This Elizabeth Warren message to those Democrats seeking the mythical center was succinct and on point. It was, stop being naive. Progressives understand Republicans will not do the right thing for the poor & middle-class.
Elizabeth Warren calls out Democratic naivete
“Unlike some Democrats, some candidates for the Democratic nomination,” Elizabeth Warren said. “I am not counting on Republican politicians having an epiphany. I am not betting my agenda on the naive hope that if Democrats adopt Republican critiques of progressive policies or make vague calls for unity, that somehow the wealthy and well connected will stand down.”
Democrats for too long have been playing the naive game that Republican politicians will eventually be ready to compromise with them. The fever breaking that President Obama spoke about was that of the average Republican citizens, not the Republican politicians. After all, their loyalties are with neither Democratic or Republican rank & file folks but with the interests of the plutocracy.
If Obama’s offer for chain CPI, what would have been a betrayal of Social Security recipients, and a Republican-inspired healthcare plan that kept private insurance companies pilfering Americans did not soften Republican politicians, it is clear nothing will. Tacking to the middle is always a clear and present danger to those least capable of absorbing the results of the con.
Republican politicians are good at cloaking their malfeasance to their pew in false ideological terms. Democrats tacking to the mythical center instead of spending the time, effort, and ad dollars to both activate their vastly under-voting base as well as to educate those who are hurting and receptive to the progressive message is a dereliction of duty.
Dr. Eddie Glaude‘s statement about the past and potential failures of Democrats is prescient. Instead of an intra-party debate on whether we should go to the mythical center, we should centralize on the progressive values most Americans want and need while spending the necessary time to explain that we can afford it and how it will be attained. After all, we have been doing the tack-to-the-middle con for the last forty years and income and wealth disparity and inequality is all we have to show for it.