I, too, am very frustrated with the timidity of the Democratic Party. They don’t have that killer instinct like the Republicans do. Until they get with the program, they will continue to struggle, even though they have the most popular ideas. The “false equivalency” media doesn’t help.
The Democratic party won't change before the 2024 election. The only way that a pro-democracy coalition wins is via grassroots efforts.
The legal system won't save the country, the DNC is oblivious and tone-deaf, and there is almost no leadership from DC.
So it's up to grassroots activists to lead (eg David Pepper in Ohio), and the rest of us to donate, volunteer, run for local office, and help turnout the vote.
There's a state race in New Hampshire that (if a Democratic wins) would blunt the supermajority. That's how we win.
The so-called defensive crouch reflects the perspective of rank-and-file Democrats, who simply see the political terrain differently than the party’s populist minority. Acting that way doesn’t mean a defensive crouch, plus it’s pointless to expect people to behave contrary to their nature. Voters see through that immediately.
The party approaches popular issues like abortion access and taxes like it’s still the 80s-90s and they’re going to get blown out. That’s not being overtly progressive, that’s being afraid to embrace popular center-left stuff.
We don’t have a good handle on what is popular: What people tell pollsters they want and what they’ll work for and vote for are different things. The historic failure of both the institutional party and the progressive left was the abandonment of grass roots organizing for at least a generation. Organization is all—policy and message emerge from that.
BTW, the most obvious example of a defensive crouch that I can think of came when HRC tried to walk back the deplorables remark—which she was absolutely right about—instead of doubling down. Thing is, she was excoriated by the left for even thinking that there was a rottenness in the electorate.
I think the defensive crouch comes not just from 1984 and 1994, but also 2010, 2014 and 2016. A plot of number Democratic Representatives over the past 50 years shows a spectacular collapse. Then there are Democratic-aligned groups that keep bring up niche cultural issues. For example, in 2020 we had tons of demonstrations in which memes like defund the police were repeated. This is a stupid sentiment, but coming from people on the left, most of whom vote Democratic, it pasted the party with it, and which Republicans made hay with. And then there is the whole transgender thing. A soon as gay marriage was OKs by the Supreme Court out pops this meme. And its been with us ever since.
One has to wonder why these things keep coming out that prevent a rational Democratic vision from ever being propounded. It's almost as if Democrats want to keep things close with the GOP.
If you handed a Democratic messaging strategist a gun and pointed them to a water barrel of fish, they would first organize a focus group and then draft a 200 page white paper.
I, too, am very frustrated with the timidity of the Democratic Party. They don’t have that killer instinct like the Republicans do. Until they get with the program, they will continue to struggle, even though they have the most popular ideas. The “false equivalency” media doesn’t help.
The Democratic party won't change before the 2024 election. The only way that a pro-democracy coalition wins is via grassroots efforts.
The legal system won't save the country, the DNC is oblivious and tone-deaf, and there is almost no leadership from DC.
So it's up to grassroots activists to lead (eg David Pepper in Ohio), and the rest of us to donate, volunteer, run for local office, and help turnout the vote.
There's a state race in New Hampshire that (if a Democratic wins) would blunt the supermajority. That's how we win.
“But this fertile ground for Democrats raises the question of why the party's leaders and candidates so often work from a defensive crouch.”
When did this happen?
Pretty much all the time
I hear this. I don’t see it.
The so-called defensive crouch reflects the perspective of rank-and-file Democrats, who simply see the political terrain differently than the party’s populist minority. Acting that way doesn’t mean a defensive crouch, plus it’s pointless to expect people to behave contrary to their nature. Voters see through that immediately.
The party approaches popular issues like abortion access and taxes like it’s still the 80s-90s and they’re going to get blown out. That’s not being overtly progressive, that’s being afraid to embrace popular center-left stuff.
We don’t have a good handle on what is popular: What people tell pollsters they want and what they’ll work for and vote for are different things. The historic failure of both the institutional party and the progressive left was the abandonment of grass roots organizing for at least a generation. Organization is all—policy and message emerge from that.
BTW, the most obvious example of a defensive crouch that I can think of came when HRC tried to walk back the deplorables remark—which she was absolutely right about—instead of doubling down. Thing is, she was excoriated by the left for even thinking that there was a rottenness in the electorate.
I think the defensive crouch comes not just from 1984 and 1994, but also 2010, 2014 and 2016. A plot of number Democratic Representatives over the past 50 years shows a spectacular collapse. Then there are Democratic-aligned groups that keep bring up niche cultural issues. For example, in 2020 we had tons of demonstrations in which memes like defund the police were repeated. This is a stupid sentiment, but coming from people on the left, most of whom vote Democratic, it pasted the party with it, and which Republicans made hay with. And then there is the whole transgender thing. A soon as gay marriage was OKs by the Supreme Court out pops this meme. And its been with us ever since.
One has to wonder why these things keep coming out that prevent a rational Democratic vision from ever being propounded. It's almost as if Democrats want to keep things close with the GOP.
If you handed a Democratic messaging strategist a gun and pointed them to a water barrel of fish, they would first organize a focus group and then draft a 200 page white paper.