The Incredible Shrinking DNC -
The Incredible Shrinking DNC - Jay Reding's back, with a vengeance.
He asks a question that I've been chewing on for a while now; what's the DNC's sprint for the left going to do for them?
The left has used the vilification of the President as a crutch for their own lack of vision. It is the same weakness which sent the Democratic Party into a tailspin in 2002, and unless someone can emerge from the Democratic pack with real leadership potential in 2004, the DNC is set for a repeat of that election. Of course, that's difficult to do when one's party has been hijacked by the extremist and reactionary left of Tom Daschle and Nancy Pelosi.
Anthony Downs once wrote a book called An Economic Theory of Democracy. It is quite possibly one of the most important books of modern political science ever written. What Downs finds is that the electorate lies along a rough bell curve in terms of political ideology. In short, the party that can best capture the center will win the election.
The Democrats aren't even trying for the center.
Their class-warfare rhetoric couldn't support them during a time of economic turmoil. What possibly makes DNC strategists think it will work when the economy is on an upswing post-Enron and post-Iraq?
If the "eat the rich" mentality didn't float 'em last November, when will it?
To me, the key question is, where is the Democrat base? Who is it? Is it the working union stiff, teacher, government employee? If so, are they really represented by the Nancy Pelosis and Howard Deans of the party?
I'm seeing 1972 parallels here. In '72, the Democrats were hijacked by the anti-war left, and nominated George McGovern. Nixon clobbered them; the union lunchboxes deserted McGovern in droves.
There's a strong current in the Democrat party to follow the same path today; a hard tack to the left, to "solidify the base" that is ever more removed from the population at large, maybe to retake the 3-4% they lost to the Greens in '00.
This will be a huge topic as we move into election season.
Posted by Mitch at
April 15, 2003 02:29 AM
