Crazy, right? But amidst the wailing and lamentations and rending of garments over the miserable outcome of the Senate and gubernatorial races, the election results tell a tale about the way forward...and it's not "be the GOP-lite."
Because, it seems, the progressive positions on prominent social issues are extremely popular - even in deep-red states.
Let's take a look at the actual results, which you can find in various places - like
here and here .
Minimum wage: It turns out that economic populism is very popular - even among conservatives. Even while Alaska was booting out Senator Begich, it was voting 69% in favor of increasing the minimum wage in 2015 and 2016. Even while Arkansas was showing Senator Pryor the door, it was voting 66% in favor of increasing the minimum wage. Even while South Dakota was sending yet another R to the Senate, it was voting 55% in favor of raising the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation. And even as Illinois voted in a Republican governor, they also voted 67% in favor of increasing the minimum wage.
Democrats used to own issues like this. So how loudly were they embracing it on the campaign trail?
Marijuana: While Alaskans were voting for the minimum wage, they also voted 52% in favor of decriminalizing marijuana. Even as Florida voted to return Rick Scott to office as governor, they voted 58% in favor of medical marijuana (technically the measure failed, because it was a constitutional amendment that needed 60% to pass - but 58% is a solid majority that a lot of Democrats would have loved to have on election night).
Shouldn't Democrats be leading on such a progressive issue as rolling back the failed and destructive War-on-Drugs approach to substance use?
Abortion: All those the-fetus-is-a-person and life-begins-at-conception amendments? They don't pass, even in conservative states. North Dakota rejected life-begins-at-conception 64% to 36%. And even as Colorado was booting out Senator Udall, they were rejecting fetal personhood by a 65%-35% margin.
Democrats are definitely the ones defending reproductive freedom, but don't results like this suggest that loudly pointing out Republican extremism on the issue, even in closely contested races in purple states, is a winner?
Maybe if more Democrats openly and loudly embraced the traditionally liberal and progressive stances on these issues, instead of ducking and weaving and defensively whining that they're 'not Obama,' we wouldn't be having a post-mortem instead of a celebration. And maybe that's something that all Democratic candidates should look at long and hard in 2016.
7:17 PM PT: Update: It was pointed out to me that Nebraska, while voting about 2-1 in favor of everyone calling themselves a Republican, also voted in favor of raising the minimum wage by a margin of 59%-41%.
People of all political affiliations really do recognize when the economic system is rigged against them. A political party that publicly recognized that at every turn, and loudly explained a policy agenda for changing that (rather than cringing in fear of being accused of 'class warfare') would really do quite well. A party like, say, the one that brought us the New Deal...