Charles van Heck's Woodhull Journal

To an independent outsider, the quarrel and discord between oppositional wings have made the Democratic Party appear obsolete. Neither the DNC leadership nor the operatives, those attached to the traditional role of polity, appear capable of recognizing who their constituencies are, let alone defining what they want from the Party. The predictable course of any contentious disagreement is that the voices grow louder and the words sharper. The average citizen, regardless of political affiliation, or lack thereof, either listens to the squabble with apprehension or indifference or leaves the theater.

How should we think about the argument we are witnessing? The introspection is like watching an inferior production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, that famous melancholic prince. As an aside, Helen Hackett has an interesting book titled The Elizabethan Mind: Searching for the Self in an Age of Uncertainty (Yale, 2022). I think the title applies to the Democratic Party in its current state. When a play goes wrong, there are miscues, stage fright, acting with voice and not body, poor articulation and diction, and ignoring the audience, among other mishaps.

Who is the audience that the Democratic Party should be performing for? The answer is simple. When your ratings are at 27%  approval and 55% disapproval, you must pay attention to the director’s notes and understand that your performance is for everyone. Your director is the will of the people, not just the donor class. The Democratic Party succeeds when it listens to the people, rationally realigns to adjust, formulates, and clearly articulates policies in a vision that is relevant to the people. The success or failure of implementing a vision and its related policies depends on a leader’s skills in pivoting public opinion to build a coalition. The Democratic Party has prided itself as an enclave for progressives, moderates, and conservatives.

Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took their challenges to the Trumpian policies and the oligarchy to the Republican red states. Democrats, currently in power and potential candidates for office, must follow their example in “Listening to America.” Chuck Rocha, a Democratic strategist, correctly observes, “The way you figure out how to best reach Sunbelt Latinos—or black folks, or working class folks—is to start including them in the process to develop that strategy. And right now, there’s none of those people apparent in our own party.” A Southern strategy to attract independent voters and moderate Republicans to expand the Democratic base is needed. As Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar recently stated, “Our constituents matter big time because they’re also the Republicans’ constituents. And them showing up and making their views clear and telling the stories from their local perspective makes a huge difference.” 

The future of the Democratic Party depends on its ability to remind itself, in the words of Daniel Patrick Moynihan that: “Ours is a culture based on the primacy of the individual, the rights of the individual, the welfare of the individual, the claims of the individual against the state.… the definition of welfare to include not only the economic condition of the individual but his political condition as well.”

Senator Cory Booker reminded all Americans that we are in a moral moment. “For all Americans it’s a moral moment. It’s not left or right. It’s right or wrong.” In his words, we are reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Roy Wilkins, Andrew Young,  Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Daisy Bates, Thomas Merton, and Civil Rights activist and Congressman John Lewis, among others who stepped forward. “… when this country was facing crossroads, was facing crisis, they stood up.”  Senator Booker’s address was more than a marathon. His words are a challenge to all Americans at this time when “Our institutions are being recklessly and unconstitutionally attacked and even shattered.” Democrats need to listen and speak to America. They need to say with Cory Booker, This is our moral moment.

The question for the Democratic Party is whether to keep arguing among themselves and become obsolete or stand up.