In the past few decades, the Democratic Party has undergone a seismic shift. Kitchen table issues like the economy and public safety have been overshadowed by more elitist topics like identity politics, gender ideology, defunding the police, climate change, and the vaguely defined yet rigidly enforced ideology of anti-racism, which sees white supremacy as the force behind every institution in America.
But while activists, lobbyists, and pundits were busy reshaping the Democratic Party, ordinary voters—including the working class, middle-class families, and ethnic minorities—were simply leaving. All of which has stranded a large group of Americans on an island, voters in the center of nowhere.
Two people who have spent years thinking about how the Democratic Party lost its vision are our guests today, political analysts Ruy Teixeira and John Judis. Their new book, Where Have All the Democrats Gone?, offers up a map to help us understand how liberals lost their way. On today’s episode, guest-hosted by Michael Moynihan, Teixeira and Judis trace the influence of big money forces behind what they call the Democrats’ “shadow party,” and offer a path forward away from the radical cultural issues embraced by party elites and back to core economic issues that matter to the working class, a group that Democrats need to win back if they want to win in 2024.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
I feel this article is targeted at centrist Dems who are just beginning to understand that the party no longer represents them, and they feel lost as a result. The title is not meant to imply the Democratic party is disappearing, OBVIOUSLY (so either folks don't understand the title or are deliberately misreading it)--but to indicate that those who call themselves Democrats have largely moved into rarified activist circles that have abandoned core principles the party once championed. As for all the history indicating that the Dems are evil incarnate, you can dig up Republican history that's shameful too. Arguing that all Dems are evil because of x,y,z forever amen is basically the same kind of argument made in anti-racist circles: "all whites are evil bc privilege and slavery blah blah blah." The article is meant to provide some context for older centrist Dems who are "behind the times," and may be feeling increasing discomfort about what the party is doing. In that sense, the article may be behind the times, but might serve to ground those looking for some answers and a place to start digging into things.
The Free Press is not a conservative or liberal rag. If you want that, go elsewhere. But this married, gay, Christian, gun-owning, former public school educator who disavows all aspects of the medical transition of children is grateful to have found in the Free Press some voices who don't spew party-line dogma and who are committed to complexity, nuance, and truth in journalism.
Bari-
When I signed up for Free Press, I didn't realize that tons of ads were also part of the package. Really turned off, especially the more obnoxious ones. I Plan to cancel my subscription, despite the high quality of the content~