Contemptuous Attitudes – Not Unpopular Policy Prescriptions – Are a Bigger threat to Democratic Party Prospects

 

Dismal election results earlier this month caused many Democratic leaders to cite Joe Biden’s low popularity as the main culprit and content themselves with the belief that future prospects will improve as the economy picks up and Covid wanes.

They are kidding themselves.

Sure, the President’s poll numbers may get better along with the economy.  But that’s not at the core of the Democratic Party’s malady.

Arrogance is.

That attitude came to the fore with the 2016 nomination of Hilary Clinton.  Donald Trump became president as a result.

Hilary Clinton was haughty, entitled and presumably contemptuous of those who did not fawn over her.

Opposition to Mrs. Clinton was personal.

[As a matter of fact, likeability is far more important to voters than policy matters about which, polling maker clear, few have well-informed opinions.  Thus, for instance, Ronald Reagan as President voiced views which were often shared by only a minority of the public.  But he was loved by most Americans regardless.]

That hostility has become more general toward the Democratic Party which seems determined to show its disregard for the values of most Americans.  Illegal immigration these days is largely ignored.  Last year’s summer of rioting was excused and our foreign policy reeks of weakness.  Most recently, their candidate for Virginia’s governor dismissed the value of parents’ input for school education.

This attitude of arrogance, contempt and superiority toward those not considered as intelligent and sophisticated as they are will not be easily forgiven or forgotten.

The Democratic Party, in short, has become insulting to those who do not endorse or acquiesce to its left-wing prescriptions.  The opposition generated is personal.

Their comeuppance is gaining momentum.

 

As an aside, Happy Thanksgiving!  We all have reasons to be grateful to be living in America, whether we recognize them or not.

American Individualism Will Overcome Woke-ish Tribalism

 

A disturbing trend in America during the past few decades has been the Left’s preoccupation with race as the dominant factor in seemingly all phases of our society.

It will not last.

Predicting its end is not the same as knowing when, of course.  And certainly, the Biden Administration is doing its best to promote the racial division that undergirds tribalism.

But the drive to separate Americans from one another will be thwarted by demographic changes.

Increasingly, Americans are marrying – and having children – across racial lines.  Biracial children, in particular, are inclined to identify as individuals, not group members.  There’s no such thing as a biracial tribe.

To illustrate:

Sage Steele, a long-time ESPN personality – and child of black and white parents – recently questioned Barack Obama’s claims to be “black” despite his biracial history. 

[As a matter of fact, that identification seems strange especially since he was raised by his mother’s white family; his black father abandoned the future president soon after his birth.]

Not surprisingly, Ms. Steele was placed in purgatory by woke ESPN for her sensible observation.

Intermarriage among all racial groups will continue to increase, further dimming racial identification and concurrent tribalism.  Eventually, individualism will once again be at the core of what it means to be an American.

 

 

 

Democracy in America – Lessons Ignored

 I recently re-read Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and was surprised by my mixed reactions.  (I first picked it up 40 some years ago for a college course and more likely skimmed it rather than carefully digesting the contents.)

The book, written in the 1830s, is generally treated by academics as a classic examination of self-rule in practice.  The author spends many pages highlighting the vitality of American political life which engages the citizenry at all levels, but especially at the most local.  De Tocqueville particularly focuses on the affinity of the populace to associate with others, both for social, economic as well as political purposes.

The inclination of Americans to band together and participate in their own governance was heralded as the bedrock of democracy in America by the book and subsequent commentators.

[Plainly that circumstance is no longer the rule in our political life.  It has become the exception with general knowledge of our constitutional system waning - polls make clear – and with group affiliation less attractive.  If Americans increasingly don’t participate in self-government, will abdication lead to the end of the democracy?]

Less attention is given to another aspect of the American democracy which was considered by de Tocqueville as critical to its survival – a history of self-rule.  Such a history was hardly universal in the 19^th century, nor is it in the 21^st.

To quote:

 "The whole structure of the (American) government is artificial and conventional and it would be ill-adapted to a people which has not been long accustomed to conduct its own affairs..."

         How many lives and treasure were lost because U.S. policy makers trying to foist democracy on Iraq and Afghanistan ignored – or were ignorant of – these words to the wise?

So, yes, there is much to learn that has indeed stood the test of time.  But some observations – such as the necessity of a committed and virtuous pubic – are, one hopes, simply dated and no longer a prerequisite for the survival of democracy in America.