Election Post-Mortem and Manifesto for Change

I haven't actually had that much to say in follow-up on the election so far. The horse I backed came across the finish line ahead of the runner-up. I breathed a sigh of relief at that. Kerry is not President, and I'm satisfied with that outcome. I acknowledge, however, that it could have gone the other way, and in any case there is way too much at stake here to engage in any peurile gloating. Bush can still mess this one up pretty bad. We've just given him four years in which he can do so if he's not careful.

I did not expect the Republicans to pull off such a big win otherwise. In fact, I was kind of hoping they would lose the Senate to the Dems. Alas, that was not to be.

As you've probably seen already, hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing of epic proportion has ensued on the Left with the defeat of their anointed Mr. Electable. Rage and despair are the rule of the day among the Democratic base this week. They are bewildered at their resounding defeat at the polls in what has turned out to be an historic election.

I'm going to get this out of the way with some tough love: A major reason why the Democrats lost so big in this election is that the Democratic party has become reactionary, elitist, out-of-touch, smugly statist, and extremely condescending. The vast majority of reaction on the Left simply echo those problems. How do they deign to talk to their opponents? With nothing but disgust, patronization, and condescension, a tone which has been endemic to Democratic positions for forty years.

The Democratic Party--my party--has finally become nothing more than the party of cognitive dissonance. That is why, like Zell Miller and a large fraction of usually Democratic middle America, I backed the other side on this one.

I don't blame Bush for claiming a mandate based on the results of this election. He won by a comfortable margin (not a landslide, surely, but it wasn't even close by historical standards). His party increased its majorities in both houses, another very rare circumstance (particularly for a second-term victory). The Democrats were humiliated almost everywhere, and the Democratic Senate minority leader was voted out. Those candidates supported by the more radical elements of the Left (Markos Zuniga, MoveOn.org, and George Soros), came away from this election virtually empty-handed. They didn't just lose by a little bit. They were shut out completely, clear evidence that if it had been Base-favorite Howard Dean on the ticket instead of Old Lantern Jaw, it would have been a landslide for Bush.

Mainstream media bragged of being able to boost the Dems by 15 percent (do you remember Newsweek saying that?). The "blogosphere" has been crowing that MSM failed to do so (for which the blogs also claim responsibility), but I don't agree. I think the MSM actually succeeded in bringing the Dems a 10 to 15 point boost in the election (and maybe more). Before the media spin machine started systematically slamming Bush 18 months ago, he was favored at around 66% in the polls. 66% minus 15% is...well...the 51% margin Bush was re-elected by. Thing is, even the thinly veiled support of most major media outlets wasn't enough to put Kerry in the White House. The Democratic party has completely, utterly, undeniably marginalized itself. The Dems no longer have a national party. All it takes is one look at the electoral map to illustrate that. The so-called "Purple Map" may make them feel better, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. A party that can only win in the Northeast and Left Coast is not a national party anymore. A party that manages to lose by 3 percent even with a huge boost from blatantly partisan favorable media coverage is on its deathbed politically.

There is no other way to interpret that except as a colossal win with as much of an implied mandate as most big victories in American electoral history. The Dems may currently disagree, but acceptance is the first step toward recovery. Get over it.

The question, then, is: what next for the Dems? It is clear beyond any doubt now that the party must change or die. Losing by 3.6 million votes after pulling out all the stops to win (motivating the base, MSM partisanship, getting huge turnout, out-spending the opposition, etc.) makes that clear. The hardcore democratic base is now too small to win, but too big to let the party move to the center. The coalition politics that was once the greatest strength of the party has become its biggest liability. The Republicans are the "Big Tent" party now. The warring factions uneasily united under the Democratic banner have only succeeded in crippling one another: cancelling out like protons and anti-protons.

The first thing the Democratic party must do to rebuild itself is throw away the now not only thoroughly discredited but completely rejected socialist ideology and its gasping, desperate hangers-on. Let me be clear about this. Junking the socialism DOES NOT mean throwing away the core American values that the Democratic party has always done so well upholding. The Dems have always been champions of the poor, working stiffs, and middle class. Socialist ideology is as much their enemy as is rapacious oligarchy, maybe even more so. They're not stupid. They know that. That's why the increasing power of the socialist Left in the party has come close to destroying it. The Dems can continue to powerfully advocate fairness, compassion, and justice without being mired in a swamp of socialist dogma and prejudice.

Another thing the party MUST do is get free from the choke-hold of intellectual elitism. Say it with me now:

People who voted for George W. Bush are neither ignorant nor stupid. Many of them had excellent reasons for doing so, even if we see other reasons they shouldn't have. It was their decision to make, and they made it with as much consideration and deliberation as they thought appropriate. Because we might disagree does NOT make them any less intelligent, educated, moral, compassionate, or anything else. I don't necessarily know what's better for the country than they do, but we all have to make our decision based on our values and available knowledge. Supporting political opinions or candidates I disagree with DOES NOT BY ITSELF MAKE ANYBODY A BAD PERSON.

I know that's a bitter pill for a lot of people to swallow right now, but without that medicine, the Democratic party will not be able to rise off its deathbed. I've already taken my dose today. Now it's your turn.

For those who refuse the medicine and continue to insist that they are intellectually superior by way of their support of John Kerry and his "plans," heaping their scorn and condescension on their countrymen: if you're so smart and right why didn't you win? Why couldn't you see outside the echo chamber of comfortable agreement and elitist moralism which led you to think you couldn't lose? If your positions are so right and theirs so wrong, why can't you convince them? If you can't even figure these things out, how can you claim to be intellectually superior to anybody?

I'm being harsh here, but harshness is needed. The reality is, the Democratic party has reached an ideological dead end. For a group of folks who like loudly proclaim their tolerance and mental flexibility, I say to you now:

Change or wither away.

For my level-headed libertarian-hawk friends out there (as opposed to the anarchists, who know how I feel about anarchism), the sorry state of the Democratic party represents an enormous opportunity in the guise of disaster. For my mainstream Democratic friends, the time has come to rebuild and clean house. Seventy years of socialist garbage has to be taken to the curb.

The party is ready to be remade. It needs a new ideology and a new platform: one which is adapted to the realities of 21st Century life, both threats and promises; which uses freedom- and market-based solutions to solve difficult social problems without leaving anybody behind; which ensures fairness and justice for EVERYBODY, not just the rich, or the smart, or the educated, or the white, black, brown, red, or yellow. There are people in this country who still need help. Let's see if we can figure out a way to help them without hurting anybody else. The American people are done with old Democratic way.

Let's give them a new one. The future of our republic depends on it.