Well, well, well. We’re a little over two weeks into the second Trump presidency and… holy fucking shit! I think even many of us who were shouting warnings about Trump have been a little taken aback by the breadth, depth and brazenness of fuckery that has unfolded in such a short period of time. What I, at least, am not surprised by is the complete unwillingness of elected Republicans—members of the so-called “party of law & order”—to do anything at all to reign in the lawlessness or the parade of dangerously unqualified (and often disqualified) nominees for federal office.
Surely they’ll step in when he does something unconstitutional though right? After all, these people act like the Constitution is second to the Bible (with the Second Amendment maybe being on par).
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., did acknowledge that an executive branch move to turn off a federal agency “runs afoul of the Constitution in the strictest sense.”
“It’s not uncommon for presidents to flex a little bit on where they can spend and where they can stop spending,” Tillis said. “Nobody should bellyache about that.”
Oh, yeah let’s not bellyache about something that runs “afoul of the Constitution”.
In order to take a break from the doom spiral of today and look to the future, assuming for the moment that we manage to survive this existential crisis and still have free and open elections in two and four years, I want to pose a question: How do Democrats become the party of America’s future? I don’t plan do dive deep in Monday morning quarterbacking of the election, but I think the topic requires at least a little consideration of What Went Wrong.
To start with, I want to make it clear that I do not believe both parties are the same. The Democratic Party is far better than the Republican Party, now more than ever—though that last part is more because the GOP has gotten far worse than the Dems getting better.
But there was almost certainly a lack of enthusiasm in this last election. An estimated 89 million eligible voters sat out the 2024 presidential election. Voter turnout in 2024 was 63.9% (156.3M total votes) compared to 65.% (158.4 M total votes) in 2020 (which, granted, was the highest percentage since 1900). Netted out, more than 2 million Americans who vote in 2020 didn’t voted in 2024. Harris could have won with less than 230,000 additional votes in 3 key states.
There are many people who simply don’t see enough difference between the two parties right now. Both parties are beholden to big money donors and corporate interests. And while there are some polarizing issues that rile up their respective bases, when it comes to our actual politicians (not necessarily voters) there is a lot of common ground. Trump, despite having been president once already, is seen as an outsider. Many independent voters, unhappy with the status quo and not believing Harris would do anything differently swung to Trump, a disruptor.
And while many Democratic voters may consider themselves to be quite liberal, the Democratic platform and many leaders have remained rather moderate. This could lead to Democrats feeling like their party is not representing their views. Even though they should have known better, the numbers tell us some liberal voters sat out this election.
So what should the party do? I believe they need to—hear me out—be much more aggressively progressive. Some Democrats look at the results of the election and conclude they should be even more moderate and bipartisan to woo persuadable right-leaning voters, but I think that’s wrong. They can’t out-Republican the Republicans, so they shouldn’t try. They need to be the Party of America’s future by radically rethinking how we do things in this country.
I’m not saying the Democrats should do all these or that this is an exhaustive list, but some things that should be up for consideration:
- Universal Basic Income
- Complete overhaul of the healthcare system, ideally single payer
- Campaign finance reform
- Overhaul and simplify the tax code
- Rethink policing, crime prevention and the justice system (end mass incarceration)
- Gun control (duh)
- Reign in private equity and other destructive economic forces
- Assertively support human rights around the world
- Fiercely protect the planet, including renewable energy
These aren’t new ideas. A few have been tried before (looking at you, single payer and gun control). Some, like tax reform, aren’t particularly “lefty” ideas. But they all entail pretty radical changes and they would generally make American lives better. None of them will be easy, and critics will say we can’t actually do any of these things. Certainly we can’t do them—wholesale—right now, but remember how Barack Obama sailed into the White House on a wave of Hope. Democrats haven’t been giving people much to hope for lately. The last three presidential elections have largely been “Trump is bad, and we’re not Trump.” Accurate, but not inspiring enough, even it if managed to work once, and he can’t be the boogeyman forever.
The starting point is a bold new vision for the party. From there you prioritize and start breaking it down into stages. Messaging will be key; make sure people understand the road to get where we want to be will be long. It won’t be accomplished in one term or one presidency. But we’ll all work together toward these goals, one step at a time. Each step improving lives. Who knows? Maybe after some wins Democrats will get enough of a mandate to start making big changes, like ripping and replacing the tax code.
What do you think? What else should be on the list? Or, do you think I’m totally wrong? Leave your comments below and let’s discuss.
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