Reversing Polarities

A decade ago I made this prediction and now I think we’re starting to see the first steps in that direction.

It may not be fulfilled within out lifetime, but I think it will be clear within the next 10-20 years if this is an accurate guess or not.

I posted before about how the far right has attempted to forcibly move the Overton window, as well as societal and cultural changes we can expect in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic (see my Duty Now For The Future series:  1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6).

The Democratic Party is going to become the conversative party in the US.

The GOP will either cease to exist or become the progressive party.

Biden and Harris are not representative of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.  Biden is an old school centrist, Harris was an attorney general for California before becoming a senator.

Progressives criticize both for voting for centrist / compromise bills that the GOP supported.

To govern effectively, they’re going to need to take several key issues away from the GOP.

Fortunately, this will be easy to do.

For instance, it’s possible to present policies that are both pro-law & order and provide relief for previously targeted communities.

More effective policing means taking certain responsibilities from their hands -- viz dealing with mentally or emotionally impaired people -- and handing those responsibilities over to social workers trained in resolving such situations without resorting to force.

It means decriminalizing drug use so that people who need intervention and help aren’t afraid to accept it because they know they won’t be jailed as a result.

It means getting rid of for profit prisons, which in turn will drive down the need for high conviction and incarceration rates in states that currently have such systems.

All these are reasonable common sense steps that will enable to police to focus on genuine crimes against people and property and take a large number of extraneous duties off their hands.

It will help drive down needless confrontations with police, and that in turn will drive down the number of fatal or violent interactions citizens have with police.

Which will be good news to both police and communities.

There are other areas the Democrats can take control of the narrative by citing the centrist views most Americans have for universal health care, a better social safety net, improved environmental regulations, etc. as conservative values that represent “liberty and justice for all” while GOP efforts to undercut those goals are far right reactionary anti-American aims.

The trick will be in presenting these centrist values as emblemic of the inalienable rights to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” as invoked in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution’s claim that "We the People of the United States…” desire to “…form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..."

The GOP is then faced with three possible responses:

1. They attempt to move even further right, which means moving deeper into white supremacist ideology -- not a winning move since demographics show whites will drop to 49% of the US population by 2048, no longer a majority but simply the largest minority in a nation of minorities.

2. They recognize they have no future and fade into irrelevance as did the Whig Party in 1856, with members either joining the Democrats or starting new political movements.

3. Like the Democratic Party as the Great Depression forced massive societal change upon the US, start responding by moving away from their traditional conservative roots and embracing more progressive values.

Decisions, decisions, decisions…

© Buzz Dixon