As a former moderate Republican turned independent to escape MAGA (NeverTrumper) I look in at the New Big Tent aspirations of the Democratic party and have just one question. Why are non-party DSA members allowed to run in Democratic primaries in the first place? I have progressive inclinations as well as left/right moderate. I figure 2/3rds of Americans no more associate with "Socialist" as they do with "MAGA". Is that too much to ask of the Democratic party once the midterms are over and the 2028 mud-slinging begins this November?
Coexistence with the left is not the only option the center and center-left have. They can also deliberately reach out to all the independents the left has alienated over the last decade and more (the Obama-Trump contingent was and still is huge), bring them back into the party, and use their numbers to kick the hard left out of the Democratic tent. Maybe America will finally get the small but significant left-wing party it needs, so the Democrats can be the home of liberals and moderates.
This article seems to be taking the view that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is a liability that should be reined-in. Perhaps part of the explanation for that view lies in the things progressives view as important: equality for all, universal health care, the need for fundamental reform, better regulation of industry, wealth redistribution, anti-oligarch, tax equity, skepticism of military force, etc. These positions are not out of step with where America is now, which is why these candidates are getting elected. The more conservative portions of the Democratic Party should perhaps reevaluate their positions. There is a lot of common ground.
As a former moderate Republican turned independent to escape MAGA (NeverTrumper) I look in at the New Big Tent aspirations of the Democratic party and have just one question. Why are non-party DSA members allowed to run in Democratic primaries in the first place? I have progressive inclinations as well as left/right moderate. I figure 2/3rds of Americans no more associate with "Socialist" as they do with "MAGA". Is that too much to ask of the Democratic party once the midterms are over and the 2028 mud-slinging begins this November?
Coexistence with the left is not the only option the center and center-left have. They can also deliberately reach out to all the independents the left has alienated over the last decade and more (the Obama-Trump contingent was and still is huge), bring them back into the party, and use their numbers to kick the hard left out of the Democratic tent. Maybe America will finally get the small but significant left-wing party it needs, so the Democrats can be the home of liberals and moderates.
This article seems to be taking the view that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is a liability that should be reined-in. Perhaps part of the explanation for that view lies in the things progressives view as important: equality for all, universal health care, the need for fundamental reform, better regulation of industry, wealth redistribution, anti-oligarch, tax equity, skepticism of military force, etc. These positions are not out of step with where America is now, which is why these candidates are getting elected. The more conservative portions of the Democratic Party should perhaps reevaluate their positions. There is a lot of common ground.