Those members of the American public who consider themselves to be “political junkies” have recently become aware of the potentially explosive divisions tormenting the Republican Party, but few have suspected that the Democratic Party likewise is experiencing extreme internal problems and conflicts. The Main Stream Media (MSM) provided convenient political explanations for the political “shellacking” experienced by the Democrats after the 2010 midterm elections when they lost control of the House of Representatives. The two prevalent explanations were: (1) the introduction of huge sums of outside corporate money into the 2010 elections, and the other explanation (2) was that historically the party that holds the Presidency always loses seats in the House during the mid-term elections. More below the orange marker below.
However four years later, during the next mid-term election the Democrats not only failed to regain a majority in the House but also lost control of the Senate, giving the Republicans total control over Congress. The run up to the 2014 mid-term election was marked by dire predictions in the MSM that the low popularity of President Obama going into the campaign season would present a formidable “drag” on those Democrat Senators seeking re-election in the normally Republican controlled “red” states. Now that the election has concluded in a substantial blowout win for the Republican Party where the Republicans picked up 8 Senate seats (with several other Senate races currently not resolved), and at least 246 House seats, the largest number of House seats held by the Republican Party since World War II. At this point an honest political autopsy for the Democratic Party is desperately needed to answer the nagging question, “What went wrong?”
The short answer to this question is simply, “the Democratic Party is suffering from widespread internal neglect”. To start we need to look back many decades ago to a time when the American labor union movement was the most powerful force in American politics. During this era the Democratic Party was the political Party of “big labor”, and as such the Democrats could depend (Taft-Hartley non-applicable to this activity) upon the rank and file members of big labor to efficiently implement the old fashion ground game of delivering (Democratic) voters to the polls. Needless to say the number one goal of the Republicans during this period (and going forward) was to “put the unions out of business”. Over the decades the MSM provided incorrect information concerning the reason for the anti-union zeal of the Republicans. The MSM informed the general public that the Republican anti-union zeal was exclusively focused on the protection of the financial bottom-line of American business from the escalation of union demands and benefits; whereas in actuality the Republican anti-union zeal was actually focused exclusively on eliminating the union’s GOTV (Get Out The Vote) ground game. American prosperity coupled with an overall national high standard of living eroded union membership. Furthermore the poor quality of the internal executive management of big labor also contributed to the demise of the American labor movement, and essentially relegated the once powerful American unions to the dust-bins of history. However, in spite of this, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has carried on like big labor still exists, and that they will deliver the ground level GOTV operations necessary to get their Democrat members to the polls for the elections.
The Democratic Party has four executive level groups controlling party direction and support activities, namely the DNC, the DCCC, the DSCC, and the DLC. (In the interest of clarification - the DNC is the Democratic National Committee. The DCCC is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee founded in 1866 works to elect Democrats to the House of Representatives. The DSCC, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, is the only organization dedicated to raising money to elect Democrats to the U.S. Senate. The DLC, the Democratic Leadership Council, is a non-profit corporation founded in 1985. The DLC argued upon its foundation that the Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it made from the late 1960’s through the 1980’s. Democrats who adhere to this DLC philosophy often call themselves New Democrats or Third Way Politicians, and often hail President Bill Clinton as an example of the DLC success story.) This particular discussion will not delve into further examination of these four groups, but rather I refer readers to an article posted on 05/19/2010 on the Huffington Post by Pearl Korn titled “The DNC, DCCC and DSCC Need Makeovers.” One last important point to make concerning these four Democratic groups is that all four normally structure their activities to match or exceed any Republican drive to create the largest reservoir (or “war chest”) of campaign funds possible.
Governor Howard Dean ran for the Democratic Party nomination for President in 2004 during which he pioneered the campaign strategy of Internet-based fund raising. After losing the presidential nomination to John Kerry, Governor Dean founded the Democratic activist group, Democracy for America. Subsequently in 2005 Governor Dean was elected Chairman of the DNC, during which he formulated a “50 state” political strategy which is designed to make Democrats competitive in normally conservative states that were often dismissed in the past as being “solidly red” or deeply impenetrable Republican. The success of this strategy became apparent after the 2006 midterm election where the Democrats took back control of the House of Representatives, and picked up Senate seats from normally Republican states such as Missouri and Montana. In the 2008 election Barack Obama used the 50 State strategy as the backbone of his presidential campaign which resulted in the Senate switching control to the Democrats.
At this point it should be clear that there is a strategy that works to win elections and one that works to lose elections. Here are the simple facts: the Republicans have access to billions of dollars for political purposes, but the number of registered Democrats FAR OUTNUMBER Republicans. The Republicans have to use the resources available to them in order to compete with the Democrats for political office, they have no other choice. It is likewise with the Democrats. Whereas they outnumber the Republicans their only strategy for success in competition with the Republicans for political office is the ground game of GOTV. The labor unions of the past recognized this and Governor Dean in 2006 both recognized this and proved its efficiency in the midterm election.
Recently in the aftermath of the GOP midterm tidal wave much criticism has been leveled in the form of two specific complaints against the Democratic Party. The first complaint is concerning the quality of Democratic candidates that were standing for election or re-election. The second complaint was that there was NO MESSAGING by the Democrats during the entire midterm campaign. (It is often pointed out that the Republicans also had no messaging except one – they accused every Democrat Candidate as being a “stand-in” for President Obama.) I submit that the close operational intensity of the ground game’s GOTV will immediately demand effective solutions to both of these problems if either happens to exist. Further I also submit that the Democratic Party must decide if it intends to be a populist people’s party or if it wants attempt to continue as a corporate embracing Republican “lite” party with a big “tent”. The American people are ready for a political entity that is willing to walk with them while bringing prosperity back to their main street. They are tired of “big brother’s political ads” preaching at them in endless repetition from their TV screens about the evils and faults of some other person running for political office.
Lastly I submit that an effective GOTV organization must remain actively on-site, and continue to function operationally between election cycles. These local GOTV groups must constantly educate local voters what their elected officials are doing down in Washington D.C. There is a need to both MONITOR and TRANSLATE the legislative language of bills being passed through Congress and it has to be made relevant to every voter. Information such as this provided to the public will captivate and spark individual personal interest in the legislative activity not only in the halls of Congress but in the State House of their own local government.