Since it is not in power, the American left would seem to have all the advantages in the coming elections. It can blame higher costs, world instability and other problems on the right. The liberal media are on the offensive, highlighting every problem relentlessly.
However, the momentum is not on either side. In fact, the Democratic Party is polling lower than the Republican Party among swing voters who will ultimately decide the coming elections, now and in 2028.
Some have characterized the fight inside the Democratic Party as a civil war that comes at exactly the wrong time.
Radicalization of the Left
The problem lies in the radicalization of the left as seen in the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Its candidates are running as Democrats and winning primary elections in safe districts against establishment ones. Once in office, the new socialist candidates will be changing the dynamics of the political scene.
Pro-Democrat strategists see the dangers of a reaction to radical candidates that could endanger the party. The “socialist” label is still anathema to countless Americans who rightly see the harmful ideology as the path to ruin. However, the socialists are doubling down, insisting that their skewed “woke” vision of society is America’s only hope.
Toning it Down
Most leftists hold firm on their woke positions on procured abortion, mass illegal immigration, unprosecuted crime, transgender “rights,” apocalyptic ecology and other issues. They hold these issues as non-negotiable because they are integral to their ideology.
The Democratic Party establishment is a bit more moderate. While sympathizing with the leftist goals, it questions the timing, degree, and speed of the proposed changes. It is a question of not now and not so much.
As a means to win, these more moderate members are asking the radicals to tone down their message and adopt ambiguous language that everyone can accept. They ask of them a certain measure of dishonesty by agreeing with opinions that are contrary to their true beliefs. Many radicals feel they are being thrown under the bus.
Adding “Reasonable” Planks
Thus, for example, Thomas Edsall of The New York Times pleads with the Democratic faithful to stand behind “reasonable” planks to the Party’s platform on such key issues as immigration, crime and transgenderism. He calls upon the Party to “perform a kind of brutal surgery on itself,” make “a public renunciation” of its liabilities and carry out an “ideological exorcism” of its leftist program.
His message seems to be that what Democrats need to do if they really want to win is to stop being Democrats. They must hide or postpone their revolution yet longer. They will prevail only if they keep the rhetoric non-ideological, the substance lite and the debate focused.
To the Right of the Right
Some of the Edsall proposals are frankly shocking since they are so contrary to what has long been the left’s program. It can only cause understandable dismay among radical Democrats who feel betrayed.
Thus, the Edsall proposals call for renouncing open borders and working for firmly enforced laws on illegal immigration and deportation of those “unauthorized” immigrants who commit crimes.
They call for aggressively prosecuting those accused of violent crime, restoring some bail requirements and imposing more life sentences. They even favor jury-decided death penalty in states where it is supported—a position that would put Democrats well to the right of America’s Catholic bishops.
Regarding the transgender issue, Democrats are asked to admit that there are two sexes: man and woman. People can claim an identity as another sex; however, such claims should not be allowed to alter the reality of their biological sex. When unfair, sports teams should be allowed to exclude those who identify with the contrary sex. Gender-affirming treatments should be banned for all under 18—the Edsall proposals continue— since convincing studies reveal great harm deriving from them.
Avoiding the “Kind of Crazy” Image
Other recommendations call for support of the free market and a repudiation of socialism.
Such proposals reflect some notions of common sense on the part of those in the party who have awakened to the fact that “woke” does not work. Moderate, third-way Democrats are advocating these kinds of changes since they wish to shed the Democrats’ “kind of crazy” image. The unreasonable desire to maintain a rigid ideological orthodoxy on pronouns, for example, often makes the they/them Democrats “sound weird, not empathetic.” The ghosts of defund-the-police activists during the 2020 BLM riots still linger.
Many other Democratic strategists echo the proposals of Thomas Edsall. People like James Carville have long been saying that the woke agenda is a creation of an academic elite disconnected from the working class. His message: The pace of things is too fast. Slow it down.
The National Catholic Reporter’s Jacobin writer, Michael Sean Winters, likewise urges restraint on the long march to power. His columns are full of advice to the pro-abortion Democratic Party, which he sees as an extension of the Church’s social justice movement.
He believes that the Democrats need to bring common sense to the culture wars if they are to advance. “Even if the Democrats hit a home run on economics, they also need to step back from the cultural extremism they have embraced in recent years.”
Disaster at the Polls
The virtue signaling “crazy” positions energize the radical left but have proven disastrous at the polls. As The New York Times’ Ezra Klein noted in a recent essay:
“Democrats became more uncompromising on immigration and lost support among Hispanic voters. They moved left on guns and student loans and climate, and lost ground with young voters. They moved left on race and lost ground with Black voters. They moved left on education and lost ground with Asian American voters. They moved left on economics and lost ground with working-class voters.”
The Triumph of Bad Ideas
The Democrats’ problem is not how they present their liberal ideas. It is the ideas themselves that are turning off voters, who are not yet ready to embrace a frightening agenda.
Its liberal philosophy calls for an evolving process of ever-more unrestraint. Over the years, this leftward march has gradually overturned the healthy restraints of morals, family bonds, community norms and religious obligations.
The liberal drive to satisfy the unbridled passions constantly demands more concessions to the point that not even the restraint of sexual identity can be tolerated. The left is moving too fast and too soon. Worse yet, the left cannot retreat. The toothpaste cannot be returned into the tube.
A Dilemma
Thus, the left finds itself in a dilemma. Neither radicals nor moderates dispute the core principles of equality that motivate them. They disagree on methods and speeds.
The radical left needs the dynamism of this destructive process of unrestraint to energize its activists and many sympathizers. At the same time, the Democratic establishment needs “reasonable” moderation to appeal to the center that is rightly frightened by the rabid Jacobins.
To win, the Democrats need both energy and moderation. However, each faction tends to suppress the other. Both cannot be satisfied. The vain attempt to carry out an ideological exorcism on the Party will prove to be existential, forcing the left to abandon its radical identity.
The right suffers from a similar dilemma. The only way out for America is a return to Christian principles, morals and order.
Photo Credit: The American TFP