I believe our country will perform better when both parties are closer together on debating the issues. Today, politics has become a team sport, and unification is not in the cards.
The Republican party post-Bush is very similar to the Democratic party, today. In 2009, the Republicans were denigrated to becoming the ‘party of No.’ They were anti-everything. Then, the Democrats gave the Republican Party a gift. The Affordable Care Act, or ‘Obamacare.’ Why was it a gift? The way it legislated. There was no Republican support. The legislation was considerably confusing, overly lengthy, rushed, and created slip ups on the left. Let us not forget Pelosi admitting to not reading the legislation she was spearheading. This became a rally cry for Republicans. ‘Repeal and Replace.’ The rally cry was enough to create the Tea Party, constant town halls, and take back the House in 2010.
Why did the Republicans have results in 2010? They had a cause to rally around. They were running on legislation. They were trying to fix ACA. There is a keyword in my previous sentence. Fix. The party was attempting to fix a problem, that many believed, even on the left, needed to be repaired. This was a relatively positive campaign slogan, and it worked. It was certainly not the most positive message, however, it was positive enough.
Why will the current platform of the Democratic Party not work in 2018? It has zero positivity. It is a 100% pure anti-Trump message. You cannot win an election with such pessimism. People yearn for optimism and progress. The brain cannot maintain negative way of though forever. It wastes too much energy. You cannot rally a base around such a cause, unless the solution removes an already toxic problem. The problem for Democrats is not enough voters believe that Trump is a toxic problem hinging on an impending disaster. Can we get to that point between now and October? Certainly. Are we there today? Not at all.
I set the table for you. Let me make my point. Why root for Democrats? Let’s go back to what happened with the Republican Party from Tea Party success in late 2010 through the beginning of the primaries in summer-2015. They simply remained the ‘party of No.’ They stayed negative. They stayed pessimistic. They didn’t succeed with ‘Repeal and Replace.’ They didn’t accomplish negotiations with Obama. They stayed negative. They stayed pessimistic. But, why did Trump win, then? He entirely disrupted the party. Many believe he ran on a negative message, but enough believed he ran on positive promises. He broke the norm up in the party. He rallied Republicans, Independents, and Democrats on issues that were taboo in the Republican Party for years.
The only way the Democratic Party gets out the current state it is in is to have leaders emerge with new ideas that unify not only their base, but Republicans and Independents alike.
The blueprint for the party is in front of them. They see what happened with the Republicans during the Obama years, and they see how and why Trump won. They are too prideful to change. They must evolve.
Why root for them? Well, we are all better off if both parties come closer together in their differences, and we begin have more rational debates. Debates shouldn’t be so two-sided. They need to be about arguing what shade of grey it is, not about black and white. Think about it. Think about debates pre-2008. Kerry and Bush were not that different. Gore and Bush. Even Romney and Obama if you’ll allow me. My point is, Hillary and Trump were polar opposite. Trump is closer to the center and the left than most give him credit for. If a leader in the left could rise with a message closer to the center, there won’t be many differences separating the two sides. That bodes well for us all. We need the left to be disrupted. We need them think positive again on both sides. We need them have rational ideas that the whole country can get behind presented from both parties. Many say that man is Howard Schultz. I hope it is someone.
Phil Your Day 