Democrats Are Masters of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Hey, donkeys…if you resign yourselves to assuming you’re going to lose, then you indeed will probably lose!
Sometimes, it feels to me as though activists and certain members of the Democratic Party WANT to lose elections. That includes many of you, right here on Medium — whom I’ve often unfollowed because it makes me feel borderline-suicidal to be constantly subjected to your endless stream of Dystopian Porn with no actual proposed solutions (or tangible calls-to-action).
I’m referring, of course, to the self-fulfilling prophecies squawked by pretty much everyone in the mainstream media for more than a year now. That would be the assumption that, since the party in power usually loses seats in midterms, the Democrats are preordained to lose one or both chambers of Congress (the U.S. House and/or the U.S. Senate) next November.
Let me be clear: I’ve never taken the position that 2022 would be a cakewalk for the Democratic Party. As I said in my Medium op-ed from almost a year ago on winning strategies for Democrats in ’22 — they can’t expect things to just magically fall into their laps. They must work, mindfully and assertively, to change the narrative while putting forth a palatable agenda for the American people.
But so many of you are making it impossible for them to even suggest those possibilities.
Why Does the “Doomscrolling” Happen?
Let’s reject the predictable handicapping we see from Politico, CNN, MSNBC, The Hill, and, of course, Fox News. I have a few theories on why they do what they do:
- They assume it’s the only (or fastest) way to generate clickbait and make money, indicating a lack of foresight.
- They have a fetish for fatalism, under the assumption that whipping everyone up into a frenzied panic will drive “both sides” to engage in more of an “exciting” ratings-inspired horserace.
- They may individually want to see positive change…but they’re genuinely at their collective wit’s end about how to make it happen.
- They display glib blind spots that render them unable to understand the far-reaching impact of their actions.
- They are coldly apathetic to other people’s suffering, while stuck in their own bubbles of vanity and self-promotion.
Unfortunately, assuming I’m correct about some or all of these mindsets from media gatekeepers …they are transferring them (either intentionally or subconsciously) to members of the general public.
It’s become like a broken record.
The gloomy platitudes only result in learned helplessness and defeatism. Such malaise grows contagious. Depressed onlookers relay those sentiments to pollsters. The ladies of The View parrot them, while failing to outline any real alternatives. It’s almost like intentional sabotage, on the parts of GOP operatives and journalists, to break your spirit — albeit for different reasons.
Republicans want to break Democratic voters’ spirit out of a desire for electoral gain, along with an autocratic (and potentially irreversible) power grab.
Democrats acquiesce to allowing THEIR OWN spirits to be broken — again, due to the ineptitude baked into their tendency of believing foregone conclusions.
Can I just say…
Many of you really live in Pity City / BlameGame-ville! Our democracy is teetering on the edge of fascism. Climate change is rearing its ugly head more virulently with each passing day.
Yet, a lot of you can’t seem to scrounge up the energy to do more than bitch about how “we deserve the government we get.”
History Doesn’t Always Repeat Itself
There have been some exceptions to the dreaded “midterm curse.”
In 1998, pundits were expecting Republicans to gain seats in the middle of Bill Clinton’s second term. But tabloid-esque GOP overreach amidst Monicagate resulted in Democrats (the party in control of the White House) picking up five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives while breaking even in the U.S. Senate.
In 2002, the economy worsened in the aftermath of 9/11. “Conventional wisdom” expected Democrats to gain seats in the middle of George W. Bush’s first term. But, then, remember what Bush and the GOP did? They weaponized 9/11 and “patriotism” against Democrats up-and-down the ballot — gaining eight seats in the U.S. House and two seats in the U.S. Senate. They continued that approach well into 2004, even though the economy hadn’t fully recovered yet.
Today, COVID-19 and Ukrainian freedom would be the metaphorical equivalent of 9/11. Republicans are the ones who’ve demonstrated anti-mask, anti-vaccine, pro-Putin “counterpatriotism” here.
Republicans obviously want to use inflation to taint the Democrats…but what policy proposals can the GOP claim it’s putting forth that would actually lower fuel prices and make groceries more affordable?
This is where Democrats can win the “solutions narrative.” But, first, they have to actually TRY.
How the Narrative Can Be Changed
In an open letter on Medium to Democrats, Independents, and Democratic-leaning voters, Ryan Redmond said it succinctly:
Democrats need to break out of the constant cycle of voting once for a president, sitting out the midterms, losing the majority, complaining that our president isn’t doing anything (while ignoring how the House and Senate work), sitting out an election, letting Republicans destroy everything for years, finally voting again, and complain when everything isn’t fixed within a month.
Anna Mercury poses an important question that media pundits don’t want any of us asking: why do we allow political commentary — in other words, opinions and “armchair premonitions” — to shape our choices on what kind of action (and how much of it) we will take?
But, for those of you who are concerned about how Democrats tend to miss opportunities to use slogans effectively as a way of defining their opponents, here’s a starting point from the current DNC chairman, Jaime Harrison:
Last fall, author/lawyer Teri Kanefield blogged about why it’s so inane to allow ourselves to fall into the abyss of defeatism that accompanies the oversaturation of Dystopian Porn:
In an emergency, the last thing you want to do is throw everybody into a panic. Even in the case of airplane accidents, a cool head can save lives. When you send soldiers into battle, you don’t shout at them[,] “It’s all over! The battle is lost! The war is already lost! The other side cheats so effectively that we’re doomed!”
Kanefield reminds us “Don’t say these things can’t be done because it’s hopeless” — and then she provides a list of actionable steps that citizens can take.
Finally, while I’m personally not a fan of James Carville’s overall demeanor and partisan worldview — his recent comments about how Democrats need to “gloat and promote” are dead-on.
As much as I disagree with Carville on a lot of things: when he points out how certain Democrats fall into the trap of being “a whiny party” — I’m nodding and clapping in agreement with Carville, there.
Even when Republicans lost more than forty U.S. House seats to the Democrats during the 2018 midterms — the GOP still picked up a net gain of two U.S. Senate seats, that same year. So “the party in power” isn’t always a reliable indicator of how the voting will go.
Campaign on Common Sense!
Every headline seems to be about how Democrats need to improve their messaging — but with no real suggestions on how to do it better. Well, here are some of my suggestions:
- If you oppose Democratic relief packages to arm the Ukrainians and disempower Putin, then you are one of “Putin’s Puppets”.
- You are a hypocrite if you’re a Republican candidate who opposed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, but you’re now trying to take credit for its passage amongst your constituents.
- Anyone who protests exposing the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrectionists is paving the way for one-party authoritarianism.
- Senate Republicans exhibited shameless racism against Ketanji Brown Jackson during her SCOTUS confirmation hearings, spitting on her high qualifications for the job.
- The overturn of Roe v. Wade sends us down a slippery slope to eliminating Americans’ reproductive freedoms beyond just abortion.
- Florida’s Don’t Say Gay bill (and similar state-level legislation) runs the dire risk of being abused by judges, legislators, or citizens with right-wing sympathies.
- Republicans are the ones setting the stage to give their state legislatures power to overturn federal/state/local election results…for no other reason than their dislike of the voting results unfavorable to them (Amy McGrath is trying to wake people up to this, via upcoming Secretary of State races).
- Congressional Democrats are the ones who’ve actually introduced the most legislation to help farmers; Congressional Republicans want to keep agriculture concentrated in the hands of as few agribusiness giants as possible.
Here are some other pieces I’ve written, about solutions that extend beyond partisan lines; I’d highly encourage Democratic strategists to borrow/steal from my blueprints…
How the upcoming 2023 U.S. Farm Bill can promote fairness, competition, and sustainability amongst America’s farmers/growers/ranchers:
How agriculture can be promoted so the average American begins to care about it, in the first place:
How rising food prices (and bringing them down through free market competition) can be reframed as a national security issue:
How “both sides” can reach common ground on the discourse over Critical Race Theory (or antiracism) controversies:
How abortion restrictions might lead to a slippery slope that harms everyone, even if you individually can’t get pregnant:
How we can stave off electoral coups at every level (federal, state, and local) of government:
Please take note how, when I delve into possible solutions to these contentious issues, there’s almost always something for everyone in the mix.
Enough With the Doomsday Pearl-Clutching!
If you go into election season saying it’s going to be a referendum on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — then it’s going to become a referendum on them. That’s how self-fulfilling prophecies generally work.
So it’s up to us to make it a referendum on the far-Right…and they’re giving us plenty of reasons it make it about them! (with Donald Trump still giddily egging them on)
Instead of hand-wringing about a foregone conclusion that Democrats are going to get annihilated in November — how about reminding voters that…
Food prices will come down when there is more competition and when more diverse food sources (including new agri-tech) are created. Why aren’t Republicans explaining what they’ll put in the 2023 Farm Bill to fix that?
Gas/fuel prices will come down when the free market allows biofuels and clean energy sources to compete directly with Big Oil and Big Gas (hell, even Exxon and Bayer/Monsanto are getting in on the action!) — so why do Republicans insist on letting fossil fuels maintain a monopoly over our energy sector? I thought picking winners and losers was supposed to be the antithesis of capitalism?
We’re only going to get reasonable immigration reform, basic gun safety legislation, sensible dialogue on race relations in classrooms, or national protection on reproductive rights if Republicans stop filibustering these possibilities.
That means electing MORE Democrats to the House and Senate.
The answer to stopping Republican sabotage *isn’t* to elect MORE Republicans to Congress!
And finally, Democrats, remember this…
If you preemptively concede that your base and Independent voters won’t turn out to vote for you…
…then they most certainly won’t see any need to.
