Policy, Not Personality, Should Dominate in 2020
What Democratic hopefuls — and voters — need to focus on as we approach a critical election
By Jordan Jenkins
The Progressive Teen Contributor
AT THE ROOT OF A RECENT CONTROVERSY in the center-left corner of the Twitterverse lay a series of tweets by progressive columnist David Sirota that highlighted donations from corporate executives within the Texas fossil fuel industry to potential 2020 hopeful: Beto O’Rourke. This donation resulted in O’Rourke being removed as a signer of the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge by its founders. Sirota later did an analysis for The Guardian that found that O’Rourke had voted with Republicans on legislation bolstering fossil fuels and rolling back consumer protections.
This sequence of events came after months of swelling excitement — within segments of both the grassroots and the donor class — about a potential run for president in 2020. Despite the fact his attempt to unseat Senator Ted Cruz in 2018 was ultimately unsuccessful, he managed to invigorate voters in and outside of the state with a hopeful message and youthful appeal that led major Democratic donors to boldly declare him “Barack Obama, but white” to Politico.
Thus, Sirota was met with a hostility strong enough to make one forget that Beto has not yet announced whether or not he intends to run for president. He was chided for being divisive and emphasizing purity above electability. He was accused of clearing the field for a similarly nonexistent 2020 Bernie Sanders campaign. But as stated by Osita Nwanevu of The New Yorker, few thought to consider why exactly they considered such criticism unfair. The reaction to Sirota’s critique was based largely on a commitment to a political personality so strong that it actively dismissed policy concerns, regardless of their validity.
The appeal of personalities in politics is not something to be overlooked, but as pointed out by Stanford political scientist Mo Fiorina in 2012, it is largely overstated. Making decisions about who is going to lead us into the next decade and the great problems it will present based solely on nebulous concepts like “likability” or “electability” will ensure that the next Democratic president operates on the conventional wisdom that got us into this dire situation in the first place. Dismissing discussions of policy and records on the basis of these concepts is even more of a misstep, for it discourages participation from the crucially important progressive wing of the party.
Rather, in 2020, Democrats should prioritize putting forth a set of bold and new progressive policies that aggressively confront the status quo. This means that 2020 candidates shouldn’t stop at offering lukewarm endorsements of sloganized proposals like Medicare For All but should instead craft a vision that redefines the ways in which our nation works. The scale of the issues we currently face demands it. There is a worsening climate crisis with the real potential to destabilize the current world order if not addressed adequately. Economic inequality is worsening at a runaway pace, exacerbated by massive student debt and unafforable healthcare.
Leading through policy could provide Democrats an opportunity to control the media narrative and promote a populist platform that Donald Trump’s sensationalism has made near impossible. The potential such a strategy has can be seen in how New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — through a mere mention of a 70% top marginal tax rate as a means of paying for some of the progressive programs she has championed — got all of the mainstream media outlets to spend time seriously discussing tax policy. In addition, despite the fact her proposal conflicted greatly with the establishment thinking that has come to dominate ever since Reagan kick-started a downward trend in the 80’s, this discussion not only gave her unprecedented popularity but also the support of some of the best contemporary economists and a majority of Americans.
The Accountable Capitalism Act presented by Senator Elizabeth Warren — who was among the first to announce her intention to run in 2020 — exemplifies this approach. The proposal includes provisions requiring large companies to allow workers to elect 40% of their board of directors. The idea of forcing worker representatives to be involved in the operation of a company (i.e. codetermination) is something present in many European nations and has proven effective at making a significantly more just system of labor. It is also an idea unheard of in the mainstream American political conversation. By introducing this seemingly radical policy as a cornerstone of her campaign, Warren will attract attention and have the opportunity to define the discussion that will follow. That is true political power, and it would be a serious mistake for Democrats to neglect as we approach the 2020 elections.
