Calm down, Democrats. We just won the White House, we have an outside shot at the Senate and we held the House, even if we lost a few seats. Lighten up on the finger-pointing and policy debates between the moderate and progressive wings of the party.
Instead, focus on establishing the narrative behind the 2020 election. Americans rejected a deceitful, hateful demagogue in favor of a lifelong public servant who embodies decency. We rebuilt the “blue wall” and we’re turning the Sun Belt purple. Georgia is now a swing state.
We held a key Senate seat in Michigan, picked up two more, and put a scare into Republican senators in some of the reddest states in the country. If we play it right, we might be able to shake loose a few members from their caucus on critical issues and appointments.
In this cycle, progressive leaders such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren didn’t translate beyond their base, but they softened the ground for big, bold policies such as “Medicare for All” and the Green New Deal.
Now we have to bring along people with a story that goes something like this:
After World War II, the GI Bill, the Federal Highway Act and empowered workers helped build the middle class. There was a sense of common purpose. When we fell behind in the space race, we doubled down on science. A decade later, we planted our flag on the moon.
To address social, racial and economic inequity, we passed new laws to end discrimination, protect voting rights and combat poverty. While these laws have proved imperfect, as all laws are, they brought progress.
They also triggered a backlash in the form of racial politics and a false economic theory: that tax cuts pay for themselves, deregulation leads to shared prosperity, public investment is mostly a waste of money and the benefits of enriching the few trickle down to the many.
In the wake of multiple recessions under Republicans, America turned to Democrats to restore prosperity and we did. But we never really offered a compelling economic counter-narrative to Reaganomics. The result has been 40 years of rising inequality, culminating in the election of a race-baiting plutocrat.
Today, we know that ours is not a trickle-down economy. It’s really a trickle-up economy, where the poor and the working class spend everything they have to survive — and where retailers and banks capture those dollars and funnel them into the investor class that hoards the money instead of recycling it back down to the bottom.
Today, we know that racist, misogynist politics do not have to define us. America just elected a daughter of Asian and Black immigrants to serve a heartbeat away from our 77-year-old presumptive president-elect. Yes, we have a lot of work to do on racial and gender discrimination, but let’s acknowledge progress and change the narrative.
Today we know that competent, compassionate government is needed in a crisis and that shared prosperity comes from investing in ourselves — infrastructure, schools, health care, housing and safety net programs that create a springboard into the middle class. America did it before and we can do it again — and it is somehow fitting that we have turned to someone who lived through that golden era to take us forward. After four baby boomer presidents, we’ve gone back to the silent generation for one last hurrah.
So, let’s not squander the chance to seize the moment and rewrite America’s story. Let’s defer debates on whether a total ban on fracking is possible in every state in the country and agree to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Let’s set aside absolutist arguments on defunding police and reimagine a better, fairer criminal justice system.
Instead of obsessing over the difference between the Green New Deal and Biden’s green jobs program, let’s pass the greenest bill possible to rebuild roads, bridges and other major public works. Let’s take some comfort that a public option will bring us closer to universal health care.
Above all, let’s paint a picture of the world we want — a strong and growing middle class, peace and prosperity across the world and tolerance and respect for others — to bring along the 77 million who voted for Joe Biden and the 72 million who voted for Donald Trump. If we unite America around an inspiring message and narrative, the policies will follow.
Peter Cunningham is a Chicago-based communications consultant who served in the Obama administration.
