So the big storyline of the morning is that progressives are losers. Stop the presses. It’s based on this article over the week-end in the Washington Post about the alleged fact that progressives are all losing their primaries to moderates and conservatives. And once again, those of us who are working in this arena are all treated to solemn lectures about how we should get real and figure out that nobody likes us because we’re too liberal and that we need to… well, I’m not sure. Give up, I suppose.
The only problem is the facts are wrong. Of course some progressives have lost this season. Some tea partiers have as well. Also moderates. It’s the nature of primaries. But the article in question takes the example of the PCCC’s big three losing races– Sheyman, Griego and Saldana– as if they represent the whole country. It’s just not true. There have been winners as well, they just didn’t happen to be the ones the PCCC were involved in. (This is not to say the PCCC’s candidates were bad. They weren’t. Blue America endorsed them too. They just happened to have lost in this cycle.)
Despite the fact that people seem to think they don’t matter, a couple of the progressive winners were shockers, taking out establishment incumbents. The first was Matt Cartwright in Pennsylvania who defeated Blue Dog Tim Holden and more recently Beto O’Rourke in Texas who defeated the longtime head of the House Intelligence Committee Silvestre Reyes. These were outsider races that anyone would have expected to be huge losses for the progressive challengers… and they weren’t. In both cases, the Party (unofficially) brought out the big guns to support their friends and big contributors kicked in large sums as well. But the progressives won. What does that mean nationally? You tell me. But it can’t mean less than the Griego and Sheyman losses, can it?
Meanwhile, Patsy Keever in North Carolina won her race against a handpicked DCCC anti-choice conservadem and Dr David Gill won his in Illinois running against Dick Durbin’s machine. And we still don’t know if Norman Solomon might have made it to the general, they’re still counting votes. (And even if he has lost it, he didn’t lose to a moderate or a conservative– he will have lost to a standard issue Northern California liberal .)
The fact is that we don’t have the 40 years of well-funded conservative infrastructure the Tea Party had to build on so the fact that we win at all is a miracle. The Republican party happily brands itself as far to the right as it can get, while the Democratic Party reflexively rejects the progressive and liberal labels and prefers to be seen as a moderate/center party, embracing all views under its big tent. The default is to move to the center, not move the party to the left, and primaries are, therefore, much more ideologically diverse and contentious.
And of course it is true that more voters identify as conservative than liberal. But I don’t know that people agree on what those labels mean, much less are able to place themselves within them ideologically. Many older Democrats like me tend to identify as liberal. Younger people call themselves Progressives. Some use both. There are even left libertarians. But a vast number of Democrats call themselves moderates. Why? Because the party goes to great lengths to brand itself as that. So, I’m not all that sure just how useful the designations really are in explaining primary wins and losses.
One thing that cannot be overstated is how really, really difficult it is for progressives to raise money, which in this environment is even more problematic than it has been in the past. They are at a serious disadvantage because their principles preclude them from going where the money is– corporate America while, sadly, wealthy liberals listen to the Party establishment and so spend their money protecting incumbents. And believe me, raising money online isn’t the cash cow some people may imagine. It takes much more effort on the ground, fundraising one dollar at a time, and perhaps a few losing races before progressive movement candidates can gain the name recognition and experience to win. It’s not like you can grow talented people who are willing to do all that on trees.
None of this is easy. The progressive movement, or what’s left of it after the whole thing pretty much dissolved in a fit of presidential ecstasy in 2008 (and 2010 absorbed what was left of the corpse) is very young and very poor and the only infrastructure it has are local grassroots and a few Netroots groups like Blue America, the PCCC, Moveon, DFA and PDA who are continuing to do this work. Under those circumstances, I think we’ve done pretty well.
I’m sorry that the progressive victories don’t get the hot headlines that every tea partier who wins a city council race gets, but then we’re not Real Americans so I wouldn’t expect that. But just because nobody has noticed doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Slowly, but surely, progressives are learning how to do this. And if we don’t get sidetracked by another charismatic leader who’s supposed to save us from everything, we might be able to build a progressive congressional bloc. It’s not sexy, but it’s necessary.
My takeaway from this is that we progressives need to do a much better job of not only organizing, but putting in place an infrastructure that will allow us to elect candidates who are truly reflective of progressive ideals, rather than watching as the Democratic Party puts forth their “safe,” “electable” candidates.
Further, if we want to change things we’re going to need to “storm the gates” and start gaining control of the levers of power within the Democratic Party, so that we can work to turn the party away from its corporatist, “we’re not really liberals” mindset.
Zach, there was a time when Progressives had the backing of a few religious groups. Or, at least, substantial portions of religious groups. The Obama insurance gaff showed how far removed we’ve come from that base. Obama’s stand with the GLBT faction drew a line in the sand that can no longer be crossed by the largest religious organization in the world. Not a prudent trade off. I never thought Obama would come to believe those who would tell him he had such power. It was a rookie mistake that may cost him a second term. It has affected Progressive races around the country and especially here in Wisconsin. All for a group of people who want to redefine the most sacred institution on earth to satisfy nothing but ego.