Donald Trump won big, in solid blue New York Harris had the worst statewide performance for a Democrat since 1988. In New York City, her margin of victory was 17 points lower than Joe Biden’s in 2020.
Faced with a global economic crisis, rather than work on people’s pain, the Democratic establishment helped rescue the institutions that had just pushed the economy to the brink of collapse, further cementing the public’s view that our political and economic system was rigged for the rich and powerful.
We are all tired, and when there were plans for a Womens March they were met with memes of women saying, “Get somebody else to do it.”
To be fair, President Biden sought to reverse decades of flawed economic policy by taking on monopolies, building up our infrastructure, encouraging domestic manufacturing and playing hardball with China. Unfortunately, much of this good work was drowned out by the crisis at the border and punishing inflation. In the end, he was the wrong messenger for the way forward.
Mr. Trump wins over these voters because most Americans distrust both major parties. He campaigns like a populist, even though he governs like an oligarch and couldn’t care less about the fact that the top 1 percent has more wealth than the bottom 90 percent.
Democratic identity politics and the Democratic’s move to the left cost the party working-class voters and alienated the great American middle. If Democrats want to win again, they have to shed their ideological baggage, meet American voters where they are and stop scolding them/
Our philosophy must make clear that the real threat to democracy is widening economic inequality and the colossal power of big money in politics.
The Democratic Party must lay out a new vision of economic security and independence for working families. That requires remembering that labor is the counterweight to the interests of capital.
This vision also means committing to policies like universal pre-K, paid family and medical leave, expanded community banking, raising the minimum wage and a public option for health insurance. And it means taking on the concentration of wealth among the very few and price fixing, which fuels the affordability crisis and widens economic inequality.
The prospect of upsetting the donor class, lobbyists and special interest groups must not prevent us from doing right by our principles.
The challenge for Democrats now is to prove we can govern. Republicans will control Washington, but we control cities and states across the country. Let’s prove ourselves to be the party of competence by improving people’s lives with homes they can afford, quality health care, clean air and safe drinking water, high-performing schools and reliable transportation. Promoting these public goods can be done in partnership with the private sector, but never in submission to the profit motive.
Let’s run a campaign rooted in love, emphasizing how all of us, no matter our party, want to be able to afford homes and groceries, to send our kids to good schools and to leave behind a safer, better world for them than the one our parents left us.
The blue wave of 2018 ushered in a crop of new leaders capable of winning in tough red districts with a message anchored in the needs of constituents and not beholden to party leadership or moneyed interests.
We are all tired, and when there were plans for a Women’s March they were met with memes of women saying, “Get somebody else to do it.” Do so at your own peril!
In this time of reckoning, Democrats would be wise to pay attention to campaigns and candidates that broke the mold. A new path is both necessary and possible, but we will not chart it with the same politicians telling the same old stories. We are ready for the next generation.