You Need a Political Party to Govern
In our celebrity age the focus of politics is on the individual. Trump. Biden. Pelosi. Mitch. AOC. Schumer. Fauci. We know them better than we know our neighbors. Their childhood, their flaws, their history, their style and the books they read.
In politics, however, you can’t get anything done by yourself. You need a Party to govern: a coalition of people and ideas broad enough to attract a majority of voters in diverse communities with different cultures in states across the country. A coalition strong enough to win the Presidency and majorities in the House and Senate and state legislatures. A coalition that holds together when the time comes to vote.
We are all verbally into coalition building until the realization hits that if you are going to be part of a coalition you can’t have everything you want. If you really want to add people to the coalition who don’t already agree with you, there has to be real compromise. You have to give up something you want to keep. And you have to accept something you don’t want to accept.
The payoff comes in having a share in shaping the future with allies who have similar but not identical values and different priorities. Allies who, despite their differences, come together to work toward achieving agreed on goals.
There is always tension. Am I giving more than I am getting? Is the Party moving in directions, taking positions, doing things I disapprove? Are the differences great enough for me to withdraw my support and go it alone?
Within the Democratic “coalition” labor unions, African Americans and other activists say openly that they contribute more in votes and organizing muscle than they get back in policy when the Party wins.
The forces tugging the Party apart are as powerful as the forces holding it together. Several months ago, a New York Times columnist predicted that winning the election would be easier for Democrats than governing afterward. The elements making up the Party would not be able to hold together once the common overriding goal of defeating Trump was achieved.
We see perhaps the beginning of this in disagreements over Biden appointments and the push for more immediate and more robust plans and actions.
It is essential, however, that the Party holds together and demonstrates, even with only a small majority in the House and at best a tie in the Senate, that we can govern. We can make things better, even small things that enhance daily life, laying the groundwork for going back to the voters in 2022 and asking them to give us additional authority.
Winning more Congressional seats in 2022 will not be easy. Traditionally, the Party that loses the presidency gains votes in Congress two years later. Twenty-four Democrats elected this year won with less than 52 percent of the vote and could be vulnerable. Even if several lost, we would lose the majority.
It is the long game we have to play if we want to succeed in turning the country around. A game that concentrates first on building a broader, stronger, more secure coalition before taking on more difficult and controversial problems.
The absence of that stronger coalition has kept us from being able to enact much of our Party’s vision in the 40 years since 1980. For only four of those 40 years have Democrats held the presidency and majorities in both House and Senate: the first two years of the Clinton administration, and the first two years of Obama. If we continue to be one and done, we will never get past the talking stage of moving the country forward.
The Party’s program for the next two years should be based, yes on wishes, but also on a realistic understanding of the politics, and a clear strategy for adding more votes in 2022. Patience is required.
Like other endeavors, a political Party exhibits all the strengths and flaws of human nature. It is also the vehicle in a democracy that can take us from talking about what we want, to getting it done. Constant maintenance is required.
Many are impatient. As one young person, unhappy with the Democratic Party, said during the primaries earlier this year that without changes, “ … they need to die and we will create a new party ourselves.”
And then what? All of the ambiguities, compromises and conflicts that are part of building any Party remain. Staying together is worth it. We all have to want to work through our differences and agree on a program. If we fail, if we divide, the voters in 2022 will look elsewhere.
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