Progressive Without Apology

When Half is not Enough

Progressives are all breathing a sigh of relief that the red wave appears to not be washing up on shore.  I am glad it wasn’t worse, but jubilant I am not.  When it comes to preserving democracy, half is simply not enough.   Democrats have promised to protect democracy, but in order to protect democracy you first have to make it function.  Over the long term, running on a platform of protecting democracy will mean needing to find ways to make substantive changes, or at least finding ways to make sure people know that you are the one trying to find ways to make substantive changes.

 The Democrats need a vision, something their constituents can sink their teeth into–something that shows they care.  Part of the Democrats’ making it clear that they support democracy is them finding ways to make themselves the party of real change; and the ability to show that the Republicans are the ones who are slowing real advancement on real issues.  If the Republicans distract themselves with pointless and perhaps even bizarre investigations into President Biden or his family, they may give the Democrats the upper hand.  But Democrats will have to be aware and be smart in the way they handle the situation, not allowing the Republicans to continue to paint them as the party that doesn’t care about the everyday lives of ordinary Americans.

Progressives really need to think deeply about how Republicans got the upper hand on this kind of messaging.  It isn’t logical that Republicans should be the party of caring about kitchen table issues.  In reality, as Republicans have become increasingly a party of the increasingly extreme, they have become distracted from real issues by the Big Lie and conspiratorial thinking about the people on the other side of the aisle. Thus, they have failed to focus on real issues, and made compromise impossible.  These midterm results are voters’ way of saying that they want people in charge who are connected to the real world and there to engage in real governance.  But Democrats have failed miserably to capitalize on the public’s shift away from the divisive politics of election denialism.  

Having only half of the American public motivated and behind you is not going to be enough to halt the expansion of the threat posed by the alt-right.  Somehow, a broader coalition will have to be put together if there is going to be real progress on making American democracy function again and keeping it safe in the future.  If half the American people are not on board, there won’t be enough voices to drown out what promises to be a continual drumbeat of lies and misinformation.

This is an inflection point.  These are some of the most consequential elections in American history.  It is a critical political moment, one that absolutely has to be addressed and addressed immediately.  And it has to be addressed by more than half of us.