The Democrats’ Dilemma
Tack to the center, swing to the left, or maybe do something else entirely?
Democrats are currently in the midst of a rather brutal internal debate about the future direction of the Party. Many Democratic leaders, especially veteran legislators and their advisors who have led the Party for decades, see the results of the 2024 election as a mandate to move the Party more toward the political center, adopting more “moderate” policy positions to “meet the people where they are at.” Others, typically outside the Party’s center, recommend a more “progressive” stance, arguing that the Party can only win over wage-earning voters by becoming a true worker’s party — not by inauthentically parroting cultural biases that go against the Party’s core values, but by switching the narrative from cultural issues (on which Democrats are uniquely vulnerable) to the fundamental economic rights of American workers and families (issues on which Republicans, especially in light of the economic chaos of Trump 2.0, are uniquely vulnerable).
What it takes to be a moderate Democrat these days
Many in Democratic Party leadership seem to adhere to the position that the Republican Party is salvageable. They seem to feel that rehabilitating the Republican Party is necessary to bring back the days when bipartisanship could “get things done” and deals could be cut “across the aisle” — deals that could presumably benefit all Americans. Too many seem to be caught in a time warp, imagining we live in the America Barack Obama dreamed about back in 2004:
“there is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America.” (source)
We do not live in this dream, if we ever did. The dream is dead because Republicans killed it. They have pushed their voters so far to the right that Democrats who want to “work with” Republicans are continually forced to compromise their values to such an extent that they find themselves becoming indistinguishable from Republicans. Today, given the destruction that Trump 2.0 is inflicting upon the nation, this stance is simply untenable, and may be suicidal.
Because Republicans have pushed the Overton Window so far to the right, Democrats who want to be seen as “centrists” must now embrace a number of positions that were correctly seen as right-wing and toxic to Democratic values just a few years ago. What is “moderate” these days?
- Self-censoring support for DEI initiatives, implicitly agreeing that systemic racism in America can be both denied and allowed to flourish.
- “Compromising” on separation of church and state. The Constitution is quite clear on this. The Democratic Party should be too.
- Supporting “some” deportations, even though all deportations under Trump 2.0 are illegal violations of due process, in addition to being morally reprehensible and economically disastrous.
- Supporting voter suppression via new Voter ID laws (e.g. the SAVE Act) that disadvantage key Democratic constituencies: the poor, minorities, and women.
- Deprioritizing climate change action.
- Denying that healthcare in America should be a universal right.
- Pledging to engage in “bipartisanship” with criminals, traitors, and seditionists.
This is not a defensible direction for Democrats to take right now. If we look at why the public has lost trust in the Party since Trump took office, it is because they are tired of seeing Democrats capitulating and compromising when they should be fighting and obstructing. The need for a “call to arms” is currently being communicated much more effectively by the progressive wing of the party, as witnessed by the surprisingly successful “Fight Oligarchy Tour” led by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: a series of political rallies that attracted over 100,000 attendees across 10 states, both Red and Blue. (source)
Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer sent a “very strong letter” to Donald Trump protesting his attacks on Harvard University, twenty-four Democratic Senators voted to confirm Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior, and at least four Democratic Senators are flirting with supporting the Republican-sponsored SAVE Act, which will, among other things, impose ID restrictions on voters that could disenfranchise millions of Americans, mostly Democrats. (source). I could go on. This is what compromise and capitulation look like, and the people have had enough of it.
Democrats have a opportunity for a bold and assertive reset — just don’t call it “progressive”
Democrats used to be the Party of Big Ideas. From the radical New Deal that rescued the country from the depths of the Great Depression, to the new international order hashed out after World War II, to the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the 1960s, to the partial but much-needed healthcare reforms of Obamacare, and most recently to the unprecedented energy-transition investments of the Biden Infrastructure Reduction Act, the Party has historically been the America’s engine of change, progress, and innovation.
More recently, however, Party leaders have cast it as the defender of the status quo, relying on political consultants and polling to determine “what the people want”, and then adjusting the Party’s messaging to declare “that’s what we want too.” As summarized by progressive commentator Thom Hartmann, this approach has not been successful:
Republicans are leading public opinion while Democrats are trying to chase it. That does not work.
The essence of the problem is that the corporate wing of the Democratic Party tells their politicians and ad people that they need to pay careful attention to public polling and calibrate their positions around “where the public is at.” And, of course, don’t take positions (like Medicare for All) that would offend donors (insurance companies, in this case).
The results are “safe,” focus-grouped policies that fail to inspire or move voters. And, even more importantly, don’t change public opinion itself. (source, emphasis added)
When Democrats try to compromise or finesse their most deeply-held values to pander to American racism and bigotry, it looks exactly like what it is: inauthentic, condescending, and weak. This, I believe, is the main reason why the Party’s brand is so tarnished today. Republicans have leveraged white status threat to turn the tables on Democrats. What historically was the Party’s greatest strength has now been transformed into its biggest weakness — captured under the tidy label “wokeness”.
Despite being outplayed and outmaneuvered by Republicans in the 2024 election, a massive window of opportunity is about to open for Democrats. Republicans are great at lying about Democrats in a political campaign, but they are terrible at governing. Donald Trump won the Presidency in 2024 on the back of a thousand promises, all pretty much broken in his first 100 days. He is now deep into the systematic destruction of America’s economy, its democracy, and its standing in the world. In a few months, this country will be but a shadow of its former self, mired down by spasmodic tariffs, rising prices, sinking GDP, empty store shelves, lost jobs, lost wages, deepening consumer debt, lost healthcare, lost government services, closed hospitals, ICE thugs roaming the streets of our cities and towns, massive protests daily, and a federal government in full panic mode as Republicans realize they may (finally) be held accountable in the Congressional midterms of November 2026.
And what should Democrats be running on in those midterms, in every district in every state in the country? We know Democrats don’t need to run on trans rights, immigrant rights, prisoner rights, decriminalizing the border, or defunding the police, because Republicans will accuse them of doing all these things anyway. But with the American economy in free fall by late 2026, those accusations are more likely to be seen as the deflections they are.
Democrats will need to provide the American people with more than just another critique of Donald Trump. They will need a clear, simple, and positive message of their own, one that describes a realistic path back from the destruction of Trump 2.0.
By 2026, people will be fed up with excuses and finger-pointing. They will be experiencing real pain and desperation, not debating abstract concepts like “the lunatic Marxist Left” or the relative benefits of deconstructing the administrative state. Not all, but many more Americans will be ready to accept that Donald Trump and the Republican Party have duped them. They will be open to alternatives in a way they have not been since Trump rode down that golden escalator in front of paid actors in 2015. Democrats will need to be ready when the moment comes.
To date, Democrats have been so busy either defending (on the left) or abandoning (on the middle-right) their cultural values that they have allowed their economic values to fall off the radar. In large part, this has been deliberate, due to the “move to the center” described above, which has incorrectly classified the Party’s great economic ambitions (and achievements) as something only progressives now aspire to. Nothing could be further from the truth.
It is true is that only progressive Democrats (and Independent Bernie Sanders) seem interested in talking about FDR’s Economic Bill of Rights these days. Roosevelt believed that protecting these rights was critical for ensuring the “economic security and independence” of the nation. That agenda guided Democratic priorities, policies, and electoral victories from 1945 to 1980, producing a period of prosperity and economic growth unprecedented in human history (source). In 1980, the Reagan Administration entered office and began the Republicans’ multi-decade project to dismantle as much of Roosevelt’s agenda as possible, ushering in a period of austerity and exploding inequality that has now led the US straight into the jaws of Donald Trump.
Despite Republicans’ relentless efforts to transfer as much of America’s wealth into the pockets of their rich benefactors and donors as possible (source), Roosevelts’ Economic Bill of Rights remains perhaps the most popular set of policy priorities ever presented to the American people. In 2023, pollster Data for Progress asked Americans whether they supported or opposed the major provisions of FDR’s proposal, updating the language somewhat to reflect modern conditions. Representative results are shown in the table below (source). What stands out is this: each of these rights enjoys overwhelming support not only from Democrats, but also from Independents and, shockingly, from Republicans as well. If there is a consensus as to what the great majority of Americans want from their government, this is it.
If Republican priorities enjoyed this level of public support, America would be on its Tenth Reich by now.
Yet mainstream Democratic leaders remain reluctant to once again embrace the pursuit of these rights. The reason why, I fear, is because they worry this agenda will alienate their own wealthy donors, who are as reluctant as Republican donors to see their fortunes slightly diminished by new taxes, increased IRS oversight, or closed loopholes. Chuck Schumer knows as well as Bernie Sanders that implementing any of Roosevelt’s agenda items necessarily requires undoing America’s insane wealth disparity (source). The rich must finally be forced to pay their fair share. And mainstream Democratic leaders are afraid to ask. Maybe they shouldn’t have to ask.
