Seven Lessons Democrats Need to Learn – Fast
We all make mistakes; The question is, do we learn from them? People on the left side of the political and cultural spectrum have done their part over the years. This has contributed to the bleak political prospects of the Democrats going into the medium term. Even worse, it is now quite plausible that Donald Trump could win re-election in 2024.
If we’re going to prevent that kind of catastrophe, it might be a good idea to learn some relevant lessons:
It is possible to over-stimulate the economy. Many progressives argued strongly that Barack Obama was not doing enough to stimulate the economy after the financial crisis. The United States of America appears to have become much bigger now. Inflation is at a 40-year high. Real wages have fallen. About 70 percent of Americans think the economy is in bad shape.
Much of inflation is being driven by global energy and supply chain issues. But, at 8.5 percent, inflation in the US is much higher than in Europe. Some economists estimate that the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion US rescue plan has added two to four percentage points to the US inflation rate.
Law & Order isn’t just a racist dog whistle. Yes, from George Wallace to Donald Trump, that rhetoric has been used like a dog whistle. Yes, every discussion of crime and policing needs to include the outrageous racial inequalities that pervade the system. At the same time, it is true that the first task of the government is to set up the system so that people feel safe. At a time when crime is on the rise, Democrats do not have an effective anti-crime posture. For example, in New York City, while homicide rates declined, overall crime increased by 37 percent in March compared to a year earlier, leading to a 59 percent increase in Grand Larcy autos, a 48 percent increase in robberies, and a 48 percent increase in homicides. was driven by a 40 percent increase in crime. Burglary shooting increased by 16 percent. According to a Gallup poll, 53 percent of Americans now say they worry about crime as a “big thing.”
Don’t politicize everything. Education has traditionally been a democratic strong point. A Washington Post-ABC News poll in 2006 found that voters trusted Democrats over Republicans by more than 20 points to better handle education. When a post-ABC poll asked about the issue last November, gains were as low as three points. Part of the decline is perhaps the preference of teacher unions to keep schools closed during the pandemic, attacks on magnet schools and gift programs by some progressives may be part of the belief that progressives are more concerned with their cultural agenda than actual education. care more. Republicans have of course politicized education as well, but for some reason it seems to work for them whereas it doesn’t for Democrats.
Border security isn’t just a Republican talking point. During one of the Democratic presidential primary debates in 2019, almost all candidates on the stage supported the idea of reducing unauthorized border crossings. This indicates that the Democratic Party has shifted significantly to the left on immigration. Today, 59 percent of voters believe the US has an “effectively” open southern border.
Joe Biden has never swooped in for decriminalization like many of his opponents, but he has yet to find a policy that embraces the concerns of border state voters while pursuing progressive goals. Only 38 per cent of the voters have approved his handling of the issue.
There is no such thing as “people of color”, It was always strange to create a group identity that included the vast majority of humanity. The phrase “people of color” sometimes covers a wide range of different ethnic experiences in this country. This contributes to a simple oppressor/oppressed narrative in which white Republicans are perceived on one side and POCs on the other.
That made it hard to predict that Trump would make the impressive gains among Hispanics in 2020 that he did. Hispanics still lean Democratic, 48 percent to 23 percent, according to a recent ICR-Miami poll, but their loyalty to Democrats may be weakening. According to the same poll, more Democratic Hispanics than Republican Hispanics have changed their party affiliation in the past year. More Hispanics disagreed with the statement that “the Democratic Party has been hijacked by progressives.”
Losses matter. A responsible federal budget committee estimates that the government will spend an average of $545 billion a year paying interest on the national debt over the next nine years. If interest rates rise two percentage points above the Congressional Budget Office’s estimates, the average annual interest cost would increase by $375 billion. That burden would shift out of spending on all other programs.
The New Deal happened once. Year after year Democrats think that if they can give checks and benefits to the people, they will be rewarded with votes, allowing them to form a coalition with a dominant majority. it’s not that easy. I enthusiastically supported many of these policies, but we live in an era in which issues of culture, values and identity drive politics at least as much as policy.
The Democrats’ biggest problem is this: We live in an age of fear, insecurity, and disorder on many fronts. Republicans have traditionally been known as the party of brutality and order. Democrats must find a posture that is tough on disorder, and tough on the causes of disorder.
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