Why Can't the Democrats Get It?

Why the Democrats can’t catch on?

Winning both Houses of Congress and the Presidency at the same time is a great opportunity. In 2006 and 2008 the Democratic Party was given that mandate to govern.

This was especially important to counteract the six years of Republican hegemony that resulted in economic ruin. President Bush and the Republicans in Congress were able to reverse the bedrock financial and home mortgage regulations that dated back to the New Deal. The result was a financial disaster and a home mortgage meltdown of almost Biblical proportions.

Hence, the Democrats swept into power. The American People were petrified as it appeared in 2007-2008 that another Great Depression was about to occur.

President Bush, in a late inning effort to undo years of economic stupidity, rushed a bank and financial sector bailout through, much of it without Congressional approval. Both Presidential candidates gave it their tacit approval, not really appreciating the scope and depth of the crisis.

Herein lies the rub: Republicans never were much interested in the of damage to the middle class from the financial disaster. They were only interested in their Wall Street benefactors, so there was no economic justice concerns in them at all. Democrats, on the other hand, had a tradition of supporting groups for social justice and an economic justice legacy that went back to the Great Depression.

The problem is doing both at the same time. The Democrats message is two fold, while the Republican’s is one dimensional; tax cuts. The Democrats must convey a message that is by necessity complex and grounded in reality, while the Republicans is simple and disingenuous. It is noted that such simple messages are perfectly suited for professional ad campaigns (right down the conservative propaganda alley).

When John McCain suggested stopping all electioneering because of the financial crisis, he did so knowing that his party only need concern itself with the health of the financial elite. The simple solution was easy for McCain to enunciate. The Democrats’ task was much more complicated. Luckily, McCain had the misfortune to pick Sarah Palin as his running mate, and her lack of experience and knowledge derailed his campaign at a critical juncture. Besides, even the most expert ad campaign could not hide the Bush administration’s incompetence.

The Democrats represent the middle class, whose economic position had been slipping for the past 30 years. Unfortunately for the Democrats, during the past 30 years, it’s primary goal was social justice (the Civil Rights Act implementation, voting rights, abortion rights, equal pay issues, and gay rights). Somewhere in there, should have been a realization that the middle class laborer, usually a member of a union, was being destroyed. In short, the Democrats suffered a crisis of too many goals and not enough political clout to do it all. As a result, the people they represented began to leave them.

Republicans, desperately trying to avoid another loss like they suffered during the New Deal, focused on the economy with the same approach that had in reality, damaged the economy and economic justice for the middle class.

Of course, this did not bother them at all, because the political money was with the corporate leaders, who voted Republican anyway. The Democrats played right into their hands because their diverse constituencies demanded more than just economic reforms.

The Democrats, by trying to do too much, have endangered their majority support because economic justice is the most pressing issue of the day and they appear to not be “listening”.

Listening? This is another ad huckster dream. Recently, the Republicans have repeated this endlessly; The Democrats and the President are not listening to the American People. This strikes at the opening that has been present for years; Democrats are trying to serve two policy goals, social and democratic justice. Republicans, who caused the economic injustice in the first place innocently proclaim that it is the Democrats’ fault, and get away with it by hammering away at the goal of economic justice through trickle down economics.

So how is this possible? How could anyone possibly support the Republicans over a Democratic Party whose legacy is economic justice concerns? The Republican Party has always represented the corporations, big business, the rich. The New Deal realized that, and in the shadow of economic ruin, captured the middle class for two generations. So what is different now, given we are in another Recession/Depression that cries for economic justice reform?

What is very different, is the middle class, older white Democrat, who is either living through the decline of the middle class, or who has retired and is watching it affect his children. These older white males are collecting the fruits of the New Deal and Great Society, Social Security and Medicare.

Last summer this was manifest at an anger filled town hall meeting on Health Reform when a middle aged white man declared, “Make sure government keeps its hands off my Medicare”.

This same white Democrat harbors latent and overt hatred of welfare, lumping people of color into “welfare cheats and the lazy”. Moreover, these angry white middle aged men, as Democrats, felt betrayed by their party, as it advocated for people of color (Civil Rights), equality for women, and even for gays and lesbians! This pushed the limits of their limited tolerance to the point that they even voted Republican; the Reagan revolution still lives.

The key point here is retired white men, usually have Medicare and Social Security and take these significant economic justice issues for granted. They have turned on the Democratic Party because it appears to be favoring too many social issues, even Gays, at the expense of their children whose jobs have been outsourced by Republicans. Amazingly, this angry white man is so furious about the social justice issues, enter racism, that Democrats attempts to deal with modern economic justice issues (the concentration of wealth) are either ignored or belittled.

So many times, angry white men I know, go off on the “welfare cheats” and big government give aways to the lazy good for nothings, while ignoring the tragic economic justice losses of the middle class. It is like they won’t blame the actual perpetrators of the middle class destruction (right wing free enterprise fanatics), but turn on Democrats. Read, "What’s The Matter With Kansas".

President Obama’s first year’s in office offers stark examples of this political reality. The President has delivered on both the economic and social justice promises he made during the campaign. Unfortunately, economic realities dictated a “full court press” on economic justice, especially to address the under-employment of the middle class. For example, through extraordinary effort, a Health Care reform was passed, which if implemented has both social and economic justice reforms in it. Polls show a majority of Americans are highly skeptical, and in fact oppose the reform. They simply do not believe there is any economic justice reform in it.

The reason given is that Obama should have been focusing on jobs, and not health care reform. Health Care reform is depicted by Republicans (of course) as social justice reform (another big government give away to those too lazy to have health insurance) and not as an economic reform.

The devil is in the perception, not in the reality. The Health Care Reform actually contains more economic justice reform than it is given credit for. For example, there will be many jobs created with the expansion of health care to millions of Americans. There is a tremendous opportunity for real economic justice. But this will take several years, and America can’t wait. This is understandable when people have been unemployed for almost two yeas.

Bragging about the Health Care Bill, that will not even be implemented for a few years, is little comfort to the middle class who just had its home foreclosed.

So, as we go into a probable train wreck in the 2010 mid-term elections for the Democrats we know why.

Democrats need to simplify, as much as possible, its message to stress economic justice reforms and downplay social justice reforms. A good example of this was the adverse reaction to President Obama’s recent laudable support of the Moslem Cultural Center in Manhatten. Many Democrats I know were distressed that yet another social/cultural justice issue had been added to the Democrats’ plate, while Republicans keep chanting jobs, jobs, jobs.

What Democrats need to do is tell the true story of what deregulation and tax give aways to the rich has done to the middle class. This has to be simple and straight forward and relentless. Republicans are hoping the Democrats don't start using this approach.

However, typical of the Republicans, they just afforded an opening for this approach when they casually blurted out support for extending Bush’s tax cuts past this year. At the same time, they are chanting the need to address the federal deficit. This is so hypocritical than even Karl Rove can’t lie his way out of it. The federal deficit is made up of billions of dollars BECAUSE of the Bush tax cuts; especially for the rich. This strikes directly at the economic justice issue. This should be where the focus of the Democrats’ efforts in 2010 should be.

Economic justice for the middle class does not lie in tax cuts, and corporate tax breaks for the rich. That reality can be the Republican’s undoing in 2010.