Things keep getting worse for Democrats in midterm elections. The vote in 2010 was a disaster for the Democrats; they lost over sixty seats in the House and many other federal and state positions. The vote in 2014, however, was even worse. The Dems now have fewer member of the House than at any time since the 1920's, they lost the senate in a rout, they have less than 40% of the nation's governors, and they control fewer state legislatures than at any time since the Civil War 150 years ago. Clearly, the midterms have been just terrible for them.
In view of the really poor performance of the Democrats in these elections, we ought to consider what the Democrats can do to end this string of failures. If they don't, next midterms may completely wipe the Democrats out of existence as a national party. We could see Democrats in midterms competitive only in New England, a few northeastern states and the west coast.
So what is the problem? In simplest terms, the Democrats big problem is that the party has lost the support of nearly the entire white working class and white middle class. Oh, the Democrats talk about how they care about these two groups, but clearly voters in these groups understand that the Democrats really do not care at all about them. Many of the Democrats positions do nothing but alienate these groups.
If the Democrats are to avoid more of these midterm disasters and to ever win one of these elections again, they are going to have to modify their positions. Clearly, the majority of the country wants recognition that not everything that happens in America is the result of racism. Indeed, race relations in the USA and the equality of opportunity for all citizens are much improved over where they were 50, 30 or even 10 years ago. It is time for the Democrats to stop acting as if racism is rampant across the country. That Democrat litany is turning off millions of white voters who are not even slightly racist but who hear non-stop from the Democrats about just how racist they (and all America) are.
Another position the Democrats are going to have to adopt is to recognize that the cause of environmentalism cannot be treated as a never-ending crusade. Environmentalism has to be right-sized. It has to be considered in light of the costs it inflicts on all sorts of people, and there has to be a fair balancing between costs and benefits.
A third position that the Democrats will have to modify if they are to win midterms again is their refusal to negotiate with the Republicans. Voters saw all those bills pass the Republican House and then sit without consideration in the Senate. The Democrats have to be prepared to move towards the Republican positions or they run the risk of becoming nothing more than a rump party permanently consigned to the minority.
Finally, the Democrats are going to have to move towards supporting a less intrusive and more capable federal government. Their first reaction to every problem has to be something other than "let's establish a new federal program for it." Further, the Democrats are going to have to try for once properly to run the programs which already exist. Disasters like the Obamacare exchange in which the Democrats had three years to build the world's most expensive website only to find that it did not work cannot be allowed to occur again. The Democrats have to focus on ways to get existing programs to work better rather than on establishing new programs.
In view of the really poor performance of the Democrats in these elections, we ought to consider what the Democrats can do to end this string of failures. If they don't, next midterms may completely wipe the Democrats out of existence as a national party. We could see Democrats in midterms competitive only in New England, a few northeastern states and the west coast.
So what is the problem? In simplest terms, the Democrats big problem is that the party has lost the support of nearly the entire white working class and white middle class. Oh, the Democrats talk about how they care about these two groups, but clearly voters in these groups understand that the Democrats really do not care at all about them. Many of the Democrats positions do nothing but alienate these groups.
If the Democrats are to avoid more of these midterm disasters and to ever win one of these elections again, they are going to have to modify their positions. Clearly, the majority of the country wants recognition that not everything that happens in America is the result of racism. Indeed, race relations in the USA and the equality of opportunity for all citizens are much improved over where they were 50, 30 or even 10 years ago. It is time for the Democrats to stop acting as if racism is rampant across the country. That Democrat litany is turning off millions of white voters who are not even slightly racist but who hear non-stop from the Democrats about just how racist they (and all America) are.
Another position the Democrats are going to have to adopt is to recognize that the cause of environmentalism cannot be treated as a never-ending crusade. Environmentalism has to be right-sized. It has to be considered in light of the costs it inflicts on all sorts of people, and there has to be a fair balancing between costs and benefits.
A third position that the Democrats will have to modify if they are to win midterms again is their refusal to negotiate with the Republicans. Voters saw all those bills pass the Republican House and then sit without consideration in the Senate. The Democrats have to be prepared to move towards the Republican positions or they run the risk of becoming nothing more than a rump party permanently consigned to the minority.
Finally, the Democrats are going to have to move towards supporting a less intrusive and more capable federal government. Their first reaction to every problem has to be something other than "let's establish a new federal program for it." Further, the Democrats are going to have to try for once properly to run the programs which already exist. Disasters like the Obamacare exchange in which the Democrats had three years to build the world's most expensive website only to find that it did not work cannot be allowed to occur again. The Democrats have to focus on ways to get existing programs to work better rather than on establishing new programs.
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