While the right is laser-focused on ruthlessly wielding any bit of power it has, progressives either fight for the wrong things or don’t fight at all.
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This is the second of a two-part series that contemplates what the Founding Fathers would make of today’s politics and each of the parties. For Part 1, go here.
It doesn’t take much imagination to realize that the Founding Fathers would be appalled by today’s Republicans, which was the topic of our last column. However, how would they feel about Democrats?
Once again, we wonder what would happen if the Founders could travel forward in time.
That’s a bit trickier. Well, actually, we know what would happen first.
Before any of the Founding Fathers could get a word out, somebody would try to cancel them.
Not just because some of them were slave owners but also because of their unfamiliarity with the meaning of “Latinx.” And, let’s face it, they would probably struggle with getting everybody’s pronouns right.
That highlights two problems of modern Democrats. The first is that they pick the wrong battles. Spurred on by “social justice warriors,” they seem to fight hardest when it comes to mandating tolerance, which is impossible.
What they should be focused on instead is fighting for a society that teaches tolerance.
The second problem is that today’s left has created purity standards that nobody, including themselves, can live up to.
Put these two things together, and it’s easy to see why progressives these days are more interested in achieving symbolic victories than affecting real change — full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
That mindset leads to foolish endeavors like trying to cancel the Founding Fathers.
Sure, they were deeply flawed in many ways, but they also altered the course of history, and what they created ended up benefitting countless people to this day.
Of course it is fine, and even important, to acknowledge the flaws of the Founding Fathers. Put them in history books and on plaques to show Americans that they weren’t gods but rather “just” exceptional men with their own faults.
They led a struggle for greater rights that still serves as a model for people who want greater self-determination and freedom.
On balance, their accomplishments far outweighed their sins.
And, more importantly, who cares? This is such a pointless fight.
Of course it is fine, and even important, to acknowledge the flaws of the Founding Fathers. Put them in history books and on plaques to show Americans that they weren’t gods but rather “just” exceptional men with their own faults.
That nobody is perfect seems like an important lesson for the modern left to learn. Many of the things we do today, even the most progressive of us, will horrify people 50 years from now.
“You savages used plastic and drove cars? Didn’t you know about climate change? You did!!! Then how could you ride in vehicles with combustion engines? And you had social media accounts? You must have been aware that those platforms were at the root of the divisions of the early 21st century.”
And those are just the low-hanging fruit. It is very likely that we are doing things right now that are totally normal for us but will seem barbaric in a few years.
Finally, here is something that those preaching tolerance the most seem to have a tough time with: They themselves are being intolerant by not acknowledging that there are reasons why different people may have prejudices or biases.
Being accepting of gay marriage is objectively tougher for an 80-year-old Sunday school teacher than it is for a 20-something college student. But what matters above all is that they are making an honest effort.
Chastising them for not understanding every nuance of the LGBTQ world is going to be counterproductive.
So, let’s say that the Founding Fathers managed to avoid instant cancellation. What would they think about today’s Democrats?
The Founding Fathers had a dream of what the United States could and ought to be. They not only wanted it to be its own country but also one that allowed more people to thrive instead of being suppressed by a few.
We believe they would be disappointed.
Not as much in the Democrats’ vision for the US, which probably aligns much more closely with their own than the GOP’s, but rather in the timidity with which they are pursuing it. Or, to be exact, not pursuing it.
The Founding Fathers had a dream of what the United States could and ought to be. They not only wanted it to be its own country but also one that allowed more people to thrive instead of being suppressed by a few.
They succeeded in many ways and failed in many others.
But there is no denying that they fought for that dream, and that fight changed the world.
Fast forward 250 years. The country they envisioned largely exists on paper. In the intervening time, more Americans gained rights but always seem at the verge of losing many of them.
One party wants to go forward and another backwards. Public polling suggests that, on balance, the public sides with the former on many key issues, but the latter is much more ruthless in using power.
As a result, there is once again a minority that is oppressing the rest of the people. This time, it’s not a monarch and a bunch of aristocrats. Now it’s corporations, billionaires, and six justices, as well as less-populated states, which have an outsized say over who should run the United States and how.
A lot of that is the fault of the system the Founders set up. As we said, they succeeded in some ways and not in others.
Still, the obstacles Democrats face are tiny compared to those the Founding Fathers were up against.
However, they lack the fight.
Today’s Democrats seem perfectly satisfied with lamenting the problems that have turned the US into a utopia of sorts for the rich and a developing country for everybody else.
They do have plans to address these problems and inequalities. What Democrats lack is the will to really go all out to make them a reality.
That’s a big difference to the GOP, which uses the levers of power with ruthless efficiency. The way in which Republicans redistricted following the 2010 election is a great example, as is the theft of a Supreme Court seat in the waning days of the presidency of Barack Obama.
Democrats have had opportunities and wasted them. For example, when the Affordable Care Act was passed, they bent over backwards to get bipartisan support (that never materialized), instead of providing better insurance for more Americans.
They are simply feckless.
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Democrats should be leading general strikes when Republicans want to destroy organized labor. Their voters should use their (greater) spending power just like conservatives are doing now.
Instead of throwing their hands up in the air and saying “Aw, shucks,” they should use every tool available to them to remake the Supreme Court.
None of these are victories that anybody will simply hand to them. They will have to be hard-earned. But the fight seems to have left the left.
It hasn’t always been like this.
A couple of generations ago, progressives helped African Americans fight for civil rights and, together, it was one of their greatest triumphs.
That was probably the left’s last major victory, and it cost plenty of blood, sweat, and tears.
And that is the kind of effort (and sacrifice) it’s going to take to get the country back on track.
Sadly, it does not appear as though today’s Democrats are up for it.
The cartoon above was created by DonkeyHotey for WhoWhatWhy from these images: Joe Biden caricature (DonkeyHotey / Flickr – CC BY-SA 2.0) and background (Joe Biden / Flickr – CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).