Sorry about my bit of a hiatus from putting out my thoughts. Sometimes I just need a bit of time to immerse myself in particular issues and ideas and let them roll around in my greying matter before they become articulable. I hope you will find that the resulting thoughts were worth a bit of a wait. —Jon.
Simon Rosenberg, clearly one of the best thinkers and strategists in the Democratic coalition, has just published a call to action on his Substack, Hopium Chronicles. In his recent essay, on the basis of the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, he argues forcefully — as he has for years — that, “With Democrats things get better.” He concludes by saying,
“The bottom line is that Democratic policies have repeatedly been able to make globalization work for the American people in this new and challenging age. GOP policies have repeatedly failed to deliver, as a national party Republicans have repeatedly failed to do their part . . .
“ . . . I am proud of our country, our President and our Party. We need to be very loud in the coming months about all the good we’ve done. Our ability to win next year may very well depend on how successful we are in fighting this economic red wave and helping Americans come to a better understanding of how successful we all have been, together.
I love Rosenberg’s work, but I really feel like he’s missing several points of critical importance here that need more thought:
Both Democratic and Republican economic policies of the last forty years, including Globalization, are perhaps the greatest source of the populist discontent and divisiveness that Trump has catalyzed into an insurgent movement. These policies have disproportionately advantaged college-educated elites and massively disadvantaged non-college-educated working and middle class Americans.
Messaging that doesn’t acknowledge this reality will not help win-over fence-sitting or even the more mildly disaffected voters.
Biden and his team have understood this from the beginning and have created a roadmap and a set of commitments and actions that our Democratic coalition needs to rally around — and to message the hell out of to build a lasting, winning coalition of We, The People!
Point #1: With Democrats, the problem is that things have been much better for some than for others
The data Rosenberg has gathered is extremely helpful and I agree that we Dems need to do better at telling the story that “things get better” with us.
But what we have come to understand, in the midst of the Trump/MAGA insurrection, is that “things” have been quite uneven. The Neo-liberal economics and Globalization of the last four+ decades has meant that “Things” have gotten better mostly for an increasingly insulated and privileged college-educated elite, but not so much for just about everyone else.
The loss of good jobs and healthy communities throughout our heartland since Reagan and Trickle-Down economics, has for decades, stripped the heart and soul out of middle America, leading to massive disaffection among our working and middle classes.
Point #2: “The People” are Disaffected and Dubious in the Extreme
The MAGA millions that Trump has catalyzed have rejected both the traditional (RINO) Republican Party AND the Democratic Party. Both parties failed them.
The disaffection runs so deep that Trump was easily able to effect a massive defection of these voters from BOTH parties into what is now a populist authoritarian insurgency operating under the cover of the Republican Party.
Trump, running as a Republican, won and governed on the platform: “A plague on both their houses. This is now OUR house!”
The Trump/MAGA insurgency is now furiously creating cruel, daunting “facts-on-the-ground,” and: It is determined to (re-)elect a self-described tyrant. The point is:
Trump has crushed the Grand Old Party.
So, to cast this world-historical development as simply a continuation of the traditional inter-party rivalries does not align with current realities. Messaging and politics that miss this are unlikely to be persuasive to most of the voters we want to win-over or that we want to activate against the strong-arm Trump/MAGA insurgency working feverishly — in the states and nationally — to lock down our liberties and lock-out our votes.
Point #3: Joe Biden, in his understated way, has managed to pivot the Democratic Party to the goal of rebuilding Middle America
Joe Biden is actively, doggedly recasting the Democratic Party away from the elite-favoring policies that have hurt and embittered so many of our citizens. In his understated way, Biden described this in his campaign as the commitment to, “Build Back Better.” And, literally building on that, in recent remarks and speeches, he has described this mission as rebuilding America “. . . from the bottom-up and from the middle-out.”
That’s not only the right thing to do, but it’s the most powerful pivot we could have made and the most powerful message we can bring forward.
It’s righteous and it’s genius.
Biden is Killing it. His policies and investments are proving the point everyday.
Final Thought: Bottom-up and Middle-out Economics
If we Dems are going to regain the trust of “Middle America,” we have to be the party that champions and achieves the wellbeing of “The People,” not just the privileged.
Biden knows this can’t be done by looking back with numbers and talking points about past economic “successes” — especially when these were so unequally distributed and experienced.
To regain the trust and support of Middle America, we must ”pay the American Promise forward” by delivering on the commitment to build the future of our nation on Biden’s Bottom-up and Middle-out Economics.
Chances are very good that, if we build it on this, they will come.
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I really like the messaging of the title. That tagline both embraces those feeling disaffected, and highlights where these financial issues came from and the Dems intention to subvert them. And totally agree on the fundamental need to acknowledge how prior policies have disproportionately benefited the privileged. Love it!