One of the reasons I wanted to sort out the differences between progressivism, social democracy and democratic socialism is because those labels have become weapons in the larger fight over what the Democratic Party is supposed to be. And there are real differences. But political parties have never been made up of people who agree on everything. They’re coalitions. The Democratic Party that gave us the New Deal contained organized labor, urban liberals, immigrants, Black voters, farmers and conservative Southern Democrats (racist segregationists). Eventually, the fight over civil rights tore that coalition apart.
But the lesson isn’t that everyone in a political coalition has to agree. It’s that winning enough power to govern has always required people with different priorities to figure out what they can accomplish together.
That’s what makes the current Democratic infighting so frustrating. The disagreements between establishment Democrats, progressives and democratic socialists are real, but there is also a tremendous amount of common ground: protecting voting rights and reproductive freedom, strengthening workers’ rights, protecting Social Security and Medicare, making health care and education more affordable, confronting the concentration of wealth and corporate power, and defending constitutional government.
Meanwhile, Republicans control Congress, and congressional Republicans have repeatedly declined to provide a meaningful check on the Trump administration. The House has the power of the purse, subpoena power and impeachment. The Senate controls confirmation and has the power to convict and remove impeached officials. Those powers exist to restrain the executive branch. If Democrats want that power back, they have to win elections.
That means accepting that the Democrat who can win in one district or state may not look anything like the Democrat who can win somewhere else. Fight for the candidate you believe in during the primary. Challenge incumbents who aren’t getting the job done. But once voters choose a nominee, The Democratic Party needs to get behind that candidate and stop fighting change.
Ideological purity isn’t going to give Democrats subpoena power. It isn’t going to control federal spending. It isn’t going to chair congressional committees or conduct oversight. A congressional majority will.
Democrats can keep fighting over who gets to stand under the tent, or they can make the damn tent bigger and win this November.
