What the Democratic Party can learn from the LA Women’s March

Yesterday’s women’s march in Los Angeles was exhilarating and inspiring. For many of us there wasn’t much marching, really, because the crowds exceeded all expectations and filled the entire official route. People spread beyond the planned march streets, doubling back and surging through DTLA, heading for City Hall and Grand Park — where we found we still couldn’t get closer than a block away from the stage. But the power of coming together and expressing our resistance — together — with friends, family and strangers was amazing in this year of electoral defeat and cultural regression.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the bitter aftertaste of the Bernie/ Hillary split within the party was absent. Yes, there were some Hillary signs and campaign gear — mostly carried by women of her generation. There were mercifully little Bernie campaign gear — I saw a few men in T-shirts, but a huge turnout from young people, many of whom were likely politically activated in the Bernie campaign. This was a refreshing change from the January 8th Assembly District Election Meeting (ADEM) I attended, where Bernie supporters (many of whom I respect and love) turned out in force across California to promote slates of their own folks — despite (in many cases) the unimpeachable progressive credentials of local leaders and their slates. The ADEMs felt like the worst expression of the progressive wing of the Democratic party — inflexible, willing to damage good people who aren’t deemed “pure enough” and blatant disregard for facts and actual policy positions. When people are running to unseat others whose policy positions are exactly the same as their own, their actions are motivated by ego and a misplaced sense of loyalty or affiliation.

Yesterday’s women’s march showed the best of the women’s movement, and the Democratic party and its progressive wing. It exemplified 3 values that I think can help us regain the kind of coherence that the 2004 reelection of Bush created, that sparked the watershed election of 2006 and started us on the path to electing President Obama.

1. Women’s leadership: A huge number of signs at the march focused on women’s issues, naturally. But the expansion of what counts as a “women’s issue” had broadened dramatically. While there were signs about abortion rights and reproductive freedom (and some awesome sparkly uteri) there were also tons of signs about sexual harassment, equal pay, women’s leadership in science, immigrant women’s rights, and so much more. The (valid) critique of the women’s movement as being too focused on white women’s issues feels outdated when the gorgeous diversity of LA’s women was so fully represented. What’s most important for the party to understand is that you don’t defeat a bully like Trump by being a bigger, nastier bully — you best his small-minded regressive ideology by showing the beautiful future — which is indisputably female. We know that businesses run better with women leadership, and that diverse groups solve problems faster and more creatively — we need to apply that knowledge to government. I saw one woman carrying a homemade Kamala Harris sign yesterday — and the party needs to lift up the next generation of women’s leadership NOW. Whether it’s Senators like Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Tammy Duckworth, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, or newly-elected Catherine Cortez Masto, along with the other Dem women, or Congresswomen like Kyrsten Sinema, Barbara Lee, Judy Chu, Stephanie Murphy, or Pramila Jayapal (and many more). There are also rising stars behind the scenes, like Amanda Renteria and Julia Barnes.

2. Openness and acceptance: At the ADEMs, many of the people in attendance found it amazing that I considered myself a progressive and Hillary supporter, and their antipathy towards me was palpable. For whatever its strengths and weaknesses, the Bernie campaign fed off progressives’ anti-Clinton, anti-moderate sentiment — to the point that people stopped being able to appreciate each others’ good intentions. At the march yesterday, everyone was welcome (well, except maybe the people lecturing us about Jesus on megaphones — but even those folks weren’t forced out, just yelled at a bit and ignored). I’m pretty sure I saw signs related to every progressive cause under our extremely multicolored rainbow — and everyone was welcome to express their personal reason for marching. Whether you were marching for Black Lives Matter, reproductive rights, trans visibility, immigrant safety, solving poverty, or mourning the demise of Princess Leia, you were part of the same team. We had a simple common goal — expressing our rejection of Trump and what he stands for. We’ll have a lot more opportunity to do this — as well as to act in solidarity on the many progressive issues that are not our own. The best reframe came, I think from the Hillary supporters who carried “I’m with her” signs — that had arrows pointing in every direction.

3. Humor and creativity: It’s apparent from Trump’s first Orwellian press conference that the next several years will be brutal. The only way we’re going to survive with our spirit and dignity intact is to laugh (as well as organize). I saw some truly funny signs yesterday — and despite the size (and occasional crowded discomfort) of trying to get into and out of Pershing Square, everyone I encountered approached the event with joy and good humor. From chanting “Left on 7th” when it became clear that our path north wasn’t going to be feasible, to chants of “Tacos!!” when we ran into this ^^ guy, and the happiest traffic jam I’ve ever seen, we need to confront difficulty and despair with humor and wry wisdom…and the Democratic party (which often seems to take itself far too seriously) could learn a bit from the raucous humor of the crowd.

Los Angeles is the creative capital of the universe — but too often, the Democratic party thinks we’re only good for fundraisers and celebrity appearances. The creativity and humor on display yesterday was a reminder (as if you needed one, since we were as big a march as the one in Washington) that Los Angeles is poised to be the counter-capital of the better version of our country for the next 4 years. It’s always been our gift in California to lead the USA in culture and politics. Trump is a nastier and more dangerous Pete Wilson- but if that comparison holds true, the country’s leadership will be dramatically different in just a few years…

In the largest sense, yesterday’s events worldwide should give hope and comfort, but if the Democratic party doesn’t revamp, regroup, reform, and learn — and adopt more of the spirit of yesterday’s marches, it’ll be a lot harder (and a lot less fun) to overcomb.