Asked and Answered

A Democrat involved in party operation asks me what is wrong with them. I answered.

A couple of months ago, I got a call from someone who is involved in state level Democrat Party affairs. I met this person when I was Chairman of the Summit County GOP, we had some interactions over joint statements for public events, discussing potential debates, etc. I haven’t heard from her for a few years, so it was a bit of a surprise to get the contact.

After exchanging pleasantries, she got to “the reason I called” part of the conversation, and said, “We are on different sides, but you were always straight with me and fair in our discussions. I respected that. I think you have an honest view of the political world, even though you are certainly a partisan, just as I am.”

I replied, “It is good to hear that, I try – we both see different approaches to solving problems, but I believe you see the same problems as I do. Too many times, people don’t see the problem different ways, they see entirely different problems.”

“I agree,” she said. “I wanted to ask you, if you are comfortable telling me, what you think is the problem with the Democrat Party, at the state level, but mostly at the national level. We have been talking with people at the DNC and I just am not comfortable with what we are hearing from them.”

“I have no problem telling you my thoughts, because – and you are not going to like what I am going to say – but I don’t see a chance in Hell your party is going to change any time soon, maybe not in my lifetime, so I’m not worried the state or national party is going to act on anything I say.”

Here’s what I said to her:

There are all sorts of consultants, pundits, and politicians who are claiming to have the golden answer for the question: “What is wrong with the Democrat Party?” The thing to understand about these people is that they have the same issue the Democrats do, they are not interested in solving anything because if the solved it, they would have to get off the gravy train at the next stop, so what they are telling you about are symptoms, not problems.

You have lost a generation of young men – young people in general – but that is a symptom, not the problem.

Here are three words I think about with I think about the Democrat Party and policies: 1) performative, 2) ephemeral, and 3) unsuccessful – and when those three combine, they form a political ideology that costs a lot of money and delivers no tangible results.

Think about the Biden years – pretty much all of the GDP was due to government spending, more than two thirds of which was borrowed money, the messaging around it had nothing to do with the outcome because it was more about what was trendy than what was delivered and while the inflation it caused wasn’t “transitory” as we were told, the policies were. They had zero substance because the issues they were claimed to solve had no substance. They were just an excuse to spend billions upon billions of dollars because spending is how the Democrat Party measures “success”.

The reason you are losing support and your party’s approval is in the teens, is that people, especially young people, see absolutely no positive impact from them. Your party told every parent and child that they had to go to college and get a degree, then you provided easy loan money the university system modified itself to soak up, and when the universities enrolled progressively dumb and ill-prepared students, to soak up tuition they dumbed down the degrees to the point of real-world worthlessness. Most kids should get a tee shirt when (if) they get a degree that says, “I graduated from college and all I got was a quarter million in debt and this tee shirt.”

They resent having to pay taxes on literally everything they own and do, endure high interest rates, and face limited opportunities, all to cover the bill our government is running up – and Democrats are seen, more than ever, as the party of government.

The curmudgeonly youth would tell you to get the Hell off their lawn - if they could only afford to buy a house that has a lawn.

That’s why you are losing them.

The middle class is the same. They intuitively calculate return on investment and I can tell you that trillions of dollars spent on a handful of EV charging stations, replacing racist roads, legalizing discrimination of whites through DEI policies everywhere, subsidizing electric vehicles they can’t afford to buy, and critical infrastructure that never gets built while their electric and water bills keep going up, is a price they are tired of paying.

You are hanging by your fingernails to the 65+ demo – the only class you are hanging onto – and only because this is the class of people who are beginning to look to government benefits as a significant percentage of their future income and insurance, but even that group is moving to the right.

You are old enough to remember Seinfeld, right? Well, Seinfeld was a show about nothing. Now the Democrat Party is a party about nothing. It may be good for a few laughs but has little value that lasts.

The GOP would be the same if it weren’t for Trump. Trump is performative, but his policies are not. When he sees something that needs doing, he just does it and his core pushes are yielding measurable results – and he doesn’t give two shits about the fluff – and more people are noticing.

Your party prioritizes fluff over everything. That’s the issue in a nutshell.

Will she take that to the Democrat leadership?

Probably.

Will it change anything?

Not a chance in Hell.