After the Loathing

Can liberalism find its soul?

by Patrick J. Shanahan
11/16/04

It is a universal fact of life that the seeds of victory are sown in defeat and the seeds of defeat are sown in victory. This fact ought to serve as gloat insurance for any conservatives who feel the urge to dance on the grave of the Democratic Party. Despite the relative closeness of the vote, one can say with confidence that this was an awful outcome for the Democrats. Certainly a good many of the votes cast for Kerry were cast by loyal Democrats who felt out of synch with their own party but are as of yet unable to switch allegiances. I suspect that none of Bush’s votes were.

Think back - if you will or can - to how things looked for Conservatives/Republicans in 1966. The first true conservative to run for office in eons had been absolutely soundly thrashed at the polls two years before. The Democrats had control of the Congress, and had just passed most of the “Great Society” into law. The Democrats were far more in synch with the emerging aquarian zeitgeist. There was every reason to believe that the Republicans, and especially those who dared to consider themselves conservative, would be a non-factor in American politics for the foreseeable future.

Vietnam and Watergate put a crimp in things, but still, in 1976, a world class mediocrity named Jimmy Carter stood at the head of a Democrat political pyramid that dominated all aspects of American political life. That lasted exactly four years. In 1980, 1994, and now in 2004 The emerging dominance of conservative thought and the continuing marginalization of liberalism have been the story.

How did this come about, and what does it say to the future of the Democrats? Where do they go from here?

The short answer is that the Democrats have lost their political soul. As a party, they used to share the same soul as Republicans, with differences occurring primarily around the edges. Both parties shared a belief in:

1. American Exceptionalism - America was a fundamentally and uniquely good nation. Although cursed with flaws and problems like any nation, America has a unique capacity to correct them
2. Democracy - it is superior to all other forms of government
3. Faith - Religion and morality mattered, a lot, and were properly integrated into public life
4. Self Advancement - Hard work was the basis of success in life
5. Families - They are the cornerstone of a good society
6. Progress - The methodical and orderly process of democracy were the best way to achieve progress
7. The Value of Liberty - Freedom and liberty were worth fighting - and perhaps dying - to preserve.

The 1960s and 70s taught the Democrats different. It taught them that America (as currently configured) was bad, that religion taken seriously was a source of evil, that the personal was political, that “liberty” was just a sham to cover for economic exploitation, that personal self-discovery and self-expression were the highest of values, that the best way to achieve change was to scream and yell and declare outrage, and that the primary purpose of economic and political activity was to amass power in order to exploit and dominate others. In short, the Democrat Party began to remove from its core the fundamental tenets that have been at the heart of the American Experience from day 1. And, no matter the specifics of their policies from year to year, they will never again dominate American politics until they either rediscover their lost soul or find another that resonates with the American people.

This didn’t happen all at once, and it could not happen honestly without unacceptable backlash. The American people are not anywhere close to giving up their core beliefs. Part of the genius of President Clinton was his ability to straddle the fence and make it appear that the soul of the Democrats had not disappeared completely. He engaged in a balancing act of mythical proportions. Just as - on a personal level - he would flaunt the Bible on Sunday and then go home and merrily molest an intern, so he kept the Democrat Party alive with periodic feints to the right that masked the emptiness at the core of the Democrat enterprise. Al Gore tried to ride the momentum generated by Clinton but came up just short. And John Kerry is perfect example of the knots a Democrat candidate has to tie himself into in order compete on behalf of a soulless ideology.

There is no doubt in my mind that, if it had a soul, the Democrat Party could put together a winning platform based on liberal policy prescriptions - a kind of inverted Contract with America. They are not losing because the American people want a lower minimum wage or because people are not concerned about the cost of health care. They are not losing because all Americans support Iraq or oppose homosexual marriage. They are losing - and will continue to lose, because there is no there there.

It’s about culture, not policy specifics. The vast majority of the American people like who we are as a people and a nation. And buying into that is a prerequisite for any candidate or party. I believe that if the less-engaged segment of the American citizenry had any clue as to the degree to which the Democrats truly reject the American vision, we would have had a landslide of McGovern proportions. John Kerry formally constructed his campaign so as to mask to the greatest degree possible his party’s contempt for America. But even with a slavish press he could not hide the hollowness, the cynicism, the bitterness, and even the increasing hatred of an ideology with no soul.

That is what all this talk about “values” ultimately comes down to. It’s not about partial birth abortion, per se. or about gay marriage, per se. Those things are reflections of the larger soullessness that the American people “feel” more than they see. A vote for a liberal/Democrat today is an explicit rejection of the American Soul, and a vote for a conservative/Republican is a vote to defend it. Maybe that’s fair, maybe it’s not. But that is what is happening.

So what’s a good Democrat to do? I hope they do nothing. But that is not realistic. The façade cannot be kept up much longer. The Democrat Party will either adopt some sort of change, or collapse. Their choices?

1. Liebermania - Joe Lieberman is one of the most popular Democrats outside of the walls of the party. And the reason is that he has not lost his political soul. He gets it. He understands what it means to be an American. If the Democrat Party were to formally adopt Lieberman’s stew of political soul with liberal policy, they could clean the Republican’s clocks. But this is unlikely to happen. It is probably more likely that the Liebermans will become Republicans.

2. Clinton Lite - Find another lovable scamp/master of deception who can convince the American people that up is down and darkness is light. And that the Democrats are the real reflection of the American Dream. Problem is, there was only one Bill Clinton. Hillary sure won’t fit the bill. Maybe Barney Frank?

3. Give Up - Like a trapped animal chewing on its own leg to escape, the Democrats might just turn on the American people and descend deeper and deeper into their loathing. There are certainly hints of this already happening on the far left. If Democrats give in to this temptation they will become irrelevant. The power vacuum left behind will be filled by a new party with a soul. Who knows what this will look like. Perhaps a drug legalizing, gay-friendly fiscally conservative libertarianism?

4. Find A New Soul - Just as modern paganism has created a new “religion” by incorporating the “easy” Christian virtues while rejecting the difficult ones, so the Democrats could reclaim those pieces of Americana that fit their worldview, and regrow a rump soul. I suspect that such a thing would look an awful lot like “compassionate conservatism,” but you never know. Maybe the Democratic Leadership Council can put it on their winter meeting agenda.

No matter how you slice it, it’s still bread. The Democrats have introspection of the highest order to conduct. If they do, they may have a political future. If they don’t, then they will not only have lost “Jesusland,” they will also lose the rest of America.