John Avlon in The Daily Beast made a statement yesterday that bothers me. He said, "America seems resigned to a Seinfeld election in 2014 -- a campaign about nothing." His point is that neither party is running on national issues, and both parties seem content to let each candidate try to frame issues on the local level.
Now I can understand why this is happening with Republicans. Poll after poll has shown they are on the wrong side of most national issues -- and while they are wrong on most issues, they are not stupid. They know their best chance is to keep these issues out of the campaign this year.
But I am mystified as to why the Democrats would take this path -- and yet that is the path they are trodding. Here is what Debbie Wasserman-Schultz told a breakfast gathering last Thursday:
“A midterm is a much more localized election. You are going to have issues that they'll focus on in Arkansas that will be different from what they focus on in California. [Republicans] want to nationalize the agenda… They oppose all the things we should be doing that we should be doing to move the economy forward.”
I think this is a serious mistake. First, she is wrong about the Republicans. They have been struggling to find a national issue that works for them, and so far they have failed. They thought Obamacare would be that issue -- but record numbers of people signed up for insurance under that program, and multiple polls have shown that although Americans are not real happy with it, they don't want it repealed. They tried to scare people with the national debt, only to find out Americans are much more worried about unemployment and the faltering economy (both caused by GOP policies). Now they are trying to scare people about immigration. That's not going to work either, since most people are in favor of real immigration reform -- not just the closing of the border (which is all the GOP wants).
On the other hand, the Democrats are on the right side of most national issues -- issues that poll after poll has shown is supported by a significant majority of the American public. If the Democrats were smart, they would be trying to nationalize this election (and not localize it as Wasserman-Schultz seems to think is proper). How could they do this? I believe they should get together and sign a new "Contract for America" (much like the Republicans did back in 1992) -- and then run hard supporting that contract. Here are some of the things I think should be in that new "Contract for America":
1. Protect Social Security by fully funding it far into the future (by raising the cap on income subject to the payroll tax), and by promising no cuts to benefits.
2. Protect Medicare by promising to defeat any attempt to privatize or abolish it (and promise to fight attempts to weaken it by cutting payments to doctors and hospitals).
3. Raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour (and tie future raises to the rate of inflation).
4. Eliminate the tax break that corporations get for shipping American jobs overseas.
5. Eliminate unnecessary subsidies for corporations, so that corporations making millions or billions in profits actually pay a fair income tax.
6. Eliminate the special capital gains tax that allows the rich to pay less than many in the middle class, and tax all income the same (as earned income).
7. Support equal pay for women.
8. Eliminate discrimination in the workplace.
I could have added some more things, like closing the loopholes in background checks for gun buyers (which is supported by a huge majority of the public). But some cowardly "blue dogs" would not sign if that was included, and I was trying to come up with a contract that all Democrats could sign on to -- and I think any Democrat should be able to agree with the 8 points above.
The beauty of this is that all of the above points are not just supported by a majority of Americans, but a huge majority of Americans -- and that is even true in the red states. And the Republicans are on the wrong side of all of those issues (and would have trouble defending their opposition to such a "contract").
Are the Democrats passing up a "golden opportunity" by localizing the 2014 election? Absolutely! Nationalizing the election with a contract like this would drive home to the voters just how out of touch and extremist the Republican Party really is.
