Big-Tent or Hard-Core

As I look towards the mid-term elections, I see a fundamental choice the Democratic Party has to make (although it seems like they already made it).

I currently believe that there is a significant number of Trump voters that are not happy with how things are going (this could be said for almost any President after a year in office).  For those voters who are dissatisfied, they really only have one other choice, the Democrats. However, as they look at the Democratic platform, the see a party that is moving further to the left. These voters would probably support a Bill Clinton Democrat, but not a Chuck Schumer one. 

(When I was in Texas, I saw a map of the United States, and over New York and California was a cutout that read "Not America", yet here are the Democrats shoving stereotypical representations of these states as their leaders).

Choice 1: The Democrats could try to create a big tent. Snap up all those votes, but sacrifice some agenda items. They could say "We hear that Americans are worried about boarder security and so are we. The laws have to be enforced and we pledge to use advanced technology to stop illegal crossings (and not with a physical wall that won't work)".  Democrats could say "We pledge not to make any type of rifles illegal, but to have common sense background checks" (the first of that pledge is the key for swing voters). "We want to bring the tenants of god back into our politics, such as compassion and family values." And the Democrats could tone down their push for gay marriage and LGBTQ issues. Some people in this country are just learning not to be racist, and all of these other issues are just coming too quickly for them.  It is overwhelming and they are scared by change (and just want to go back to way it used to be).  Democrats could at least acknowledge this.  The whole point is that Democrats won't lose any of their own votes, but could add a significant number of disillusioned Republicans.  I believe the results would be many more votes, but a watered-down agenda.

Choice 2: The Democrats embrace the more liberal agenda, hoping to inspire new voters and the younger generation. This could definitely work as people have become more engaged in politics and elections.  If this is a success, the Democratic Party would have a clear, progressive agenda to push. Hillary Clinton made this choice.

I believe one of the fundamental problems with political parties is that they refuse to value the opinions of people who voted against them. Doing this isn't a betrayal of your believes, it is "fair". 

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