Progressive Influence

 Recent suggestions by moderate Democrats that the progressive wing of the party had cost votes and ‘nearly lost the election of Joe Biden’ were as inaccurate as they were politically shortsighted. Abigail Spanberger and James Clyburn were particularly vocal in this condemnation while echoing similar centrists attitudes frequently voiced by the likes of Pete Buttigieg, Claire McCaskill, James Carville, Paul Begala, and erstwhile Republican John Kasich, to name a few. 

In point of fact, the progressive ideas as espoused by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, just to name two, regarding focus on equitable pay and a living wage ($15 minimum), serious attention to the increasing environmental crisis (The Green New Deal), racial justice and reconciliation through sensible police reform and reallocation of funding, and a comprehensive restructuring of our health care system as reflected in Medicare for All are all widely popular programs supported by a clear majority of the electorate. It was wise therefore for the Biden/Harris ticket to incorporate these ideas and programs into their platform thereby rallying the support of the much needed 18-32 demographic in order to secure their margin of victory over Trump. It would be therefore a fatal error to interpret this result as an endorsement of centrist ideology generally or Joe Biden in particular and instead view it as an unifying expression of distaste for a singularly incompetent incumbent.

In the immediate wake of this election and especially while looking forward, it is foolhardy and myopic to disregard the progressive influence in bringing about the recent victory over incipient fascism and, moreover, to alienate the very same portion of the electorate that will comprise the vast majority of the Democratic base in the critical years to come. When DNC chairman Tom Perez praises his party as having ‘a big tent’, he is well-advised to take a long look as to who will occupy its interior going forward. It’s is the progressive voice of millennials and generation X/Z together with their forward-thinking ideas and energy that in large part determined and influenced the outcome of this election and will provide the way forward in the ensuing decades. Either the current centrist-minded Democratic establishment recognizes this political reality and takes steps to cede power and vision to the next wave of vibrant democratic expression or it will lose its ability to permanently repel the forces that created the specter represented by the outgoing administration.