America has gotten a taste of a new type of Republican leadership. It is clear that rhetoric and not leading is the GOP modus operandi. The problem is that said type of governance materially hurts people. So how exactly do Democrats win it all back? It should not be hard at all.
Winning back Congress & the White House is in the hands of Democrats. If they don’t boldly support working class policies, GOP will win with the status quo.
This morning I read an article that all should read titled “What the Democrats Need to Do to Win Back the White House” that lays out some important points. There are a few paragraphs that one should analyze critically.
Social justice activists, including some African Americans and Hispanics, who questioned Clinton’s commitment to humane immigration reform and the reduction of police abuse, mass incarceration, and punitive drug practices now face what may be one of the most repressive Justice Departments in history.
The point is not to re-litigate the 2016 election or suggest that Clinton was the perfect candidate. Nor is it to deny that Democrats need to align with working- and middle-class Americans while addressing the nation’s ethnic and cultural diversity. Yet the party needs to do so in a way that goes beyond the favorite ideological fixations of its base such as doing away with the large banks or promoting the rapid adoption of a single-payer health system and, instead, addresses voters where they find them.
As the country moves toward 2020 after a divisive and stressful presidency, voters will be looking for calm reassurance that a semblance of sanity can be restored in Washington. At that point, a presidential candidate’s personal qualities may matter far more than any explicit program. This would require someone with emotional and intellectual maturity, a healer who speaks softly but passionately about the values of cooperation and mutual respect that most Americans cherish. The last thing the electorate will seek is another round of divisive political rhetoric that only convinces people that politics has nothing to do with their lives. When large numbers of voters become apathetic, conservatives win and nothing ever changes for the better. The right candidate, however, may provide the chance to bring a semblance of unity and a desperately needed degree of accomplishment to a broken and dispirited political system.
Many will read the above as the sacrificing of what I believe is the importance of smart identity politics. It is not. It is pointing out that Democrats must work harder. They must continue with identity politics because different ‘identities’ in America suffer different grievances based on specific policies that affect them differently. That said, the working class as a group which comprises ALL identities must be visibly taken into account in a manner that no one is left out.
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