With 2018 bearing down on us and 2020 in the not-too-distant future, this might be a good time to list what should be the Democratic Party’s goals for the next two election cycles.
Win.
That’s it, just win.
This is as pragmatic as it gets. No matter how noble your plans you don’t get to put them into action if you don’t win. No matter how vocal your opposition to the current administration, you don’t get to do anything about it unless you win at least one house of Congress in 2018 and the White House in 2020.
And if the party fumbles the ball on this one, don’t be surprised if a lot of members head to the exits and become Independents, still hoping for a better country but believing the Democratic Party is simply incapable of delivering it.
Progressives, Centrists, it’s time to put your heads together and figure out our agenda, our message and our messengers.
And if you don’t want to splinter our party into so many pieces that it can’t win, then you better come prepared to compromise for the good of the whole.
First a few facts.
Our party can be as partisan and phony as the other side. We have our share of bought-and-paid-for puppets controlled by special interests and big donors, just like the GOP.
But most importantly, our message and agenda, for what it is, is still infinitely better for the country and the world than the Republicans’ and is far closer to Christian ideals than the one coming from the Right.
Personally, I lean toward a number of progressive positions. But, I realize we have a big tent party and some of it’s more centrist members might not want to go as far in some areas.
Some of this opposition might be sincere disagreement, but some of it’s also pandering to their hometown bases and their donors.
Does that mean Progressives should abandon their beliefs? No, but it means they have to understand no one group should expect to get everything it wants. The same goes for the Centrists.
Take health care. It would seem, based on how health insurance works, that single-payer is the way to go. But you’re not going to get a pure single-payer system until the Democrats control both houses of Congress with a filibuster-proof majority. It’ll also need the White House unless you have enough Congressmen to override a veto.
You might have a better chance to win over centrist Democrats and moderate Republicans with a modified single-payer system. Maybe with some kind of small needs-based premiums, co-pays or deductibles to lessen the tax burden.
Jobs and the economy? That’s a big one. Develop a plan everyone can live with and tax reform that will stimulate the economy. Hint: That’ll include getting more money into the hands of the poor and middle class, who are the most likely to spend it, with the understanding that big tax cuts for the rich and corporations aren’t going to trickle down to the workers.
Free college? It sounds great, but how do we play for it? You may have to settle for now for getting the price of college down, providing more grants for education and addressing the issue of crushing student debt.
You can only throw so many taxes at the voters at one time before you scare them off, no matter how well-thought-out your plans are.
Campaign finance reform? Non-negotiable. Until we get the big money (payoffs) out of politics and establish term limits many of our elected officials will serve their donors over their constituents.
I don’t have a problem with Progressives running their candidates against more moderate Democrats in the primary as long as both sides stick to their differences on the issues and let the people decide, as opposed to attack campaigns that could leave even the winner as damaged goods.
And while I completely understand the frustration of Bernie Sanders’ supporters after the presidential primary, those that didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election were simply handing the White House over to Donald Trump and the Republicans.
I think that’s called cutting off your nose to spite your face. I call it being shortsighted and completely unaware of the big picture and the ramifications of your actions.
And the same will be true of any segment of the party that doesn’t vote for its nominees as we enter two elections of amazing magnitude and significance for our country.
At the end of the day it’s not about winning primaries. It’s about winning in November. If we don’t put the candidates with the best chance to win in November on the ballot, even if we have to do some ideological compromising, this will be a big exercise in nothing.
So once we’ve got the agenda and the message that leaves only one thing to decide: The messengers.
With all due respect to Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, they’ve got to go. Not out of the party. They remain important members and leaders. But they can’t be the faces of the party any more.
I’m old so I can say without prejudice that they’re too old. And they’ve been beat up over the years from fighting the good fight against an opponent that considers character assassination in play for anyone who disagrees with it.
We need new younger faces. New vibrant voices. We have them in various areas of national and state government. We just need to find them, support them and give them a winning plan and message.
We need to offer a clear, sensible, easy-to-understand message. We need to show we have ideas that will work. We need to show our vision for the country and how we’ll govern to attain it. We need to show we’re clearly the better choice over a Republican Party that has proven itself incapable of both governing and providing moral leadership.
It’s what we have to do to win.
And, we have to win.
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