Thursday, January 20, 2022

A Master Class in How Not to Build a Coalition

I continue my popularity campaign among the Democratic party left by evaluating their theory of the case on coalition-building. I am not enthusiastic. Read it all at The Liberal Patriot!
"It’s fair to say that the left of the Democratic party has been in ascendance for some time. You could see it in how candidates positioned themselves during the Democratic primaries. You could see it in the uncritical embrace of pretty much every aspect of the protest movements that erupted in the wake of the George Floyd murder. You could see it in how deferential Joe Biden was to the left after he secured the Democratic nomination and campaigned for the Presidency. You could see it in the staffing decisions made after Biden was elected and the rhetoric coming out of the administration. And you could certainly see it in the way Biden has repeatedly tried to mollify the left, especially the House’s Progressive Caucus, as he desperately tried to craft a successful legislative agenda.
Now that a year has passed since Biden took office, it’s a good time to ask: how’s all that working out? The left of the Democratic party has a theory of the case on how their actions will build a dominant progressive electoral coalition. In what follows, I will compare five key aspects of this case to actual results in the real world. It’s not a pretty picture."

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