By examining the cover photo many readers might readily assume what appears to be the obvious; returning glamor to something classy that has surrendered to the elements and has long since lost its sparkling gloss. Indeed, the visual of a rusting inoperable old transportation machine would be enough of a teaser to pique the interest of any classic car enthusiast. The prospect of breathing new life into a product that once defined an affordable standard of living and offered a level of elegance and comfort in motion can stir feelings of exhilaration of wanting it to live, run, accelerate and gleam again. Reversing the effects of aging for an old ride that had ostensibly outlived its usefulness then was hauled away as junk and relegated to taking up space in the back of some low rent salvage yard can be a daunting challenge. It can certainly vex the desires of the truest believer who is in love with the idea of returning a classic to its original pristine state where its appeal to drivers and passengers is far and wide. This concept is not unique to the products of the union workers in the heyday of Detroit’s assembly lines. There are other appropriate applications for it. For example, to liken the current state of the Democratic Party to a similar circumstance and condition is not a terribly far-fetched comparison. As with a nearly 70-year-old rusting metal hulk, a nearly 200-year-old political organization may well take a comparably commensurate heavy lift for restoration. Each will involve a great deal of labor-intensive detail and tender loving care to get back to a functional and aesthetically pleasing operable condition. Both are entirely doable. The quality of restoration however may well depend on the vision, motivation and dedication of those involved in making it happen.
Honestly, comparing the Democratic Party to a rusting old car is being kind. In politics as with automobiles when a vehicle becomes old and loses its shine voters like motorists can be fickle and quick to look elsewhere for something different and newer. It may be old and used but new to them and have a sparkle and charm they find appealing. With legions of salespeople in the marketplace of mass multimedia peddling their wares across all airwaves and into every remote corner of cyberspace through a professionally honed sales pitch, the dilemma is virtually impossible to ignore. The glitzier the hawker the more expert they seem at making the case for upgrading out of whatever their target consumer has been riding in or voting for. Past utility and reliable service history matter little when a pervading perception of liability is accepted, especially when they become convinced something has failed them. Admittedly, not all failure is perception. As with any driver who has found themselves on the shoulder of some backroad high and dry in the middle of nowhere after the best ride they ever had broke down under them, many voters feel equally as stranded by a party they see as having moved away from them in enough ways to matter. As people grow, age and evolve their priorities shift and their values may change. Some lifelong Democrats have quit the party and jumped ship to become Independents or have joined another team altogether. A significant number of longtime Democratic voters has simply gotten tired and given up voting seeing it as a useless exercise; a waste of time on an otherwise nice Tuesday. Much of this is due to disenchantment with policies or party leaders, both national and local, by whom they feel dismissed or outright abandoned. So many have come to believe their vote simply doesn’t count or even matter. This type of apathy is hard to contain and harder to overcome. The question is how did it become a problem for the Democrats and what is going to have to occur for it to be rectified?
In order to win at the polls, political leadership cannot afford to lose sight of the big picture. That enormous national portrait that is the American electoral map reveals a very telling story. Every election is a numbers game and superior numbers win. The results of last November have left the minority party in a quandary trying to figure out how, with so many positives in their favor, they could possibly have lost. It wasn’t just the Presidential ticket losing so many popular votes in 2024, losing over six million votes from their 2020 total. The entire party took a beating from the top of the ballot down losing both the House and the Senate by narrow margins. While it may be universally agreed that the cause of this sweeping defeat was multifactorial with voter roll purges and other forms of obstruction contributing to lower turnout in certain areas, the main contributing factor was a resounding loss of the political middle. There is plenty of empirical data to back up my assertion. I personally have heard several disgruntled current and former Democrats verbalize sentiments to the effect that they haven’t changed their values, their party has. Most of them are still the typical working-class middle American they always have been but feel the focus on kitchen table issues that matter has taken a back seat to culture war zeal. Prior to my retirement in 2020, I had been directly involved in local and state politics for over a decade and a half. As a result of having been a party committee officer and state senate candidate being deeply immersed in numerous pertinent issues up close and personal, I came away with some hopefully helpful insight. While I don’t claim to have all the answers of how to repair the Blue Team, I may be able to suggest a few steps to be taken to assist in reversing its downward trajectory in an effort to hopefully reclaim some of its lost electoral glory.
Will Rogers once laid it on the line when he said, “People in this country don’t vote FOR; they vote AGAINST.” Democrats have had their best election results when they have presented themselves and their ideas as an appealing alternative to the disastrous outcomes from the policies of incumbent Republicans. It would be to their benefit if they could reconstitute their party in such a way that it could appear perpetually marketable. I realize that is asking a lot of a big tent organization, but leadership at all levels needs to improve responsiveness to extreme and damaging actions, statements and comments. They cannot be shy or tardy in containing self-inflicted damage. Leaders must let it be known emphatically and immediately where the party stands on an issue when a fringe element member shouts something like “DEFUND THE POLICE” into a hot microphone and squelch it immediately. Culture war sideshows cannot become the dominant focus of policy discourse. Allowing the party to be abused by the opposition and critics with poorly understood policies concerning small minority groups the way it was in 2024 with transgendered college athletes and youth is unacceptable. For the record, the opposition received a ridiculously disproportionate amount of mileage from an absurdly small number of athletes. Messaging failures must be reversed, especially regarding issues which are undisputedly in the favor of Democrats. Failing to capitalize on such positive indicators like record sustained job growth, 4% unemployment, stable inflation, record oil production and a stock market with gains at an all-time high among many other things constitutes political malpractice.
Before the time I served on a party committee and especially when I was a candidate, I witnessed an emerging phenomenon that has become increasingly detrimental. Ideological purity tests be they formal, informal, personal or whatever, for candidates and elected party members have had a counterproductive effect in terms of marketability. Being an organization that must recruit from the local population of the human race, there are darned few specimens in the Democratic or any other candidate pool who do not have a flawed old habit, outdated attitude or an egregious character failure making them too imperfect to serve according to current evolved standards. Most have some negative incident in their past they would gladly do over if given the opportunity. However, due to the Woke Movement asserting itself, many are dismissed outright for having not been sufficiently sensitive by today’s acceptability guidelines in their earlier life. Bill Maher illustrated this nicely two years ago in a piece named, A Woke Revolution. One dismissal that held the attention of the entire nation was that of Minnesota Senator Al Franken in 2017. Franken was accused of sexual impropriety by a fellow entertainer when they were on a USO tour in 2006. With the “Me Too” movement on the rampage and having a zero-tolerance for such things be they hearsay or verified by eyewitness, New York Senator Kerstin Gillibrand led the way in railroading Franken out of his senate seat without so much as a full hearing. Despite no evidence of criminality, Franken resigned under pressure, voluntarily, without any due process. There are several who were on board with Franken’s railroading who are now rethinking their decision. Indeed, there was a great dialed up effort during the height of Me Too to elevate and elect women. It remains a priority in current candidate recruitment. I will vouch that in 2019 at local Democratic party functions there were people who approached me and said to my face, “You are a great candidate, but you are the wrong sex.” That same year it was noticed by many when women in Congress, in support of the Me Too Movement, took things just a bit far by showing up as a group to the State of the Union speech in white Suffragette attire. That particular social movement statement succeeded at alienating enough middle-of-the-road type of voters to question why they would vote for someone like that. Such is what happened to Rep. Kendra Horn who narrowly won the OK 5th CD seat in 2018 becoming the first Democrat to win the seat in forty years. She sadly did not win reelection.
Again, I do not possess all the answers of how to restore the derelict classic that is the Democratic Party to its former glory of sustained success. Nor do I have a magic wand to wave and make all the things needed for the rebuilding project fall into place. All I can offer is advice from personal experience for a few steps in the right direction. First, leadership needs to show they are less fixated on the culture war and fringe issues. Also, there must be an intense refocus on the working man/woman and family friendly issues that made the Democrats the saviors of 20th Century America ninety years ago. The emergence of a charismatic messenger would be greatly helpful, but in the absence of such a figure there must be effective communication that John and Jane Q. Voter can easily understand and internalize. Double down on messaging around the popular things like support of labor, middle class tax credits, lowering of commodity prices, capping health care costs and advocating for or an increase in the minimum wage. Unabashedly promote America as that shining city on the hill that attracts people from all places on the planet that always seemed to get the best results for the many from center-left policies in governance. When the opposition attempts to paint the Blue Team with a broad brush of the most extreme factions of the party, turn up the volume and tell them in no uncertain terms that if they intend to hold us responsible for everything to our ideological left, then they had best be ready to answer for everything to their politically affiliated right, up to and including the “Jews Will Not Replace Us” crowd. As a Democratic centrist candidate, always be ready to engage with those concerned that you are not as liberal, progressive or woke than they are. When they ask, “Why should someone like me trust someone like you?” field that as a totally reasonable question to which a viable reply is, “Do you think you’ll have an easier time dealing with someone like me or one of those people on the other side of the aisle?” Being a centrist and purveyor of reason still holds a broad and versatile appeal. That big move back toward the electoral middle is what it is going to take to wrestle this classic back from the rust and restore its shine, sparkle and above all, its utility. It really is not terribly difficult to make this grand and magnificent product of better ideas once again worthy of the votes it deserves. We may not win back all those six-million plus votes in the next election, but hopefully we earn back enough to make the difference in a victory. Given what we are all up against, the restoration cannot begin soon enough. The consequences going forward of failing to reclaim the lost portion of the middle and regaining control of the levers of government are too dark to even ponder. Let us always remember that Democratic ideas are what has made America great.
Thank you for reading.
