In August 2017 Nancy Pelosi, then House Minority Leader, pointed out that a new “marketing” plan of the Democratic “brand” will convince many Republicans voters to vote Democratic. The targeted Republican voters are ones that were “uncomfortable” with President Trump.
Say What?
Pelosi admitted, aloud, that she believes that not enough Republicans are voting for Democratic. And with a new marketing plan, Republicans will vote Democratic. She admitted, aloud, that if Republicans vote for Democrats, then the Democrats would win. I have said this before, and now that Nancy Pelosi has said it, I will say it in slightly different words. ‘Republicans will do anything to win an election, Democrats will do anything to get Republican votes.’
This began when the Democrats lost to Ronald Reagan, a tough talking actor, with a Conservative resume. The party leadership felt devastated. They decided that to win back all the Reagan Democrats; the party had to be transformed into something that resembled Reagan’s vision. Since then, the Democrats have only won the Presidency twice. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. And those guys both won on their charismatic delivery of empty promises and false hope. But neither of them pulled back those Reagan Democrats, who had mostly become regular Republican voters. And many of those new Republican voters hated both Clinton and Obama. Clinton because he imitated Republicans so well that he got their agenda through. Examples are the deregulation of Wall Street; ending welfare; continuing Reagan’s agenda to disarm anti-trust laws; informing agencies that their customers are not the people. Government agencies now consider the customers to be the companies regulated by the agencies overseeing them. Prison populations increased and prison management was outsourced to the private sector.
The neoliberal Democrats allowed media to coagulate into a few large corporations. These are Republican, business directed policies. Obama adopted Republican ideas for his legislative initiatives, just like Clinton did, and this made the Republicans dislike him even more than they disliked Clinton. Over the years, the middle class, poor, unemployed, sick, and older adults received decreasing attention from both political parties.
Now, finally, Nancy Pelosi has stated aloud and, on the record, that she only wants Republicans to vote for Democrats. She is, by implication, simultaneously doing two things that ring of hubris gone wild. First, she is ignoring her base, or more colloquially, she is not dancing with the guy that brung her. The very people that stayed loyal to the same party election after election made it easy for both parties to settle for mediocre candidates at all levels. The voters believed Democrats are for the people, and Republicans are for business. Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party are attracting Republicans by changing their image, but it seems like they are ignoring their own supporters. When Pepsi sales outpace Coke’s, does Coke respond by redesigning their labels to resemble Pepsi’s? Not at all. If they did, a lot of Coke drinkers would stop drinking Coke in Pepsi. Most critically, it is a denial built on a foundation of hubris and mediocre candidates. She denies her party needs a course correction to win back voters that are leaving Democratic voter rolls.
Listening to the persons who always voted Democratic and the people who used to vote for Democrats and learned what they expect, the people will define a brand that people will vote for. These people all have a lot in common and they include the former Democratic base, shrinking real income, lack of affordable health care, and housing, more rules and paperwork to qualify for publicly funded services and so much more. People will drift back into the Democratic fold. They will come when party candidates offer something they are not getting from either party. The current Democratic branded agenda of “We are not hateful people, we also really, really love business, so vote for us, send us money, and remember, we are not Republicans.” Or the Republican agenda of “Businesses create jobs, so if you want a job help us help business make more money, before those Democrats take all of your money away from you.”
Instead, they or whatever entity picks up the pieces of what is left of the Democratic Party, needs to follow the principle of true Progressive policies that use government and all its power to provide for the general welfare. An adherence to using the tools revealed by MMT (Modern Money Theory – It is not a theory; it is an explanation). To rebrand as a true Progressive party, accept a political philosophy based on Democratic Socialism. (A mixture of Socialism and Free Enterprise Capitalism). Morality (Do Unto others…), and a dedication to peace over conflict. Such an agenda will bring millions of new voters and return disgruntled voters to come to the polls and vote for candidates that uniformly adhere to the above principles.
