To be liberal or to be centrist? That is the question that has plagued the Democrats since, well a while now. It is an important question that needs to be answered sooner rather than later, because it seems like the Democrats have tried their best to be both with disastrous results.
Democrats have launched their own town halls and rallies over the last month, from Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) joking about Tesla stock to the rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in Phoenix, it seems like there is finally some fight among the Democrats. But what are they fighting for?
Ocasio-Cortez has been hailed as the future of the Democratic Party for some time now and a darling of the liberal wing. But do the centrists approve of her positions? And if she does challenge for a Senate seat in New York, will she have to adopt a more centrist stance in order to appease the establishment and donors? This will be tricky for her and every other Democrat from now until the midterms, because in their effort to get as many votes as possible across an incredibly diverse country, they have sent out mixed messages that have cost them elections.
Illegal Immigration comes to mind. The Republicans have nailed their messaging on illegal immigration for some time. They are against it. It is as simple as that. As a Democrat myself, I cannot give you a definite answer on what the Democrats’ position is. Are they also against it, just being less mean about it? Do they want a pathway to citizenship like a Ronald Reagan-type amnesty? It depends on which Democrat you ask. That alone is a huge problem.
Let’s talk about deficits. The Democrats are quick to proclaim that Republicans have run up deficits each time they are in office. But what should be a slam dunk topic for Democrats (considering a Democratic president balanced a budget once upon a time) isn’t. Republicans have successfully managed to convince the electorate that they are the stewards of responsible government budgeting.
As a veteran of the Iraq War and the Global War on Terror at large, I was beyond astonished that the Republicans who launched the “forever wars” are now accusing the Democrats of being the originators of said wars. And somehow, they managed to get that label to stick. One of the reasons is that when it came time to stand up to George W. Bush for starting the wars or back Barack Obama in ending them, the Democrats did the opposite both times.
Democrats rail against corporations while taking in hundreds of millions in corporate donations. They talk about fighting the oligarchy while Vice President Kamala Harris had more billionaire supporters than President Trump. They claim to be the vanguard protecting the average Americans from Wall Street while also outperforming Wall Street when it comes to investing. The list of grievances can go on and on, but it leads back to the very important question that I asked earlier: What are they fighting for?
We have talked about a Republican civil war for some time just to see it evaporate as Trump continued his improbable comeback to the White House. The Republican platform is his to dictate and there has been no pushback from his own party, at least not outwardly. The Republicans who are eyeing a 2028 run all learned their lesson that the Trump platform is a winning one and they just have to echo his positions and stay on his good side.
Democrats, on the other hand, are in the midst of their own civil war. More Democratic voters are finding themselves leaning more liberal than moderate or conservative. And many of them are angry at a Democratic establishment that seems hellbent on winning over centrists instead of formally adopting a liberal stance.
This was seen everywhere from Harris campaigning with former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), which did not sit well with liberals, to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) thinking he was playing chess with a president who is playing ice hockey when it came to a government shutdown.
Ocasio-Cortez has a lot of work to do. So does the party establishment. Trying to appeal to everyone has weakened the Democrats’ brand to the point that the platform is pointless and riddled with hypocrisies. A party that seems to be both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine? A party that is pro-union while also being weak on illegal immigration (a major threat to unions)? A party that claims to represent blue collar working Americans and highly educated white collar Americans?
Trying to appeal to everyone will lead to another disaster in the midterms and beyond. While Trump and the GOP will stay the course, the Democrats need to figure out which identity of theirs is the future of their party. It can’t be both. There is a line in the musical “Hamilton” where Hamilton asks, "If you stand for nothing, Burr, what'll you fall for?"
The same question should be aimed at Democrats. What is the party ready to fall for? We need to know sooner than later.
Jos Joseph is a master’s candidate at the Harvard Extension School at Harvard University. He is a Marine veteran who served in Iraq and lives in Anaheim, Calif.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Liberal or to be centrist? The Democratic Party faces a dilemma )
Also on site :