As the Republican Party has become the home of extreme reactionary policies and ideals, Democrats sought to create a broader coalition that would help them win a larger electorate. The calculus was simple: as Republicans shift to the right, Democrats only need to stay in the center and round up all that is left due to our two-party system presenting a binary choice for voters. They double down on this by attempting to appear moderate and sensible to contrast the Republican party moving away from those who found themselves not represented in the center. The problem with this comes down to identifying the core of the party. The voters that fall between Democrats and Republicans on the center-right usually have a mixed bag of political beliefs primarily from those who are religious (more socially conservative) or libertarian (more fiscally conservative). These same voters would have to balance their beliefs with a Democratic party that is highlighting social issues and taxing the wealthy, which would oppose their beliefs in one way or another. This means there are Democratic voters who oppose the root issues at the base of the party. These are not necessarily unique and everyone knows an ardent critic of abortion who still votes for Democrats in every election or another degree of the same idea; however, the difference does not lie in what the Democrats are doing to keep these voters satisfied, but how they respond to the Republican strategy.
The major problem, in this case and in most everything that plagues American politics today, is money, specifically the source of funding for campaigns. It’s no secret that Congress does not align with the majority of Americans in terms of priorities and legislation to pass, but the desires of the wealthy class in this country almost perfectly matches Congress’. Democrats want to think that their base only consists of the less than 10,000 exuberantly wealthy donors and in doing so cast aside the millions of poor and working class folks who have never recovered from the right-wing project of Reaganomics that has been crushing them to this day. After Reagan, Bush Sr. continued his predecessor's tax policy, Clinton followed by bumping it up just a bit, Bush Jr. monumentally expanded these policies, Obama did not get close to necessary change, Trump pushed them even farther, and now Biden has done nothing in that regard.
Biden’s presidency is early, though seemingly already past effectiveness, and as much as we like to blame Republicans for every failure, it is telling when the reality is Democrats are more cause of progressive failure than Republicans. If your teammates are detracting from your team and losing you the game, you cannot just blame the other team. Democrats hope to ride the wave of those stuck in the middle having to choose between the ever increasing extremists within the Republican Party (who Democrats are headlining as the face of Republicans) or choose the only other option left, while that remaining option is only appeasing their donors' interests. The intriguing thing is that Republicans are winning! They are winning elections, winning outcomes in the courts, and winning the culture war by passing aggressive legislation to curb people’s rights. This means they are delivering for their base through vile and reprehensible attacks on LGBTQ adults and children, immigrants, and women as a whole. Winning breeds momentum along with more support and excitement.
Democrats doing nothing builds apprehension, distrust, and apathy from even longtime supporters. Consistently, the left-wing of the party have been trying to call for an alternative path, but they are vehemently met with more recourse than Republicans are. They are the common enemy of the Democratic and Republican establishments alike and a crux of this is due to the left calling for higher taxes and the donor class ensuring both parties stop them in their tracks. Democrats squandered a prime opportunity to self-assess though never changed a thing after losing the presidency in 2016 and now they have lost what is quickly becoming the most powerful branch of government, the Court. One reason it is so powerful is because Democrats see institutions as an end all be all. Demanding our respect and being protected from partisanship at all cost, even to their political ideals. It’s why they were so alarmed at January 6th while Trumpists didn’t think twice for ways to achieve and hold onto power. The irony is, while Democrats fear any potential view of “politicization” of our institutions by arresting a president or holding those in power accountable, conservative justices flaunt the law to bring about the rulings they want through any justification possible. Republicans understood that by gaining full control over SCOTUS via “the process”, Democrats would not be able to challenge or undo what had already been accomplished. Meanwhile, Republicans were simultaneously cheating, lying, and politicizing every aspect of the process until they stacked the court with their majority.
Again, the major concern of the Democratic base is the lack of fight from their own party. When our tent is so large that we can fit in Joe Manchin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez while one supports all of the President’s “agenda” and the other opposes it and gets to be the ultimate hurdle to progress, what good is it to have Manchin?
Do Democrats fear he will switch to Republican?
How would he vote then?
Would he vote the same?
It doesn’t seem like it would matter.
He would still be the one Democrats need to court as the swing vote in the Senate. If he is not helping the “coalition” and could very well be a bipartisan vote if he switched to the GOP, where is the concern? The only valid fears are him joining and sticking solid with Republicans or having someone more conservative win his seat. These only matter because Republicans have defined, more than Democrats, what they stand for. Not just telling people or trying to persuade them, but Republicans show you without any shame. That definitely does not mean you should trust them or know what they will do, but it doesn’t help when Democrats try to save face for them while every GOP ad has Schumer, Pelosi, and Biden left of AOC. All conservative ideologues live in the same culture war and their tent may have shrunk but they are fighting to squeeze in all they can into where they are standing. Republicans are trying to get people to come into their worldview, and keep them distracted at all the faux sources of outrage while being bankrolled. Meanwhile, Democrats leave so much space between their constituencies we feel levels of disconnect and many poor and working folks culminate on the edge of the tent, desperately trying to speak to those in charge so they can help, only incapable to pierce the donors’ wall, shrouding them with mountains of money.
Democrats need to do something bold if they want to win. We are living through a period of minority rule from an extremist court and Democrats need to go on the offensive. The same games won’t work against thugs who want to take the presidency and revel in the fact Donald Trump can ‘win’ with a minority of voters. If we don’t shame these fascists and take the necessary steps to protect and strengthen our democratic institutions, by making them perform the basic principles they were founded on without prejudice, they will be utterly worthless. Fascism doesn’t just pop up in countries who are newly independent and finding their way in a new global future. It has historically sprung up in response to legitimate crises caused by the wealthiest interests in the nation and ineffective leaders sitting on their hands never to respond with any substance, failing to realize the extent to what has grappled the nation until it takes away their power through violent ends.