I have written some kind of half-assed things on this site, the kind of thing you do when you're upset and depressed. But sometimes that gets you into asking more, and perhaps, better questions. This is what I've been thinking. Since FDR, Democrats have been defending and espousing the concept that only a bigger, stronger Federal Government can really move us forward. More programs, better programs, bigger programs, but always expansion. For a long time that was good. But I have been thinking that, if the Democratic Party has become Chief Defender of Entitlements, then it has really run out of ideas. I think we must move beyond that. Some years ago, Tony Blair at a Labour Party conference pointed out that attempting to rescue some working middle-class family that is invested in the stock market and takes holidays in Majorca from their "misery" just doesn't cut it. New Labour turned things around in England by waking up to a new reality. I have been thinking about our Republic and the Big Questions facing us.
The politics of identity beat the politics of issues. That's something the GOP knows and the Dems don't. Or maybe more fairly, we know about it but we don't know what to do about it. People in the south tend to think that us coastal liberals look down on them. They think we see them as morons and bigots. And the fact is that impression is not entirely inaccurate. So when a patrician like Kerry asks for their vote, he fails to make the case. Politics is about winning. Democrats better fix this identity issue or they will be marginalized for the next generation. If I had to choose between a candidate who is a rightward-leaning Democrat who could win and a leftward-leaning Democrat who couldn't, I think the practical choice is the former. And let's stop choosing Senators and Governors from liberal states. I love them but they cannot win. A southerner is essential. A southerner who can talk values. A southerner who may make us coastal liberals mutter into our lattes. But a southerner who can win at least one southern state.
