Now Is the Time for Progressives to Take Over the Democratic Party

Once again, the Democratic Party is in crisis.

Activists both inside and outside the party have a big question to answer: Do insiders pivot to the center or the left? Do outsiders join the party or abandon it?

In both cases, the choice should be obvious: embrace the progressive economic agenda (move left) and enter the party en masse.

This moment of crisis is an opportunity to get the party on track, to turn it into what people want and need. Indeed, the table is set for us to transform American politics and save our democracy.

Beginning with the 2016 election, the American political system became defined by three competing blocks squeezed into a two-party system:

1. On the right, the Trumpian reactionaries,

2. In the middle, the neoliberal status quo, running from the Clinton-wing of the Democratic Party through the Romney-wing of the GOP

3. On the left, the progressives, defined by Sen. Bernie Sanders' insurgent presidential campaigns.

This new tripartite competition represented a sharp break from the neoliberal consensus that had defined both parties from 1992 through 2015. The abrupt shift in 2016 was the result of widespread dissatisfaction with a contemporary economic order defined by massive wealth inequality and, for the vast majority of the population, increasingly limited horizons, a life of overwork combined with non-stop precarity.

Trump will fail to provide the epoch-defining, shared economic prosperity he has promised the public. Rather, economic outcomes will be familiar, only more so: the few winners will win bigger, while the masses will continue to struggle just to tread water.

Now, for the second time in eight years, Trump and his minions will have power in Washington. And for the second time, in all likelihood, they will fail to alter how the economy performs for the average household.

The reasons for this are simple. To date, in a modern industrialized/technological society like ours, there is only one set of economic strategies that has been proven to constrain wealth disparity and distribute greater benefits to the majority of the population. This successful model was pioneered by FDR during the New Deal era. Then, after World War II, it was pursued in all the other prosperous democracies around the world. Broadly speaking, this is the program re-introduced to the American public by Bernie Sanders and the progressives, albeit updated for the 21st century.

The economic crises of the 1970s, created an opportunity for President Ronald Reagan to take American economic policy in a new direction in the 1980s, with less direct government intervention and more reliance on markets to determine how society made and spent its wealth. With President Clinton in the 1990s, the Democratic Party effectively dropped its opposition to the core tenets of Reaganomics, embracing what came to be known as neoliberalism. Then, in 2008, the entire global neoliberal financial system essentially imploded—and, while political leaders and economic elites tried to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again, the public has remained recalcitrant, viewing the whole system as rigged for the already wealthy and their sycophants—which sounds a lot like something Donald Trump might say. But do his policies really break with a system that benefits rich people like him?

Trump's program, while moving away from neoliberal orthodoxy in a few ways (trade policy, immigration), keeps the basic architecture intact, and doubles down on some core neoliberal policies: tax cuts for the wealthy, accelerated deregulation, and the defunding of state programs. This is why Trump will fail to provide the epoch-defining, shared economic prosperity he has promised the public. Rather, economic outcomes will be familiar, only more so: the few winners will win bigger, while the masses will continue to struggle just to tread water.

However, Trump is intent on fulfilling other campaign promises that will transform American society. His cabinet nominees show that he is serious about establishing an authoritarian state apparatus intolerant of dissent.

This is why the current fight for the soul of the Democratic Party is so essential.

If the Moderates triumph and Democrats remain the party of the status quo, clinging to a zombie ideology that cannot deliver what Americans want and expect from life—it will not be able to vanquish reactionary populism. The constitutional republic will, at best, remain in peril.

The only choice for the Democratic Party if it hopes to succeed is to reject the political establishment, and embrace progressive economic principles, such as those listed in PDA’s 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights. Registered Democrats overwhelmingly support each item of this ambitious progressive agenda. Indeed, the most coveted of all demographics, Young Americans enthusiastically embrace this program by similar margins.

So, this should be straightforward. Rank-and-file Democrats want a progressive party. Unfortunately, the defining feature of American politics in the neoliberal era is that money matters more than people. The heretofore dominant wing of the Democratic Party, aka the Party ''establishment,'' is first-and foremost a money-raising behemoth.

This is why progressives must bring their A game. Many party loyalists embrace centrist policies out of a misguided notion of pragmatism. Our goal is not to chase these Democrats away, but to persuade them to support something more ambitious and inspiring. We have a very compelling case to make on all fronts. We can win them over.

We must reject the influence of big money, demand its removal from political campaigns, and limit its role in lobbying to a level commensurate with what an average household, or small business, can afford annually.

Similarly, we have to welcome outsiders into the party, assuring them that a progressive Democratic Party will be all-inclusive and will listen to its members.

At the same time, we must be unwavering in our commitments. Perhaps most significantly, we must reject the influence of big money, demand its removal from political campaigns, and limit its role in lobbying to a level commensurate with what an average household, or small business, can afford annually.

Yet, we have to be humble about the task ahead. The capitalism of the 2020s is very different from that of the 1930's—and transforming the economy on the order of FDR or Reagan requires extended political success, as well as buy-in from people and sectors across the society.

But we also shouldn’t sell ourselves short. We are promising an unrivaled reward for everyone who joins with us. The opportunity to make history, to be a part of something bigger than ourselves; to establish the world’s first multi-racial democracy in the most diverse country in human history, a society that will stand apart in a globalized world, as the rejoinder to ethno-nationalism and fascism, informed by the collective wisdom of all the world’s cultures; a land of unprecedented wealth, well-distributed among its citizens, and of limitless opportunity; home to the world’s leading universities, with unparalleled research capacity; a strong country at peace with the world, in harmony with the planet; a society of equals; a democracy; an America as good as its promise.

The first step to getting there is for one of the two dominant political parties to embrace the progressive economic policy program, which has a proven track-record and can deliver the prosperous middle-class society that Americans crave.

In a forthcoming article, I will explain why mass participation and direct engagement with the Democratic Party is essential to the success of this program and the maintenance of American democracy.

Join PDA’s efforts to create a truly progressive Democratic Party, which we desperately need at this crucial hour of our history.