Recently, I have been reading Thomas Frank's "What's the Matter with Kansas?" which is quite simply the best political book I've read. I highly recommend it to any Democrat, liberal, or anyone political. It has an excellent analysis of how the conservatives used social issues to overthrow populism in what is known as "the heartland" and exposes the hypocricy and folly of what he calls the "great backlash" to liberalism. He also makes a very good point in his book when he talks about how Bill Clinton got it wrong with his "New Democrat" idea. Clinton tried to erase the differences between Democrats and Republicans on economic and other domestic issues ("the era of big government is over") - the very issues Democrats win on (he also simultaneously strangely moved to the left on gun control which turned out to be the final nail in the coffin). Republicans win by using divisive social issues such as abortion and gay rights, and no matter how much Clinton tried, he and the other Democrats would always been seen as the "baby killer, gay party" by the conservatives he was trying to win over. In essence, the New Democrats removed from the table the issues they could win on, putting front and center those that Republicans win on. And guess what? The Republicans win.
The Democrats need to return to supporting universal healthcare, a living wage, fair trade, etc. It's the only way to win back the working class people who have been swayed by talk of conservative values by the Republicans. I believe we should create a contract similiar to Gingrich's "Contract for America" which includes the proposals above that our national Democratic candidates could sign off on. Beyond that, and Ralph Nader is right on this, the left should except regional and cultural differences on gun control and social issues. Better a pro-life Democrat than a pro-life Republican, after all, because the Democrat won't slowly kill the working class voters who put him into office with his disastrous policies. Some on the left will see this as selling-out, but any realist knows that true progressive reform can only happen by building back the coalition we once had.
It's time to reclaim the Heartland. It's time to leave Republicans in the dust. It's time for a revolution.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
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Thomas Frank attemps to explain this move by Clinton by pointing out it was an effort to appeal to upper-middle class professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc.) who are more conservative on economic issues, but more liberal on social issues than the rest of the middle class and lower class.
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