The Alternative To Leaving And Starting A Progressive Party— No More Power For Corporate Dems

The DCCC Failed— Why Should It Continue Being Dominated By New Dems?

When I think about DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, the first things that pop into me mind are:

• Podesta Lobbyist

Bank of America

Well Fargo

Big Pharma

Walmart

clean coal

Berkshire Hathaway

casinos

• Grifter ($109 million wasted on a campaign against Lindsey Graham)

• Clyburn

• Democratic ESTABLISHMENT

As part of a payback to Jim Colburn for helping Obama deliver him the presidential nomination, Biden gave Harrison the DNC chair, a job at which he accomplished absolutely nothing of any value. Last week, after Bernie issued his statement about how the Democratic Party had been abandoned by the working class because the party had abandoned workers, Harrison freaked out, defensively tweeting “This is straight up BS… Biden was the most-pro worker President of my life time— saved Union pensions, created millions of good paying jobs and even marched in a picket line and some of MVP’s plans would have fundamentally transformed the quality of life and closed the racial wealth gap for working people across this country. From the child tax credits, to 25k for a down payment for a house to Medicare covering the cost of senior health care in their homes. There are a lot of post election takes and this one ain’t a good one.”

Glenn Greenwald jumped into this Twitter fight as well, admonishing Harrison that “You and the corporatist and militarist party you lead just got your ass kicked all up and down the US, because Americans see that you only care about enriching yourselves at the corporate lobbying trough. If the humiliation you just suffered doesn't usher in some humility and self-reflection, nothing will.”

Last week Ruy Teixeira noted that the party Biden and Harrison are leaving behind “is uncompetitive among white working-class voters and among voters in exurban, small town, and rural America. This puts them at a massive structural disadvantage given an American electoral system that gives disproportionate weight to these voters, especially in Senate and presidential elections. To add to the problem, Democrats are now hemorrhaging nonwhite working-class voters across the country… There is a simple— and painful— reason for this. The Democrats really are no longer the party of the common man and woman. The priorities and values that dominate the party today are instead those of educated, liberal America which only partially overlap— and sometimes not at all— with those of ordinary Americans. This election has made this problem manifest in the starkest possible terms, as the Democratic coalition shattered into pieces. Trump not only won, he won fairly easily, carrying all seven swing states and, much to Democrats’ shock, the national popular vote.”

Teixeira urges every Democrat ostentatiously say that they subscribe to the following principles. These principles would signal to normie voters, particularly working-class voters of all races, that Democrats’ values and priorities are not so different from theirs. That’s a prerequisite for getting these voters to listen to Democrats’ pitch and take it seriously.

• Equality of opportunity is a fundamental American principle; equality of outcome is not.

• America is not perfect but it is good to be patriotic and proud of the country.

• Discrimination and racism are bad but they are not the cause of all disparities in American society.

• Racial achievement gaps are bad and we should seek to close them. However, they are not due just to racism and standards of high achievement should be maintained for people of all races.

• No one is completely without bias but calling all white people racists who benefit from white privilege and American society a white supremacist society is not right or fair.

• America benefits from the presence of immigrants and no immigrant, even if illegal, should be mistreated. But border security is hugely important, as is an enforceable system that fairly decides who can enter the country.

• Police misconduct and brutality against people of any race is wrong and we need to reform police conduct and recruitment. However, more and better policing is needed to get criminals off the streets and secure public safety. That cannot be provided by “defunding the police”.

• There are underlying differences between men and women that should not all be attributed to sexism. However, discrimination on the basis of gender is wrong and should always be opposed.

• People who want to live as a gender different from their biological sex should have that right. However, biological sex is real and spaces limited to biological women in areas like sports and prisons should be preserved. Medical treatments like drugs and surgery are serious interventions that should not be available on demand, especially for children.

• Language policing has gone too far; by and large, people should be able to express their views without fear of sanction by employer, school, institution or government. Free speech is a fundamental American value that should be safeguarded everywhere.

• Climate change is a serious problem but it won’t be solved overnight. As we move toward a clean energy economy with an “all of the above” strategy, energy must continue to be cheap, reliable and abundant. That means fossil fuels, especially natural gas, will continue to be an important part of the mix.

• We must make America more equal, but we also must make it richer. There is no contradiction between the two. A richer country will make it easier to promote equality.

• Degrowth is the worst idea on the left since Communism. Ordinary voters want abundance: more stuff, more opportunity, cheaper prices, nicer, more comfortable lives. The only way to provide this is with more growth, not less.

• We need to make it much easier to build things, from housing to transmission lines to nuclear reactors. That cannot happen without serious regulatory and permitting reform.

• America needs a robust industrial policy that goes far beyond climate policy. We are in direct competition with nations like China, a competition we cannot win without building on cutting edge scientific research in all fields.

• National economic development should prioritize the “left-behind” areas of the country. The New Deal under Franklin Roosevelt did this and we can do it today. “Trickle-down” economics from rich metropolitan areas is not working.

“A Democratic Party united around these principles would be a far more appealing party to those millions of voters who are leaving the Democratic Party behind. It’s time to start calling them back.”

Professional politicians may see it very a different perspective, “‘It’s very simple: If you try to win elections by talking to the elites of this country, you’re going to get your ass kicked— there are not enough Beyonces, Oprahs or Hollywood elites to elect anyone,’ said Chris Kofinis, former chief of staff to Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV). ‘Trump is not the disease. He is the symptom. The disease is political, cultural, and economic elites who keep telling the public what they should think, feel and believe— and guess what they told them on Tuesday: Go to hell.’”

A savvier voice, Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said that “The Democratic Party needs to be rebuilt. We have become a party of elites, whether we abandoned working-class people, whether they abandoned us, whether it’s some combination of all of the above.”

Greg Casar (D-TX) who is taking over the chair of the Progressive Caucus from Jayapal, said Dems need to “build a new Democratic Party brand that brings in working-class people… Trump lied and said that immigrants were to blame. The Democratic message moving forward needs to be house prices are up not because of immigrants, but because of Wall Street, and that your health care is worsening not because of immigrants, but because of Big Pharma.”