Who Is the “Democratic Establishment” Anyway?
Political Responsibility in the Age of Trump
If you’ve been following the victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or you if follow just about anyone of note on the internet (Jake Tapper? or Bernie Sanders? #JonStewart?) then you’ve probably heard a lot of rustle in the last three days about the crumbling of “the Democratic establishment.”
(If you haven’t, or don’t, I forgive you. It’s been a difficult year.)
For professional Leftists, the “Democratic establishment” has developed a mainstream meaning (no pun intended) but for others (perhaps like you, average voter), I imagine it may spur some confusion. As we seek to understand the new world order emerging around us, this quietly powerful group is playing an important role in how things evolve. Knowing who they are and what they stand for is key to deciphering the future of politics and governance in America.
If you’re trying to spot them in the wild, establishment Democrats have a few tells. First, they are typically white. Second, they are almost all over the age of 55. Third, most have been in public office for at least 30 years. Lastly, most of them have at some point in their past held a leadership position in the Democratic Party.
Aahhh, the Democratic Party, that beastly little ass. As an average voter, you probably only think about the Democratic Party every four years, when they host a massive party (convention) in a mid-tier city near you, and they “nominate” a candidate and “approve” the party platform. But the Democratic Party is actually a rabbit warren of power brokers who you almost never hear from and rarely see. You have to look both at the history of the party and it’s structure to understand who exactly it is and it stands for.
First, the history.
When you, average voter, think of the “history of Democrats in power,” you likely make a list of presidents in your head that goes something like this:
FDR: He was a liberal! He made the New Deal!
Harry Truman: Hmm… the guy no one thought would win, right? Maybe you recall he bombed Japan? Otherwise, impact unknown.
JFK: Stand-up guy, killed in office, might have had a drug problem, a fairly prolific womanizer, aka, “The hope of a generation…”
Lyndon B Johnson: Responsible for Civil Rights legislation and Medicare. Escalated Vietnam. Chose not to seek a second term because… Vietnam?
Then, Johnson left office in 1969 and Democrats didn’t hold the executive branch for the next 23 years.
…
Just kidding. You probably forgot Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976. His administration was so mired in unfortunate events, he’s best known for the Iran hostage crisis. Or stagflation. No one is really sure which.
Meanwhile, while all these dudes were busy being president, there was a whole party infrastructure operating in the background, much of which was resistant to the sweeping progressive change for which some of these individual leaders are known.
Because, you see, the hard truth is the Democratic Party was the party of slavery. They were against Reconstruction. They were the party that instituted Jim Crow laws, many of which are still on the books today. And here’s the dirty little secret: Democrats may have been in favor of economic reforms for which the New Deal was known, but they only cared about these programs being available to WHITE people. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. For a very very long time, like up until, oh say, 60 years ago? The Democratic Party was the heart of racist America.
I think it’s important to let that set in for a minute, especially if you’re a white person who earns a salary (not an hourly wage). It’s so easy to take for granted that this “party of the people” is working on behalf of everyone, when really, for a very long time, they have been saying they are working for everyone, when really, they’ve just been working for you.
There was a slight reawakening in 1968. A realization that something needed to be different. And George McGovern’s nomination in 1972 coincided with endorsement of a platform that I believe could stand for America today.
You can read it here, but to keep you reading, I’ll give you the preamble:
Skepticism and cynicism are widespread in America. The people are skeptical of platforms filled with political platitudes — of promises made by opportunistic politicians.
The people are cynical about the idea that a rosy future is just around the corner.
And is it any wonder that the people are skeptical and cynical of the whole political process?
Our traditions, our history, our Constitution, our lives, all say that America belongs to its people.
But the people no longer believe it.
They feel that the government is run for the privileged few rather than for the many — and they are right.
No political party, no President, no government can by itself restore a lost sense of faith. No Administration can provide solutions to all our problems. What we can do is to recognize the doubts of Americans, to speak to those doubts, and to act to begin turning those doubts into hopes.
As Democrats, we know that we share responsibility for that loss of confidence. But we also know, as Democrats, that at decisive moments of choice in our past, our party has offered leadership that has tapped the best within our country.
Our party — standing by its ideals of domestic progress and enlightened internationalism — has served America well. We have nominated or elected men of the high caliber of Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Adlai E. Stevenson, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson — and in the last election Hubert Humphrey and Edmund S. Muskie. In that proud tradition we are now prepared to move forward.
We know that our nation cannot tolerate any longer a government that shows no regard for the people’s basic needs and no respect for our right to the truth from those who lead us. What do the people want?
And then George McGovern lost so miserably to Richard Nixon that the Democrats experienced a WTF moment that motivated them to make a dramatic charge — to the center.
Most of the people in the current establishment have clear memories of this moment, and in the mid-1970s may have even been viewed as “progressives” in the context of their day. These folks entered a party mired in whiteness and propriety and tried to turn it into a “big tent.” They made lots of hay about identity politics, and the Republican Party being for disgruntled white people while the Democratic Party was “the party of everyone!” And despite the fact that they controlled both houses of Congress for more than 25 years, and the House for more than 40, they didn’t really do anything about making that happen, outside of the legislation Johnson shoehorned in, before giving up on America. Some experts even argue that the way the Civil Rights legislation was communicated to whites is in large part responsible for their defection to the Republican Party, at a time when they were busy morphing into the party of racism and free enterprise. (The history of the Republican Party is another story for another day).
History witnessed the transformation of the party of slavery, of Thomas Jefferson, into the purported “party of the people.” But here’s the issue. When they promised the “big tent” party the Democrats have been touting for decades, what they actually meant was move the party to the center. They chose to forgo the working class reforms of the New Deal, and Johnson’s promise of Civil Rights, and instead, try to court the illusive centrist they believed would deliver the winning coalition in the next Presidential election. They squeaked it out in 1976 with Carter (Ford, even with Nixon’s legacy, still won in 27 states to Carter’s 23), but then failed and failed and failed until Clinton, “America’s first Black President,” won his election in 1992.
And then they stood by while Bill Clinton proceeded to pass some of the most ostensibly progressive, but in actuality insidiously racist. and libertarian legislation our country has ever seen. He called liberalizing financial markets and doubled down on the war on drugs progressive while in fact, he started the countdown clock for the Financial Crisis of 2008 and accelerated the mass incarceration of black bodies. They strategically used messages of inclusion while advancing policies that were centrist and free-market, essentially turning their backs on the changes promised by the 1972 Democratic Party platform in favor of the promise of short-term wins.
(The full (though slightly race-blind) history on this is available in Listen Liberal by Thomas Frank).
In this way, established Democratic Party leaders continued to advance a political agenda grounded in race-blind oppression while purporting to be the party of the Everyman.
These people said they were about doing one thing (inclusion) when in actuality, they were really about something else entirely (free market economics).
THIS is the history of the Democratic Establishment.
And then of course, there’s its structure.
Perhaps you’ve heard passing reference to the DNC? That stands for the Democratic National Committee, which is the elected body of delegates who represent the national Democratic party. These people are elected by State Parties. State Parties, in turn, are comprised of state-level elected officials, as well as district leaders, unpaid Democrats who are elected from County Committees.
County Committees are where the real grassroots Democratic power lies. These groups are either bastion’s of progress and inclusion (easy to get on, easy to know what they’re doing) or hellholes of corruption. You’ve probably heard people use the term “party boss” before, maybe even last Tuesday, in reference to Joe Crowley, the #4 Democrat who lost to Ocasio-Cortez. Crowley was a classic Establishment Democrat. A white, 56 year old career politician, who made his way up the ladder through the Queens Democratic Party until he was the fat cat on top.
You know what the Constitution says about political parties, right? NOT A DAMN THING. So parties get to make their own rules, and run things however they want, in order to amass and leverage political power. County Committee members are elected by petition and proxy. Their membership is not transparent or governed by law (like electoral votes).
Party Chairmen — and yes, they are typically older, white men — become the talking head of the party at the local level, able to whip or suppress votes, virtually on command. They do the sly work of nominating candidates for special elections, and selecting and endorsing local judges. They don’t have the same visibility as elected officials, but they wield considerable invisible power that they can leverage for good or ill.
Over the past few decades, things have been changing in American politics, and fast. Here’s a quick recap of the major events that have created a lot of turbulence and change:
- Since Virginia v. Board of Education, conservative groups strategically encourage anger and resentment among working class white people of all people of color (read Democracy in Chains and The New Jim Crow for more of the truth on this point).
- Major changes in campaign finance laws, culminating in Citizens United v. FEC in 2010, recognizes corporations people such that they can spend as much money as they want on elections.
- In 2008, America elects its first actually black President; liberals believe the new hope is upon us.
- Conservative white people who have been trained to resent the rise of black people in America get angry about America’s first black president, and start the Tea Party.
- Charles Koch & co. spend between $400-$900 million in any given significant election cycle to produce their desired leadership outcome.
So the short story on this is racists are angry, corporate money is loose, and Republican power is on the rise. Sounds like a recipe for progress, right?
In this environment, a professional Leftist would expect Democrats everywhere to develop a thoughtful and strategic long game, to apply countervailing power against the rising threat to democracy as we know it. Instead, Establishment Democrats have more or less sat idly by waiting for the storm to pass.
Sure, anyone on a Democratic email list of any kind knows these people are trying to whip you into a near fit of hysteria to “Chip in $1 right now” but these people have shown no interest in taking a clear, principled stand against the rising tide of angry destruction before them.
Why? Why why why why why why why?
There are a few reasons why established party leaders are standing by on the presently drawn sidelines.
- They are mostly affluent, educated (upper class) white folks who are unlikely to be directly affected by much of the destruction being enacted by Congress, the President, and state governments. That is to say: they will not be deported. They will not be imprisoned. They will not lose pay. They will not struggle to feed or educate their children. They will not struggle to feed themselves. They will not feel physically unsafe in their environment.
- They are white people who have been raised with a deep sense of propriety that dictates that one must behave and not make a scene. Hence the prominent tone policing by Nancy Pelosi of hecklers making Sara Huckasanders’ life difficult in public restaurants. It’s a sentiment best summarized by the 1955 Guys and Dolls lyric: “Sit down! You’re rocking the boat!”
- They are people who genuinely believe that the best way to change the system is incrementally, to scoot things gentle in one direction or the other, rather than actually turning the whole thing upside down and starting over.
While all these things may be true and problematic, they are little more than glorified excuses.
In reality, there are two huge problems facing the party that, left unresolved, will prevent the organization from effectively taking a stand against the Axis of Evil re-emerging in America. Failure to address these two challenges may even spell the Democratic Party’s doom.
First, the Democratic Party has never atoned for its history of racism. It has never acknowledged that it has played a significant role in disenfranchising and marginalizing black and brown folks in America for far longer than it cares to admit. It never did the talk therapy to be able to move into a state of acceptance. It never made it to step 5 in the 12 Step Program. At no point in time has an Establishment Democrat stood up in front of a group of people, on live TV and said, “You know what folks? We have been a bunch of race-blind racist assholes. We are so so sorry. ” Black folks obviously have no obligation to accept this apology. But the fact that it’s never been issued means it only stands to reason that Establishment Democrats don’t think they’ve done anything wrong, which for anyone who believes in a progressive party in America is a huge problem. We can’t count on the Democrats to be true to their word. They have too much history of dishonesty to be trusted. (Fooled me once, shame on you. Fooled me 104,394,567 times…)
Making a searching inventory of their wrongdoings and admitting to others the exact nature of their wrongs is an important first step in building a foundation of progress for America. But it’s insufficient to get us all the way there.
Second, the Party and its established leaders must know why it exists. Currently, they do not. Ask any D what values they stand for, and more often than not, they will espouse a long list of issues, starting with “Affordable healthcare,” followed by, perhaps “Gun control,” followed by “immigration reform,” etc. etc. etc.
These are not beliefs. These are buzzwords. Talking points. They are the fragments of broken promises the Democrats have been making to average Americans for a very very very long time. And professional Leftists have had enough. They don’t want to sit still and hold hands and wait for the storm to pass so we can once again create a committee to propose a follow-on process by which to develop an immigration bill that will never pass in Congress. They want to fucking do something about the situation, like abolish ICE, or pass universal healthcare. They don’t want to ally themselves with a party that thinks it stands for a free-market middle-class Democrat, a fictional character who, thanks to Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, no longer exists, when really, it needs to be the party of the actual people of the United States of America. You can call this clearly articulated purpose whatever you’d like. You can even call it the New New Deal! But it can’t come from the top. It has to come from the people.
Lots of people are selling proverbial news copy on the allegation that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a Socialist. And Establishment Democrats need to understand that their capitulation to this name calling at all is simply participating in the dog whistling behavior that got us where we are. No no no no no. AOC is not a Socialist. She’s an advocate for her people. She’s an advocate for dignity and justice. She believes the residents of her district deserve to go to bed at night without being afraid they’ll be awakened by an ICE officer. That Americans shouldn’t have to go to the emergency room to get accessible medical care. She believes that people like Joe Crowley and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and Dan Perez have fallen out of touch with the everyday lived experience of people who are not powerful white men. And you know what? She’s right.
For a long time, the Democratic Establishment has operated with the simple goal of keeping current office holders in office, preserving legacy networks of power with little else to show for themselves than winning elections. As they’ve increasingly begun to lose key elections, they’ve chalked this up to chance, rather than acknowledging that simply existing for the sake of winning is really no existence at all.
AOC decided to take on that legacy power franchise, and her rise to prominence in the week after her win is directly correlated with what a long shot people believed her candidacy to be. But it’s also a testament to what it means to be politically responsible in 2018. Waiting for the storm to pass is no longer the next best right action. We’ll all be dead if we wait any longer. Establishment Democrats (yes, The Democrats) need to end the hysteria, and get their shit straight. They need to recognize that this is a do-or-die moment, and that a failure to take a meaningful stand for something significant will be the beginning of their own extinction.
Unless we rock this boat a little harder, we’re all going to drown in the storm.
It’s your move, Dan Perez. Better make it a good one.
Things other smart people have written on this topic:
Referenced books you should definitely read:
Listen, Liberal by Thomas Frank: https://www.amazon.com/Listen-Liberal-Happened-Party-People/dp/1250118131
Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean: https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stealth/dp/1101980974/
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander: https://www.amazon.com/New-Jim-Crow-Incarceration-Colorblindness/dp/1595586431/
Making a list of these people would take all day.
When we think of Democrats, it’s common to think of the most well-known elected officials. Quick, how many can you name? Nancy Pelosi — good! Chuck Schumer — excellent. Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders — can you tell I’m from New York? But
