We've all heard it: if only Sanders was the nominee we wouldn't have President Trump. This could be true, but looking at this one scenario isn't too helpful. Instead, we need to take a look at the Democratic Party as a whole.
The party is only going more and more left, with Sanders being an excellent example, and that looks to be a good thing for the party. For one thing politicians, even Democrats seem to overestimate how conservative their constituents are. Also, this has increased the number of people running, and with opposing Trump a lot of people are getting into politics.
But the Democratic establishment does not seem to be on board. The biggest example being that "prominent Democratic House members and DCCC [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee]officials making their preferences clear early on in a race, telling outsider and often more progressive candidates to run for lower office or wait for another cycle."
But this approach is all wrong, especially if districts are more left than we imagine them to be. By backing the more moderate choice the DCCC, and the Democratic Party has decided to alienate liberals. Also as the Republican party only goes farther and farther right, if the Democrats seek to find the middle, they will end up further right as well.
One example is how the Democrat's lack of support for unions has come to hurt them. Right-to-work laws being one of the biggest drains on unions, it is startling to note that they have"decreased Democratic presidential vote share by 3.5 percent." The New York Magazine also notes that "The effect of right-to-work laws, according to this research, are large enough that it could have easily cost Hillary Clinton Wisconsin and Michigan—two states that went right-to-work before the 2016 elections."
Also given how unions have played an important role in funding the Democratic Party it is surprising to see the Democrats letting them fall apart.
What needs to happen is a more grass-roots level approach to the Democratic Party. Right now, in the time of "Resist Trump," the energy is here, and the DCCC is only shooting itself in the foot by meddling in elections on the other side of the country.
The Democratic Party is doing no favors by seeking to be centrist, especially when so many voters have their minds made up about certain issues. For instance, essentially all Democrats are pro-choice, and so they have already lost anyone who is pro-life. So instead of trying to win over an economic conservative, who will never vote Democrat because of their pro-life stance, the Democratic Party should be investing in people who it's base are excited to vote for.
