In political parties, this time.

I didn’t get to watch the first Biden/Trump debate¹, but the reaction to Biden’s weak performance — and Trump’s incessant lying² was fascinating in light of Trump’s recent conviction.

Emoji One, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Among other things, this illustrates how Democrats are generally their own worst enemies. “Managing” them is also, as the old saying goes, like managing a herd of cats, i.e., virtually impossible. In contrast, the GOP has a significant built-in advantage. It can almost always count on their voters staying the course.

I suspect that’s because of a fundamental difference between the two parties nowadays. The GOP, the conservative party, seeks to preserve the status quo ante. Whatever else that implies, it means they start by playing defense. Against almost all change, even change they may later come to accept.

Democrats, on the other hand, have been for some time the “party of the future”, the voice of the members of society looking to make change, whether it be in how different subpopulations are treated under law, combatting climate change, seeking to limit the real costs of unbridled capitalism, etc. The first, and biggest, challenge for a party focused on the future is to agree on just what kind of future it collectively wants to pursue (and which elements of the future get pursued first).

That’s inherently a much more complex task. Which also encourages internal factionalism.

I encourage my fellow Democrats to take a deep breath and stay focused on winning back as much power at the federal, state and local levels as we can. It’d be good to retain the Presidency. But if we don’t win that, it’s even more important we hold the Senate and take back the House. Even Trump, for all his insanity, will be limited in what he can do if he doesn’t have a pliant Congress to work with.

1. I was taking care of a family member undergoing some routine outpatient surgery ↩

2. the Gish Gallop, a term I’d never heard of before ↩