I’m not a conservative who revels in the self-destruction of the Democratic Party. Sure, there’s an emotional satisfaction in witnessing Democratic delusions go up in smoke, such as last week when CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten expounded on the 40-point swing among foreign-born citizens from Democrats to President Donald Trump on immigration.
But the joys of schadenfreude aside, the Democrats’ total dysfunction is bad for the republic. Competitive balance between the major parties stabilizes the political system in myriad ways. It breeds responsiveness to the broader electorate, encourages innovation and compromise, and prevents the concentration of power in a single party, which safeguards democratic principles.
The crack-up of the Democratic Party, exposed in full relief last week in Los Angeles, threatens the functionality of the entire American political system. Democratic operatives and media allies attempt to reduce the party’s problem to messaging. Indeed, the manner in which Democrats communicate their ideas is often noxious. But the party’s problems run much deeper, and it is no longer possible to conceal this through modified language and revamped marketing.
For instance, there is no artful way to communicate why Palestinian and Mexican flags are so prevalent at the massive protests in cities across the nation. No rhetorical trick can mask the Left’s festering hatred for law enforcement that causes protesters to shriek and spit into the stoic faces of officers attempting to get through their shifts and make it home to their families. No amount of spin can obscure the psychosis on display at these gatherings.
A new study from Tufts University, released in May, launched for the specific purpose of combating the perception of a mental health crisis on the Left, verified what most have known for years: American liberals are utterly miserable. Among voters who reported poor mental health, 45% identified as liberal, compared to just 19% of conservatives.
And what could be more damaging to the cause of a political party than hordes of mentally unwell people waving foreign flags and torching Waymo cars? What we are witnessing is more than a bad set of news cycles, but a party in the throes of an existential crisis.
The dilemma echoes another faced by Democrats three decades ago during the 1992 LA riots. Sparked by the Rodney King verdict, the riots left 63 dead and billions in damage. Jesse Jackson, a liberal icon who’d won 6.9 million votes in the 1988 primary, called the chaos a “cry for justice” and refused to condemn the looters. Then, rapper Sister Souljah, linked to Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition, told the Washington Post that if black people kill other black people daily, “why not have a week and kill white people?”
She added, “I mean, if you have a people that’s oppressed and you don’t deal with that oppression, then the people have no choice but to take matters into their own hands.”
Former President Bill Clinton, who had just wrapped up the Democratic nomination, decided he’d seen enough, saying of Souljah’s comments at a Rainbow Coalition conference hosted by Jackson in Washington, D.C., that “if you took the words ‘white’ and ‘black’ and reversed them, you might think David Duke was giving that speech.”
The move had several immediate consequences, all of which were positive for Democrats. It enabled Clinton to shift the narrative away from the Democrats’ vulnerabilities, marginalized the party’s toxic elements, and cast Clinton as a bold, pragmatic leader willing to confront his party’s left wing and focus on issues most important to voters. And while the “Sister Souljah moment” strained his relationship with Jackson, it didn’t cost him any support from black voters in the end.
That’s not to say that a similar attempt at triangulation by a respected party leader would go smoothly this time. The Democrats’ radicalization has metastasized, and internal resistance is met with fierce retaliation.
ANGRY DEMOCRATS COULD SEE TEA PARTY-LIKE MOVEMENT FROM THE LEFT
But drastic measures must be taken as the Democratic Party drifts nearer to the edge of total collapse, which would foster an even more polarized and less responsive political system. And that’s a calamity for us all.
It’s a target-rich environment for Democratic leaders considering a move similar to Clinton’s. Who among them will be brave enough to stand up and say, “Enough is enough?”