Many say Kamala Harris lost because she didn’t set forth clear policies speaking to voters’ concerns. That Democrats have lost touch with their traditional base. Don’t even know what they stand for.
Yet if anything Democrats were clearer on policy than Trump. But voters weren’t hearing it. Literally getting “news” mainly from Tiktok “influencers,” fuggedabout serious policy discussion. So the Biden administration got scant credit for big concrete actions helping working class Americans. While Republicans were all hot air (and actual policies inimical for working people). And the hot air won.
It’s deemed not enough for Democrats to just be against Trump. Yet Trumpism defines our era politically. An elephant in the room demanding engagement — pro or con. And Democrats must oppose it not from partisanship but crucial principles. What follows will not be big on policy proposals; they’re subordinate to the larger concerns at stake.
Let’s be specific about them.
First, decency. How sad that’s even an issue. But in a time when the president-elect says members of Congress who investigated a violent attack upon that institution should be jailed — and the jailed attackers pardoned! — we’ve got a big problem. That’s just one example of Trumpist depravity. Worshipping a man of atrocious behavior. Democrats must stand up for plain decency and fight the degradation of our civic culture.
It used to include truthfulness. Believe it or not, voters once were very intolerant of lying. Now it doesn’t even register. But without truth and genuine facts we cannot have a politics that makes sense and serves the public interest. And today’s Republicans are the truth-shredding party. Epitomized by a gigantic corrosive lie (the “stolen” 2020 election) heading their catechism.
I keep invoking our civic culture. I first got engaged with it because I saw it as noble, America’s politics representing a quest for what’s good and right. Trump has turned it into an ugly snakepit. That’s why I switched to the Democratic party, which still does uphold the fundamental civic values I’ve venerated.
It used to include truthfulness. Believe it or not, voters once were very intolerant of lying. Now it doesn’t even register. But without truth and genuine facts we cannot have a politics that makes sense and serves the public interest. And today’s Republicans are the truth-shredding party. Epitomized by a gigantic corrosive lie (the “stolen” 2020 election) heading their catechism.
The mentioned January 6, 2021 event assaulted an institution central to our society’s backbone. Such institutions must be defended, also part of our civic culture. But anti-institutionalism too is rampant in MAGA ranks, keen to tear it all down. Hating the “elites” who guide those institutions. Demonizing Dr. Fauci a prime example. This is just nuts. Lord knows our institutions could use reform, but what we’re seeing instead is destructive nihilism. Clueless how crucial solid institutions are for civilized life, as opposed to the equivalent of a jungle.
I recall Ayaan Hirsi Ali writing of living in a dysfunctional Middle East, then reaching the Netherlands as a refugee — being immediately gobsmacked that this is a society that works.
One thing she saw was police serving citizens rather than abusing them. Rule of law more generally is another vital pillar of our society — that Republicans undermine. Deeming Trump a victim of politicized “lawfare” when the reality is his guilt for real crimes he’s gotten away with. And now he promises his own corruption of the justice system to exact retribution. Democrats stand for true rule of law.
That’s part of government. Republicans hate government (when they’re not using it as a hammer to impose their will). I don’t love government, believing us better off to the extent we can avoid overdoing it. Yet we do need government to do a lot of things good for society that private interests simply cannot. That’s not “socialism.”
Responsibility is a further thing it’s sad to have to mention at all. People we entrust with power as our public servants must behave and act responsibly. Actually tackling issues rather than just exploiting them rhetorically. This is another element of civic culture conspicuous for its destruction by Trumpworld. And one which Democrats in contrast mostly honor.
“Freedom” is a Republican mantra. For them it means opposing vaccination and gun regulation (not exactly “pro-life”). While they’re actually all into telling people how to live. Like regarding sex and reproduction. Democrats are the truer advocates of personal freedom.
Some do have their heads up their rears concerning freedom of speech. Actually, “wokeist” censorship is a minority viewpoint among Democrats, but it unfortunately hands Republicans a way to posture on the high ground.
Even while trying to force their religious beliefs down our throats. A big founding principle of this nation was church-state separation — integral to freedom of religion, and a reason why religion flourishes in America while shriveling throughout Europe. Yet Republicans, with their “Christian nationalism,” strive to destroy that wall of separation. Defending it is another important hallmark of Democrats.
Equality is too. There’s much confusion here. It shouldn’t mean tearing down the better-off (Bernie Sanders would literally disallow billionairehood), but rather maximizing opportunity, and recognizing everyone’s equal human dignity. Democrats too often see people only as members of groups rather than as individuals (which actually irks many supposed beneficiaries, who voted for Trump). Such groupism is understandable given historic patterns of discrimination. But we’ve got to get past all that.
So Democrats should (and usually really do) advocate for policies that benefit the nation as a whole rather than favored groups. With Trump in contrast we’ll have a government of billionaires, by billionaires, and for the billionaires. Whose effective tax rates are lower than for middle class people, something Trump has aggravated, and promises to continue doing. Without being Sanders about it, tax fairness would have wealthier people (like me) pay more. (Much more, actually.)
And we need the money. Republicans fulminate about government deficits yet this too is sheer hypocrisy. They even refuse to fund the IRS to collect what the richest owe. Historically, deficit spending has been higher under Republicans than Democrats, and we’re headed toward a fiscal cliff. Threatening Social Security, Medicare, and other people-oriented government spending. More tax revenue is critically needed. Here is an another aspect of the mentioned responsibility, and Democrats should have the guts for it.
They must also stand against “America First” isolationism, which doesn’t in fact serve America’s true national interests. We’ve benefited hugely from our global leadership over most of the past century, the alliances we’ve built, making a better world for everyone, ourselves included. Retreating from that can only produce a nastier, more violent neighborhood for America to live in.
A friend of mine keeps saying we should step back and let some other country do the work for a change. I always reply that it won’t be, like, Switzerland.
An aspect of global engagement is a barrier-free trading system, which has made the world richer, also good for us. Billions raised from poverty can buy more of what we produce, as can nations selling us stuff. “Protectionism” protects the few at the expense of the many, and is economic self-harm. But this seems a lost cause now.
Democrats have also let themselves be intimidated by a minority of Americans hostile to immigrants and refugees. Such newcomers are good for this country, a key reason our economy outpaces Europe’s.
I believe I’ve enunciated here a good set of principles. If a dickhead nation won’t buy it, that’s tragic.