Democrats’ Leftward Shift Justified

In recent weeks we have heard a lot about the Democratic parties leftward shift. In the House, Nancy Pelosi (a San Francisco Democrat literally and figuratively)was elected Minority Leader. Meanwhile, Al Gore made the astonishing statement that he now supports a single payer health care system to care for the nation’s 42 million uninsured people (yes that’s right 42 million). Pundits across the country, and even in our own Daily Free Press, have derided these moves, saying that the Democratic Party has lost touch with Americans, and that these moves will destroy the Democratic Party. However I’d just like to show you a different view, and tell you why their predictions of doom are wrong. From 1932 to 1968 the Democratic Party was the clear leader in government. They used their hugely powerful coalition of unions, farmers, and minorities to pass through reforms like Civil Rights Legislation, the Great Society, and the New Deal. These were ambitious, worthwhile reforms that caught voters’ imaginations and gave them a reason to vote Democrat. Meanwhile the Republicans were on the defensive, unable to push through their agenda even when they held the presidency. In 1964 Barry Goldwater changed all that. He ran his campaign for president against Lyndon Johnson as a harsh indictment of everything that had gone on during Democratic rule. He sounded crazy and, yes, out of touch. After the ’64 election Liberals gleefully awoke to the greatest landslide in presidential election history, and perhaps even snickered a bit at the foolish Republicans for running a candidate so far from the center. Sixteen years later, when Ronald Reagan won on that very same right-wing platform, liberals weren’t snickering anymore. Even though Goldwater’s campaign gave him little chance of winning, he at least gave people a choice and the Republicans a message to run on, and not just the same old anti-Communist rhetoric that they had depended on previously. Once they had a strong platform they began to make progress, and by 1980 they had support for ideas that would have been unthinkable in 1964. Similarly, a strong liberal message with fresh ideas to solve the country’s problems will give the Democrats something to run on, and will give voters a reason to put the Democrats back in control. Dennis Reardon CAS ’06