An Open Letter to the Democratic Party

Dear Democratic Party,

As we look at the aftermath from the 2024 Presidential election, there are plenty of Americans worried about the path we are on. There are many Americans looking to you for answers wondering how this happened. Again…

And while Harris bowed out gracefully, I can't say the same for the leaders of the party. So far, I haven't heard any words of encouragement, or how they plan to oppose Trump moving forward. Instead, I've heard them blame the voters and complain that not enough people came out to vote. And while it may be true that turnout was low this election, especially on the blue side, I believe the Democratic Party needs to take a look in the mirror. You need to ask yourselves why it was so low in an election that featured a very unpopular candidate on the other side and women's rights being one of the biggest issues this cycle.

And part of the reason is actually quite simple. It's because you won't listen to the will of democratic voters. You would rather have power and control, or at least the illusion of it as we're seeing now, than allow a true grass roots movement within your party to energize the base. The last 3 elections, you forced your preferred though highly unpopular candidates on us “whether we liked it or not” to quote a certain president elect. 

You set Kamala up for failure right from the start. You made the mistake of letting Biden try to run for a second term, knowing he was unpopular and possibly incapable of lasting through the next four years. This would've allowed the party to have a primary and democratically choose the candidate to represent them. Instead, you waited too long. And when it became too apparent to deny Biden was not mentally fit for another 4 years, you forced him out and propped up the establishment choice with the people having absolutely no say. 

And it's not like Kamala was an infallible candidate. Her track record in California was shaky at best. She wasn't popular among most Democrats or independents and was even less popular among Republicans and progressives. The problem with Kamala was that voters were never sure what she stood for, if she stood for anything, other than opposition to Trump. And sadly that has been the case the last 3 elections. You give the people a candidate that doesn't stand for much and doesn't really relate to or inspire the voters you need to win. 

Now you got lucky in 2020 because Trump's inept response to COVID had our economy in ruins. You could've run just about anybody up there and they would've won, which is exactly what happened. But truly, nobody wanted Biden. That was more a statement against Trump than anything. And you were hoping to repeat that in 2024, and considering how bad it got during COVID, and Trump's election denial that led to his cult storming the capital, you thought this was an easy win. 

But you forget that America has a bad memory. None of those mistakes 4 years ago matter today. What matters today is Americans don't feel like anything is getting better, even though this recovery has been nothing short of incredible. Perceptions outweigh reality, and if Americans feel like Biden hasn't fixed anything, then all the things he actually did fix don't really matter.

Instead of touting all the things this administration had actually done, Dems spent all their time and money bashing Trump. You distanced yourselves from Biden when you should have been talking about how his policies have actually improved the lives of Americans since COVID nearly wrecked us. You should have been honest and upfront about why inflation was happening and how the Biden administration dealt with the issue. And you should have had Kamala focus on the policies. 

One thing we know, we see it in every poll, every exit poll, the people widely favor Democratic policy proposals over Republican proposals, sometimes by a 2-1 margin. But instead of focusing on policy, an area where Dems have a big advantage, you had Kamala fighting the culture wars, which are always a losing battle for the party. Your party hasn't learned how to run successful social media campaigns and Republicans are killing you there. There's so much misinformation that you can't even have an honest debate about things like abortion, immigration and trans rights. You play right into their hands and stoop down to their level where they always have home field advantage. Harris had the superior policies, but that got lost in the culture war nonsense. 

And because of these culture wars the Democratic party, along with the nation as a whole, has also taken a giant step toward the right in the last decade. This shift to conservatism culminated with this election cycle having to watch Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, making the rounds with Liz Cheney, one of the most conservative war hawks of our time, who was now considered too liberal for the hyper conservatives in Trump's new GOP. And instead of inviting progressive voters, Kamala basically ignored them and at times downright insulted them. 

And this was all done in one of the most important elections of our lifetime. The Supreme Court is in jeopardy, our checks and balances have eroded, the ruling class is gaining more wealth and power than ever. This election, one way or the other, was going to fundamentally change what we are and what we will become as a nation. The world may be on the brink of a major war where we will need strong, level headed leadership. But instead of being the opposition, you moved toward the center to bend over backwards to compromise with people who have refused to compromise for decades now. There was too much at stake in this election, but I'm not sure that mattered in the end.

In a way, this reminds me of the aftermath of the 2012 election where Republicans called for an “autopsy” on their party so they could move forward. In the end, their postmortem results shocked them so much that they latched on to a con man to become the demagogue for their party that would completely alter the American political landscape we had come to know. Hopefully, when you, the Democratic party, complete your autopsy you will realize that you have left your party behind. And maybe, unlike Republicans, you will do the right thing. Given the history, I'm not counting on it.

So my message to the Democratic Party is that you need to take a deep look in the mirror and realize how we got here. You need to decide if you want to be an opposition party to a potential dictator, or a facilitator. You need to ask yourself who you want your base to be. Is it the moderates and former Republicans who have jumped ship from Trump's version of the Republicans Party? Or is it the traditional Democrats and progressives that have been the heart of the party most of my life until this last decade? Sadly, I think you will continue to misread the signs and folks like myself will continue to be left without a party and without a true opposition to what we face moving forward. It is your turn to prove me wrong.

Sincerely,

An American Voter