Democrat Rehab
What ideas do sane Democrats have for pulling the party out of the muck? Will their efforts prevail?
Note to readers:
I drafted this series almost one year ago, much closer to the time these recommendations were actually issued. My plan was to do what I usually do: write it, let it sit, tweak it, publish it. For whatever reason though, I never got around to that last step.
Then, I was going to publish it over the summer while I was traveling, but again, things got in the way. It didn’t happen.
A third idea I had was to wait until roundabout the one year anniversary, rewrite it, and present it as a kind of checking-back retrospective on the Democrats’ first full year out of power.
That idea sucked though. Too many opportunities for navel gazing - OMG, I was so right about this! - and too much temptation to revise my original sentiments to make myself seem more prescient than I actually was.
So instead, and as a series primarily for my paid subscribers, I’m presenting the four parts of this in the unaltered format in which they originally existed.
Whether my ideas have held up, whether I’ve remained true to myself in the meantime, whether the Democrats’ have succeeded in taking my wise advice, or whether they’ve blown it, I’ll leave for you to answer.
If you want to weigh in directly though, you’ll need to become a paid subscriber. I hope you’ll consider it. The income afforded me by my most loyal readers really does make a difference, and helps me continue to produce the content that keeps you coming back. It is appreciated beyond what words can express.
Either way, thanks for showing up! As always, the first chunk of this will be free to read.
Audio version below the paywall. Part I/IV.
I’ve grown so bitterly cynical about Democratic Party politics that it’s taken me a while to digest these recommendations from Third Way’s much-ballyhooed “Comeback Retreat” in January.
My opinion of Third Way has always been generally low. I believe orienting your politics around the pursuit of some imagined “middle ground” makes you a manipulable rube. Republicans long ago perfected the tactic of destroying the Democratic center by moving farther and farther right then waiting for “moderate” simps to chase them. Which they always did. Democrats never quite got the hang of it, but Republicans have it down to a science.
Dems also have a nasty habit of tempering their message to project the broadest possible appeal, then ending up with something so bland that everyone hates it. They take strong, clear ideas that they like, preemptively water them down in the hopes of making them easier to swallow, then watch as Republicans toxify them anyway, and make them all look like dicks.
I regard Third Way as being adjacent to this irritating pattern.
So, you’ll have Democrats say something like, “We shouldn’t drop babies on their heads.”
Then Republicans will say, “Actually, we should fucking slam babies on their heads, all the time.”
And then Third Way will chime in with their reasonable, “centrist” take that, “Dropping babies on their heads has some benefits, but only on weekends and not too hard.”
That’s always how I viewed them, anyway. Just rote, vacuous Golidlocksism; Republicans are too hot and Democrats are too cold, so the Just Right policy must be whatever’s right between them. No principle, no grounding, no clear priorities except, “let’s get along.”
Ugh.
So it came as something of a surprise when I looked over their comeback suggestions and found myself mostly nodding along with them.
The list isn’t perfect, by any means. It was formed through a series of breakout groups with influential Dems, so it’s fundamentally construction-by-committee. It’s too long, too repetitive, and there are a few centrist bugaboos laundered into the mix just to allow Third Way to remain on-brand. (Was anyone really arguing about Universal Basic Income during the last election, or does Third Way just need us to know that they don’t like it?)
Anyway, since my brand here on Substack, such as it exists, appears to be *the Democrat who shits on other Democrats*, I figured I owed this thing my honest and full reaction. Especially since I don’t just hate it…
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[bold text in italics is from Third Way]
[normal text is from Dave]
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Takeaways on Why Democrats Have a Cultural Disconnect with the Working Class
1. Overemphasis on Identity Politics: Many working-class voters feel Democrats prioritize niche identity-based groups with overbroad, unifying messages, making them feel excluded rather than included.
Yes. This. A thousand times this.
In fact, as we’ll see, ‘a thousand times this’ is pretty much how Third Way treated the idea. It gets repeated often throughout their manifesto. I might add some specificity here, like “We should stop telling men and white people that they’re garbage and that we hate them,” but this is sound advice, and we’re off to a good start.
2. The “Faculty Lounge” Problem: Democrats are often viewed as judgmental, out-of-touch, and dismissive of those without elite education or progressive views. This makes the party seem disconnected from everyday people.
Absolutely. A key feature of the woke era was a never ending sequence of moral and (pseudo) intellectual one-upsmanship. It wasn’t enough to be right. You had to be more right than the last guy. It wasn’t enough to care, you had to care more.
Since the types of elite manners favored by the faculty-loungers bore an overly intense focus on speech codes, it couldn’t help but advantage people who worked jobs characterized by many hours spent able to read emails and PDFs on how to avoid offending people when you open your mouth.
And the corollary, it disadvantaged anyone who didn’t get those memos, which was anyone whose job didn’t allow them to read memos at all. How were you supposed to know why we don’t say ‘Ladies and gentlemen’ anymore if you work on a construction site and weren’t treated to a hectoring, three day seminar about inclusivity in the workplace?
3. Failure to Prioritize Economic Concerns: While voters struggle with jobs, wages, and inflation, Democrats are seen as more focused on cultural and social issues than on economic progress and opportunity.
Economy? Wages? What even are those, man?
Any Democratic focus on “kitchen table” issues went the way of the do-do when Bernie’s second campaign ended. There may not be an excuse for this, but there certainly is a reason: professional Democrats don’t talk about economic issues because professional Democrats are all too rich to give a shit about economic issues. Those issues are for poor people, which they are not.
Dems are mostly fine with the status quo because the status quo has made them wealthy and powerful. Why go through the mega bummer of a hassle to reform health care when your health care is just fine? Poor people are mostly an abstraction to national Democrats. They don’t know, talk to, or even really like any actual poor people.
Actual poor people are a different breed, and they are 100% unrepresented in Washington. Asking Democrats to meet, or even know about, their needs is like asking raccoons to run a daycare; sure, they might get things right occasionally, but we probably shouldn’t expect them to function as a dream team.
