Like many Kamala Harris voters, I've been licking my psychic wounds the past few weeks. I've been careful about the media I consume, paying little attention to Trump cabinet announcements and the speculation surrounding triggering nominees. I'm more focused on the next electoral phase, anticipating chaos and dissatisfaction to be expressed by voters in the 2028 mid-term elections and identifying ideas that will not simply eke out another shift in political balance but set the country on a new route away from the kleptocracy that is bearing down on us.
Towards that end, Bernie Sanders's appearance on the New York Times Daily on Nov 15th is must-listen stuff.
Bernie hits lots of nails on the head. Two items stood out for me
- The failure to listen and understand that working-class voters were suffering as a result of inflation, which far outstripped wages
- The need to create a narrative that directly addressed number #1 above
If the Democratic Party is going to consign Trumpism to the garbage can where it belongs, its leaders have to come up with a narrative that addresses the concerns of both the college-educated and the working class. That might sound like a tall order, but the country has just handed over governance to a party that only represents the interests of the 1%. Much of the reporting on the divide between these two voting blocks makes little reference to the fact that they share a common problem: their collective wealth has leeched upwards to the 1%.
The job of the Democratic Party is to create a narrative to restore the American Dream. That hope and aspiration for Americans has been stolen from the strivers, those not born into wealth who may or may not go to college but who believe in a real meritocracy where hard work and effort are valued above the locked-in wealth of a monied elite.
