National & Minnesota
In our nation, the only time we vote collectively, is for President/Vice-President established when the two positions were conjoined as a ticket with the 12th Amendment in June 15, 1804, in advance of the Presidential election that year. This move also gave more fuel to the political party system, and in turn prevented political rivals from being elected at the same time.
As the Democratic Party undergoes its Post Mort um in an attempt to understand the message rendered by the electorate, and echoes of the slogan attributed to James Carville in the 1992 election of Bill Clinton, “Its the Economy Stupid.”
Additionally, the Democratic Party must understand some very, fundamental political concepts which have been in existence for a significant duration of time, and were forgotten this election.
1) A political party only exists to advance its cause through electoral victories. The ideological concepts found in a party platform are helpful in defining the differences between political parties, but as in the case of third-party candidacies, the principals advanced mean very little unless your side wins. Also, the more specifically defined your message is based on a specific agenda, the easier your party is defined by your opposition, because they become what you are not.
In the case of the two major political parties, the old paradigm of the Democrats being the party of the working class and the Republicans being the party of the business class, first blurred with the election of Ronald Reagan (R) in 1980, resulting in the “Reagan Democrats” and further became less class defined with the election of Donald J Trump (R) in 2016, and again in 2024.
The economy is penultimate, and it is the “Feeling Index” that must be adequately responded to, if not it is to your peril. The party in power, embodied in the President who then gets both the credit and the blame, depending on the specific feel of the time.
These divergences from assumed traditional alignments brings about a virtual soul searching for the Democrats. Specifically, because the GOP, is no longer the party of Abraham Lincoln (R) its first standard bearer, but rather a cult-a personality, self-pronounced desired dictator in Donald J Trump and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) or “America First” movement. Where Democrats failed is primarily focusing on social issues, where economic issues are always the primary one of concern.
With the 2024 Republican political “trifecta” resulting in universal control of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government all in the hands of a single party, and in this case its Trump. Because of his megalomania and his clear vindictiveness, he will rule with an iron fist and lash out at though in his party who fail to come to heel. His impact will be fully felt for 2-years and changing this reality will not be available for Democrats who will be feckless and powerless until the mid-term election in 2026, when the Class II Senate seats of AL, AK, AR, CO, De, GA, ID, IL, IA, KS, KT, LA, ME, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NC, OK, OR, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WV, and WY are up for election and the 435 members of the House are as well. If history is any guide post, Trump’s mid-term election results of 2018 are any indicator, they were more beneficial the Democratic Party.
2) Every dramatic change has the potential for or rather the likelihood of a backlash and for each and every specific “advancement.” There is a segment of the population which feels they were more comfortable with the status quo rather than the change.
The strides made during the civil rights movement resulting in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibited the discrimination based on: race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, and was a culmination of years of efforts creating a landmark piece of legislation to many, but also a threat to some. Sure, discrimination is amoral, but to maintain the system as it was to others, that which prevented them from losing what they felt they had gained. Sure, it may have been on the backs of others, but to these ignorant persons they only saw it as a loss of their entitlement, heritage, or birthright. Largely, the aggrieved party in this instance were Southern white males of all economic classes. Especially, the white sharecroppers who saw former slaves gain and they, who were slightly better felt overlooked, in spite for the reality the South lost the Civil War.
We argue, the election of Barack Obama, and the candidacies of Hillary Clinton, and Vice-President Kamala Harris were in the minds of these aggrieved persons emblematic with what is wrong in our nation. They set the advancements of one group over another is a pitting war and they are on the losing end.
Historically,. blue collar males are the essential elements for determining elections, and this election proved it. Blue collar is a euphemism or metonymy for working class, non-college educated, lower skilled employment. The way we are describing it, is not intended to be off-putting or derogatory, but rather description of a class.
For whatever reason, Trump successfully appeals to these people and is able to capitalize on the angst of this portion of the electorate and add to it another group, still blue collar, but in this case, Hispanic males. In this instance the grievance was based on the policy positions offered by Democrats, which challenged and in their minds attacks their moral values, and sexist beliefs. They saw the immigration system from a lens, where they, or their parents or even grandparents had entered this country legally, and they saw others not having to play by the same rules, and the Biden Administration allowing it to happen.
This meant a challenge to their livelihoods, by cheap undocumented labor, in spite of the fact they might have undocumented members of their own family, but they were able to separate that reality from the question of illegal immigration from other countries not of their origin. The idea of America being a welcoming nation and an ideal is best embodied on the plaque found on the north side of the Statue of Liberty, which reads:
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
When the intellectuals coined the term grouping term Latinx, first used in 2004, Hispanics didn’t adopt it, they already had their own forms of identity, Chincano, Mexicano and alike. The attempt to cluster this diverse group of recent immigrants was rejected out of hand, and created a divide.
While their community strives to realize their own American Dream, they are willing to distinguish and deny it to others who failed to come here legally and meet the same challenges they had already faced. This coupled with challenges to their family values, with forced vaccinations, and lose of their children’s futures due to COVID-19 and remote education, where they parents were forced to become the teachers and experience the burdens of education at home. This also in their minds, is combined with the idea of challenges to their children in sports, where trans-gendered girls could compete on the field with their daughters, who they could not protect. This provided another aspect of inadequacy for these men, who enshrined a patriarchal system, taught to them from a mostly a Catholic heritage.
The personal chaos of these social issues wedded with the high inflationary costs stemming from the pandemic and sluggish wage improvements, which didn’t match the impact of higher prices for the essentials of food, gas, clothing and shelter, became the perfect storm, for those who sought a target and someone to blame. The departure of President Joe Biden (D) as a candidate and the ascension of Harris, a woman only made it worse. Why, because the revisionist history of the Trump Administration and at the beginning of the pandemic meant they had a good economy thanks to Obama, but Trump without any foundation claimed credit, and initially, when the COVID Checks went out with his signature upon them, a segment of the population received free money and didn’t have to work to get it.
Secondly, because of the Right Direction Wrong direction polling question or the “Feeling Index” which show Biden’s approval rate only being in the upper 30’s at the time of the election hung like an Albatross on Harris’ neck, and proved impossible to overcome. In spite of early enthusiasm for the first woman of color, from certain segments of the electorate, not the aforementioned groups, every time she spoke, it was a reminder of the life they were experiencing and they found comfort and solace with the spouted lies and logical fallacies of Trump.
The constant drone of untruths worked under the adage of where there’s smoke there’s fire, and if you say something enough times people will believe it. Its true, Trump would say the same thing over and over and over again in the same speech, in spite of the fact, after Biden left the race, he became the old man, but the same old man casting wasn’t hammered in place by Harris to the same extend Trump had pounded it onto Biden. Of course Biden’s poor debate performance added significantly into that narrative.
The third point rests on definition. This being the ability to define yourself and your opposition, before they define you. Harris was largely a blank slate to many, because they only see the President, the key spokesperson for the nation, and in this case Trump was actually, the only constant in this election. He was well-defined and a known commodity, except when he had faced two assassination attempts and invoked an aspect of ordination or anointment by God as a justification for his candidacy. This is an additional added factor of the ignorant masses. The only glow you see from Trump is his orange face and not a halo.
Democrats need to adopt the old adage of KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid. The devil is in the details, but it is from those details the Devil can mischievously do his work. Now, the future of America rests in the hands of someone not worthy of the office, and the blame rests, with the Democratic Party, and they need to take responsibility for it. Another adage to also remember which reinforces this idea is less is more.