365NEWSX
365NEWSX
Subscribe

Welcome

Democrats Have a Values Problem. But Here’s How They Can Fix It.

Democrats Have a Values Problem. But Here’s How They Can Fix It.

Democrats Have a Values Problem. But Here’s How They Can Fix It.
Jan 24, 2021 3 mins, 4 secs

Americans say they prize freedom more that equality, which means Democrats need to find the right words to convince people to support their equality-boosting agenda.

As Democrats begin their unified control of Washington with the slimmest possible majority in the Senate and barely a majority in the House, they must accept and address a difficult truth: Republicans have won the fight to define American ideals.

In the fall of 2017, I set out on a 9,000-mile road-trip to talk to people about what it means to be an American and a good citizen.

If Americans prize “freedom” more than “equality,” Democrats need to find the right words to convince people to support equality-furthering policies.

Republicans have made freedom front-and-center to most every political conversation, from saying any limitation of gun rights is a disregard for freedom to framing critiques of government-run health care around the danger these program would pose to Americans’ freedom.

During the Civil Rights Era, Democrats became the party of rights and equality as activists marched through the streets demanding justice for Black Americans.

In choosing freedom rather than equality as the party’s defining value for a time, the Democrats helped Republicans define the political conversation for decades.

But essentially all of the party’s current goals—health care for all, workers’ rights, voting rights, equal rights for women and members of the LGBTQ community, lowering student debt and college tuition, an economy and justice system free of systemic racism—would further equality.

And achieving these goals without significant political backlash depends upon people believing in equality as a core American value.

And most Americans I met, both Republicans and Democrats alike, reserved their most aspirational words and beliefs for just one of them: freedom.

Melvin, then and still a city council member in Jackson, Miss., is the type of person Democrats might expect to prize equality as much as freedom?

When I asked Melvin what it means to be an American, he told me a sense of optimism, a belief in rights—a potential nod to equality, though revealing that he didn’t use the word itself—and the law, and a certain pride.

He said: “I believe that being an American means you believe in freedom or liberty, even if you disagree with other people’s use of them.”.

That path requires Democrats to focus on two values that my conversations suggest are still widely embraced and also are essential parts of an enduring national commitment to equality: fairness and community.

And when it comes to health care, Americans believe that every American should have a baseline of care: At least 70 percent of Americans approve of a Medicare for All who want it-type plan.

More Americans will believe everyone deserves political and economic security and equality when they see one another as members of the same political community.

Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs talked about how good citizenship means serving one’s community and about how their communities are struggling and need help.

The Democrats’ task then, if they want to build a deep and broad support for equality, is to expand more voters’ notion of the American community

In his 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama declared, “There is not a liberal America and a conservative America—there is the United States of America.” Democrats need to revive this sort of rhetoric, not to win empty points for bipartisanship from pundits, but because appealing to a shared sense of community will help them connect with Americans now and increase support for equality-based messages and policies later

Moderate Democrats need to rebuild the credibility they lost in failing to fight for equality and need to find a defining message

Summarized by 365NEWSX ROBOTS

RECENT NEWS

SUBSCRIBE

Get monthly updates and free resources.

CONNECT WITH US

© Copyright 2024 365NEWSX - All RIGHTS RESERVED