(Nov. 25) Democratic analysts who say extreme wokeness is killing their party are right, but issue positions aren’t the whole problem. What’s worse is the use of government power to force everyone else to accept left-wing cultural ideals.
If Democrats want to understand why not even dedicated Never Trumpers could vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, and why so-called “double haters,” those who strongly disliked both major candidates, broke by wide margins in Trump’s favor, they need to remember that people historically have resented edicts and mandates. To recover, the Democratic Party should abandon its outlandish cultural positions, but if not that, then at least abandon compulsion, and relearn persuasion instead.
It is not in dispute that far-left cultural positions are unpopular. Against the Left, the vast majority of people think that allowing biological men into women’s sports and especially into private spaces such as changing rooms is wrong. The vast majority strongly disapprove of using tax dollars to pay for sex changes for prisoners and illegal immigrants. The vast majority disapprove of “defund the police” efforts and of ending cash bail. People overwhelmingly believe schools should not hide information from parents about their children wanting to change gender “identities,” much less enable the children to start doing so.
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If most people saw the books that parent activists want removed from age-inappropriate library spaces and classroom use — note: not banned, but just moved and properly labeled — they would be up in arms, not against the parents but against those who try to put those books into the hands of children. Most people want some restrictions on abortion in the third trimester, and they want infants who are born alive after botched abortions to be given life-saving care by real doctors…..
If Democrats won’t get rid of deservedly unpopular sociocultural issue positions, there is still a way to keep from being hurt so much politically while pushing those nostrums. Mere unpopularity more readily turns to defeat when the other side does not merely disagree with one’s positions but feels threatened by them. These days, those not on the cultural Left have good reason to feel threatened. The Left should stop threatening.
The Left hasn’t been content to push for societal acceptance of its desired changes in cultural norms. Instead, it has insisted that government and powerful institutions compel the rest of us to come to heel….. [The rest of this deep-dive analysis is at this link.]
