Disclaimer: The purpose of this piece is not to sow a divide in the democratic party or its supporters after a significant victory in the U.S. presidential election, this divide already existed, and the issues this piece discusses are issues that democrats have routinely brought up as evidence of problems with securing smaller election wins. It is critical to unify to overcome, but that does not mean we cannot highlight the very real issues that the Democratic Party has been unable to resolve.
Ever since Joe Biden's win in the U.S. presidential election and November 5th, centrist Democrats and the Democratic Party as a whole in recent years, have embraced the idea that progressive ideals and policies are to blame for either losing congressional elections or winning them by a narrow margin. "We need to not ever use the word 'socialist' or 'socialism' ever again. . . . We lost good members because of that," Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) had said in a private conference call to House Democrats. The opposition to the progressive policy's that Democratic Party members like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have embraced and even won on has not been isolated to the U.S. presidential elections. It has been a constant hurdle for the more liberal members of the party.
In February, The New York Times reported that Democratic leaders were willing to risk party damage to stop Bernie Sanders from being nominated as the party's next choice for president. Sanders, who has seen a constant surge in popularity among Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z, since attempting to become the presidential nominee during both the 2016 and 2020 U.S. Presidential Elections, has always championed what many would call socialist policies, such as Medicare-for-all, and free four-year colleges.
"How you can spend four or five months hoping you don't have to put a bumper sticker from that guy on your car," said former Senator Chris Dodd, echoing a disdain for Sanders that many of the parties leadership shares.
As a result of this disdain, Bernie Sanders was unable to gain the presidential nomination both in 2016 and 2020, with many of his supporters denouncing the decision to nominate Joe Biden, a centrist Democrat who has publicly ensured that many of the progressive movements he has backed have been wrapped in a moderate label.
Despite his platform being called "the most progressive platform of any Democratic nominee in the modern history of the party," by the Justice Democrats, the group behind The Squad – AOC, Omar, Tlaib, and Pressley – Many of the Democratic party continue to lay blame on the progressives of the party for election results, regurgitating common Republican talking points that socialism, defunding the police, etc., is radical, unsustainable, and ludicrous.
Yet progressive policies within this very election cycle have had higher approval ratings than either presidential candidate, with Florida adopting a $15 an hour minimum wage standard, New Jersey decriminalizing marijuana, and Oregon decriminalizing all drugs for recreational use (yes, even cocaine and heroin).
Hasan Piker, a political commentator on Twitch, says that Democrats aren't losing because of progressive policies, but because they aren't progressive enough by offering incentives for disenfranchised people to vote for the Democratic party and challenging Republicans when they attempt to combat those progressive policies.
"The reason why Democrats lose is actually because they don't focus on the meat and potato issues or at the very least tell people what they're going to do for them. Solidarity is important, but if you want people to come to your side, you have to offer them something. And how do you offer as many people as possible the best possible thing? You tell them I'm going to give you healthcare, I'm going to give you free college, and when Republicans turn around and say "no," you say "why do you not want the people of West Virginia not to get a better opportunity for social mobility in this country?"
And this idea that progressivism will incentivize disenfranchised people was backed by a 2007 study that suggested that if everyone in the country voted, "Democrats would be in for the next 100 years." We know that nonvoters heavily favor socialist policies that benefit them because it lifts them up, makes their lives more comfortable with less stress, and often provides social safety nets that would otherwise be nonexistent under a deregulated and conservative federal government.
In an economic model like capitalism, having progressive policies ensures that exploitation can be contained and controlled to an extent. Child labor in the early 20th century was a product of capitalist exploitation. It was only progressive measures that ensured that children did not have 16-hour workdays in volatile conditions. The New Deal is a perfect example of progressive policies that quite literally saved the United States' economy by bolstering infrastructure and setting up welfare programs.
And you might be asking, "Why has that progress seemingly stopped?" But it hasn't. It just slowed down drastically because of massive opposition by lobbyists of corporations, and for two primary reasons: Republicans highjack these ideas, like socialized healthcare, and reframe them under the boogeyman of socialism and communism, which to many Americans is a deal-breaker, and because Democrats concede to those framings, as we've seen with Spanberger.
But for those who have fought back against Republican lead narratives that many of the Democratic party adopted, the win rate for elections has only continued to trend upward. 26 of the 30 congressional representatives endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America won their elections in the past week.
As we continue to move forward with a Joe Biden presidency, the Democratic party needs to ensure that establishment, Republican-lite, and DINO members are either migrating to progressive policies or are replaced by progressive candidates. Republicans are not here to work in a bipartisan fashion, as we've seen with the Supreme Court picks that have completely subverted bipartisanship (among other things). Democrats cannot afford to play both sides to gain white moderate votes because we know they can swing either way. It's much more important to focus on those people that these Democrats represent who don't vote because their disenfranchised, or in some cases, completely unable to. If Democrats continue to blame progressive members and policies and continue this centrism, they will continue to lose elections. And after four years of Donald Trump, I don't wish to experience it again.
Ever since Joe Biden's win in the U.S. presidential election and November 5th, centrist Democrats and the Democratic Party as a whole in recent years, have embraced the idea that progressive ideals and policies are to blame for either losing congressional elections or winning them by a narrow margin. "We need to not ever use the word 'socialist' or 'socialism' ever again. . . . We lost good members because of that," Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) had said in a private conference call to House Democrats. The opposition to the progressive policy's that Democratic Party members like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have embraced and even won on has not been isolated to the U.S. presidential elections. It has been a constant hurdle for the more liberal members of the party.
In February, The New York Times reported that Democratic leaders were willing to risk party damage to stop Bernie Sanders from being nominated as the party's next choice for president. Sanders, who has seen a constant surge in popularity among Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z, since attempting to become the presidential nominee during both the 2016 and 2020 U.S. Presidential Elections, has always championed what many would call socialist policies, such as Medicare-for-all, and free four-year colleges.
"How you can spend four or five months hoping you don't have to put a bumper sticker from that guy on your car," said former Senator Chris Dodd, echoing a disdain for Sanders that many of the parties leadership shares.
As a result of this disdain, Bernie Sanders was unable to gain the presidential nomination both in 2016 and 2020, with many of his supporters denouncing the decision to nominate Joe Biden, a centrist Democrat who has publicly ensured that many of the progressive movements he has backed have been wrapped in a moderate label.
Despite his platform being called "the most progressive platform of any Democratic nominee in the modern history of the party," by the Justice Democrats, the group behind The Squad – AOC, Omar, Tlaib, and Pressley – Many of the Democratic party continue to lay blame on the progressives of the party for election results, regurgitating common Republican talking points that socialism, defunding the police, etc., is radical, unsustainable, and ludicrous.
Yet progressive policies within this very election cycle have had higher approval ratings than either presidential candidate, with Florida adopting a $15 an hour minimum wage standard, New Jersey decriminalizing marijuana, and Oregon decriminalizing all drugs for recreational use (yes, even cocaine and heroin).
Hasan Piker, a political commentator on Twitch, says that Democrats aren't losing because of progressive policies, but because they aren't progressive enough by offering incentives for disenfranchised people to vote for the Democratic party and challenging Republicans when they attempt to combat those progressive policies.
"The reason why Democrats lose is actually because they don't focus on the meat and potato issues or at the very least tell people what they're going to do for them. Solidarity is important, but if you want people to come to your side, you have to offer them something. And how do you offer as many people as possible the best possible thing? You tell them I'm going to give you healthcare, I'm going to give you free college, and when Republicans turn around and say "no," you say "why do you not want the people of West Virginia not to get a better opportunity for social mobility in this country?"
And this idea that progressivism will incentivize disenfranchised people was backed by a 2007 study that suggested that if everyone in the country voted, "Democrats would be in for the next 100 years." We know that nonvoters heavily favor socialist policies that benefit them because it lifts them up, makes their lives more comfortable with less stress, and often provides social safety nets that would otherwise be nonexistent under a deregulated and conservative federal government.
In an economic model like capitalism, having progressive policies ensures that exploitation can be contained and controlled to an extent. Child labor in the early 20th century was a product of capitalist exploitation. It was only progressive measures that ensured that children did not have 16-hour workdays in volatile conditions. The New Deal is a perfect example of progressive policies that quite literally saved the United States' economy by bolstering infrastructure and setting up welfare programs.
And you might be asking, "Why has that progress seemingly stopped?" But it hasn't. It just slowed down drastically because of massive opposition by lobbyists of corporations, and for two primary reasons: Republicans highjack these ideas, like socialized healthcare, and reframe them under the boogeyman of socialism and communism, which to many Americans is a deal-breaker, and because Democrats concede to those framings, as we've seen with Spanberger.
But for those who have fought back against Republican lead narratives that many of the Democratic party adopted, the win rate for elections has only continued to trend upward. 26 of the 30 congressional representatives endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America won their elections in the past week.
As we continue to move forward with a Joe Biden presidency, the Democratic party needs to ensure that establishment, Republican-lite, and DINO members are either migrating to progressive policies or are replaced by progressive candidates. Republicans are not here to work in a bipartisan fashion, as we've seen with the Supreme Court picks that have completely subverted bipartisanship (among other things). Democrats cannot afford to play both sides to gain white moderate votes because we know they can swing either way. It's much more important to focus on those people that these Democrats represent who don't vote because their disenfranchised, or in some cases, completely unable to. If Democrats continue to blame progressive members and policies and continue this centrism, they will continue to lose elections. And after four years of Donald Trump, I don't wish to experience it again.
