Sunday, July 22, 2007
(11:12 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Liquidate the Democrats: A Thought Experiment
The Democrats are valued exclusively for what they're not. First and foremost, they are not Republicans. The value of this non-Republicanism should not be underestimated -- the "reality-based" Democrats are, at the very least, open to persuasion, something that is increasingly not the case with Republicans. More problematically, however, they are valued as a screen on which to project our fantasies, fantasies that are often based on their non-Republicanism. We like to imagine that, if unconstrained, they would implement a welfare-state paradise in America, with ample public health care, public transit, etc.The thing is, it's not clear to me that they actually would. Even though everyone is talking a good talk about health care reform, I'm not confident that they'll actually follow through (or even be able to -- the Republicans will, after all, continue to have representation in Congress). Nor are we likely to see full withdrawal from Iraq. Doubtless whatever they do will be at least marginally better than the Republicans, but the Democrats can hold us left-leaning types hostage like this forever and ever as they continue to try to reach "values voters" or something.
The fundamental problem is that we have a true right-wing party, and then a party that by global standards is basically center-right. Mitt Romney has said that Hillary couldn't get elected in France, and he's right -- but it's not because she's too far left "even for France," it's because she's to the right even of Sarkozy.
What would it mean to stop being held hostage by the Democrats? It would mean establishing not a third party, but a new second party -- one that would be, at the very least, truly center-left. At this point, I would be thrilled if we managed to get a genuine social democratic party in the US, particularly one that is explicitly anti-militaristic.
There are Democrats who fit this basic profile, so the first step would be to get them to defect to the new party. That way you already have incumbents who are able to serve as anchors. The second step is to take away the blackmail of throwing the victory to the Republicans by running only in Congress at first and promising to caucus with the Democrats if necessary to prevent a Republican majority. And the third step is to convince donors of the Soros type to defect. Recruiting a major figure to lead the new party in Congress, with an eye toward providing a stage for this person's future presidential run, would also be crucial -- the fantasy, of course, would be that Al Gore would have a conversion experience and renounce Third Wayism. After all, for all that his wimpiness has cost us, he at least owes us the favor of destroying the Democratic Party!
Suddenly what was formerly the left wing of the Democratic party would have actual power, and the Democrats themselves would increasingly have to either take their demands seriously or else be totally absorbed into the Republicans -- a major improvement over the current situation where people to the left of Hillary are completely held hostage and the Republicans are regarded as the only serious interlocutors. Over a few election cycles, the reason for the Democrats' continued existence would be increasingly unclear.
My hope is that if this were done right, the Democrats would effectively be completely extinct as a party within ten years, and a new social democrat party would replace them -- with a different institutional culture, with explicit commitments besides a nihilistic pursuit of popularity for its own sake, and with something to offer aside from not being their opponents.
(All of this is offered up in the spirit of a thought experiment.)
