Dear Democrats: Lessons of the 2020 results
After the red mirage on Tuesday, the completion of vote totals in Pennsylvania and Georgia confirms that the Democratic Party has once again managed to achieve a narrowly decided election, though unlike 2000 and 2016, their presidential candidate is this time the bare winner, while the Senate is likely to remain in Republican control by one seat. The lingering odor of magic from Obama’s first national campaign has dissipated. Voter turnout is over fifty-six percent so far of those eligible, and given the results, I can only conclude that as a country, we went to the polls to make sure our “meh” got counted. Which is to say, meet the new American political environment, same as the old American political environment. But there are several lessons that the major party that claims to represent the left can learn if they are willing.
The first thing is that I would like Democrats to consider how they would not vote for a Republican because the latter’s political orientation is too far to the right for them. A lot of progressives — I include myself here — feel the same way about the Democratic Party. Democrats ran to the right, as they have so often done, in this election, and the slim outcome is a reflection of that choice. When voters are offered Republican or Diet Republican, this week they declared that they would rather have the tastes blah, less Nazi choice, but the…
