February, 2020
Washington – In the previous post, I identified three huge mistakes by Democrats since 2016. They were truly unforced errors that now require immediate remediation if Democrats are going to have better outcomes in 2020.
First, Democratic presidential candidates must recognize that voters overwhelmingly prefer less divisiveness in our polity and are poised to reward candidates who offer it in a believable way. A Democratic candidate who would commit to working with responsible Republicans to repair our international alliances, for example, would show the kind of leadership and courage voters are hungry for.
I'd recommend that a candidate commit now to naming bi-partisan envoys, immediately upon inauguration, to all U.S. strategic partners to re-assure them of our international goodwill. For Republican envoys, none would be better suited than James Mattis and H.R. McMaster, formerly of the Trump Administration but doubtless patriots. The candidate would make the equivalent commitment for domestic issues, to restore our Constitution's checks and balances.
Note that these commitments are not ideological, so there is no movement left, center, or right. That's also what many voters yearn for: less ideological strife.
Second, Democratic candidates at all levels need to pay attention to what voters are saying in rural areas and heartland states. There are many reasons why so many Obama voters chose Trump in 2016, and they are not going to come back to Democrats through condescension. Voters want believable policies to offer hope to rural America.
Actually, almost all Democratic candidates now have impressive rural policy platforms on which to run, but they are still lacking emphasis on what should be an obvious connection: agricultural production and healthy food. As a Democratic friend of mine sarcastically put it, "Who'd ever think that agriculture was connected to food?" Democrats need to talk not only about completely re-writing the Farm Bill to provide for carbon sequestration, but to demand healthy food to curb our nation's diabetes and obesity epidemics. Democrats must not only talk about prescription drug prices and insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions – treatments of symptoms – but go after the obvious causes of the declining health of millions.
The absence of a strong rural policy effort cost Democrats the Senate in 2018 (see Part 1) and Democrats are behind the eight-ball for 2020 as well. Republicans are participating in secret meetings about the need for huge changes in the way we approach agriculture. But Democrats, so far, have not chosen to lead, even as they see rural America votes slipping away once again in the upcoming elections.
Third, Democrats must not give up on holding Trump accountable for his indecency, corruption, and wrongdoing. The House missed the opportunity for censure, but there is still time for completing the historical record for impeachment out of the sentiment first expressed in the Declaration of Independence, for a "decent respect to the opinions of mankind."
This need not get in the way of other House business, such as pressing the Senate – hard – for consideration of the hundreds of bills that the House has passed and the Senate has ignored. Voters are not happy with the Senate for denying documents and witnesses in the impeachment trial. Conviction and removal of the president from office are no longer viable options, but the book is still open on lessons learned, and by whom. Voters, whether they supported conviction or not, do not like an outcome in which cheating the trial process out of witnesses is rewarded.
Above all, most voters want to be "for" something, not just against. They want a positive pull. Democratic candidates who offer (1) less divisiveness, (2) positive policies that address real issues, and (3) governance rooted in our country's founding documents, will do well. Unfortunately, that's not the way many of them are heading.
