, it’s the core of who we should be.
This is a big part of what progressives and Democrats must stand for. But we must be skilled and effective in how we do it. Markos’ preferred framing is a losing strategy.
As Democratic Party Chair in Grayson County, Virginia — a poor, rural, heavily Republican county — I talk with a lot of people about politics, including people who disagree with me. What I have found is that most people care about a few basic things: good jobs and health care, at the top of the list. People want to be able to live and work with dignity.
These are issues that transcend party and transcend race and gender. People who live in wealthy urban and suburban bubbles — which is where most Democrats live today — don’t empathize enough with the struggles of rural and small-town America. Declining towns with few jobs, lots of people with poor health and not enough health care, and a deep patriotism that clashes with the lived experience of American decline, producing a painful cognitive dissonance.
This is the America that progressive Democrats need to reach out to and strive to win back, so that we can gain a governing majority. The electoral math supports this argument, as does common sense about how politics works in a mature democracy, i.e. a country that rejects tribal politics and strives to prevent civil war rather than blunder into it.
Our goal must be, first, to win, and then to govern our great nation according to all-embracing American values. We will only succeed in this mission if we present a positive, inclusive philosophy that says that “we Americans are all in this together. Our enemy is not each other, not the ‘other tribes’ among us, but the few who seek to hoard all wealth and power for themselves.”
This, fellow progressives, is a message that resonates with the deepest core of the idea of America — a message that can make our country proud and energized for progressive change. It is a message that can make us winners, not whiners. And that is a transformation that the Democratic Party desperately needs.