What's the Matter with Democrats? Besides Inbred Ignorance?

[ed...@poste.com]

The Democrats have unveiled their new slogan: a “Better Deal.”
We are in the minority in both houses of Congress; we cannot
promise anyone that this Congress will begin passing our
priorities tomorrow. But we have to start raising our voices to
present our vision for the country’s future. We will seek the
support of any Republicans willing to work with us, but more
important, we must start rallying the American people to support
our ideas.

In the last two elections, Democrats, including in the Senate,
failed to articulate a strong, bold economic program for the
middle class and those working hard to get there. We also failed
to communicate our values to show that we were on the side of
working people, not the special interests. We will not repeat
the same mistake. This is the start of a new vision for the
party, one strongly supported by House and Senate Democrats.

Our better deal is not about expanding the government, or moving
our party in one direction or another along the political
spectrum. Nor is it about tearing down government agencies that
work, that effectively protect consumers and promote the health
and well-being of the country. It’s about reorienting government
to work on behalf of people and families.

When it’s time to columnize on it, I’ll look at the specific
policies they’re pushing more closely. But two thoughts
immediately come to mind. First, it is just amazing how the New
Deal remains an organizing principle and cargo cult for
Democrats almost a century later. I mean, the word “Deal” is
hardly subtle.

Second, focusing on economics alone may make sense for internal
party reasons and for external marketing ones. After all, you
can always get Democrats to agree on more government activism
and intervention. What you can’t do is get them to agree on
cultural issues. And that’s a big problem for them. The
Democrats have a brand problem. Schumer says that they’re going
to focus on the concerns of working families. No doubt many of
those concerns are economic. But as anyone who has kids can tell
you, these are not the only concerns parents bring to politics.
The Thomas Frank school says that voters who care about social
issues don’t understand their own interests. This has always
struck me as nonsense. The voters’ real interests are defined by
what they think is important. So that includes everything from
race and abortion to guns and gay rights to free speech.

The Democratic party’s base literally and figuratively — coastal
elites, liberal Millennials, various ethnic and sexual
minorities, environmentalists, feminists, etc. — is full of
people who define politics about more than kitchen table
economics. You can claim that, say, abortion is solely an
economic issue. You can even believe it. But you can’t argue
that the Handmaid’s Tale cosplay crowd sees it that way.

Chuck Schumer probably has the discipline to stay on message,
but I sincerely doubt the rest of the party does. Bill Clinton
understood that he could only focus on his “Putting People
First” platform after he reassured voters that he wasn’t going
to kowtow to the party’s left flank. That’s why he threw Sister
Souljah under the bus, campaigned on welfare reform, and took
time off from the campaign trail to oversee the execution of a
mentally retarded man.

Politics have changed a lot since then and so have the
demographics of the country and the Democratic party. But it’s
hard to think of the Democratic politician out there who has
either the courage or the cynicism to similarly stand up to the
left-wing base and the media outlets that run interference for
them. Virtue signaling is too central to both parties these days
to think that you can skate by just talking about college
tuition and apprenticeships for very long.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/449790/chuck-schumer-
democrats-better-deal-economic-plan?target=topic&tid=781