You Can't Always Get What You Want
The strategy and agenda of the Democrat Party is a lesson in mutual exclusivity.
Over two decades ago, I noted the Democrats had accelerated their race to the bottom. I noted how their ideology and slavish devotion to a strategy of fomenting class division in a quest for power had effectively trapped them on a path to totalitarianism.
It has now been proven their rabid base is narrow and communist in ideology but the remainder of their support consists of various minority, pressure and interest groups that have mutually exclusive goals.
Where else would you see the environmental lobby aligned with industrial unions, central planning statists aligned with private insurance companies, religious groups allied with secular humanists, the wealthy, privileged whites aligned with the BLM race warriors and statists allied with ANTIFA anarchists?
The central agreement in all these groups and the glue that holds them together is that more government coercion and control is always the first and only answer. No matter the question, total government control is the answer.
I have proposed that what has been the strength of Democrats is also their Achilles heel – the fact that their Party is a coalition of disparate, single issue groups, stitched together by political promises (and threats). The Democrat agenda is not about support for any particular minority, it is really about the accumulation and retention of power.
Progressives have a long history of uniting disparate radical groups that are opposed to what America really is – a nation of individuals. When you consider the Democrat "base", there are statists, communists, Marxists, anarchists, radical black nationalists, rich white intellectuals, counterculture rebels, anti-religionists, anti-military, anti-police, anti free enterprise and corporations – all are part of the progressive base.
But the Democrat agenda is a true zero sum game. Within the Democrat agenda, groups go in and out of favor as situations warrant. The only true interests Democrats have in these groups are their money and their votes on election day.
Take the case of feminism - Democrats were all in on "protecting" women and making the case for powerful, strong females - until they thought transgenderism was the spirit of the age and then biological women were forced to sit in the back of the Democrat bus.
The Democrat Party’s attitude toward women in sport is as misogynist as it comes. Of course, feminists, especially Third Wave feminists, have always been dishonest, seeking to compete with men (remember what a big deal the female Vanderbilt kicker was) but not allowing men to compete with women. The argument they made is that if a women can perform the same as a man, they should be allowed to play - now that argument is turned on its head when transgender women want to play in the women's arena. Now that the feminists have recognized the ruse, they are up in arms, joining with those who believe women in sport should be protected from men (no matter how they "identify"
The point being that once these disparate groups realize it is impossible for Democrats to allow for every group to have what they want – that you can’t give feminists and transgenders what they seek, give the unions what they desire and give the environmentalists theirs, too – the Democrat con game falls apart.
That is the angle of attack that should be pressed. Progressives aren't renowned for their logic but they understand covetousness and envy - even a progressive Democrat can understand when they are getting the short end of the stick.