The Left Eats Its Own
Opinion by Michael Goldsmith
As liberals turn their focus away from soon to be ex-President Donald Trump, it’s only a matter of time before they go back to doing what they’re best at: attacking each other using Republican talking points, alienating potential allies, and taking their eyes off the prize of effecting substantive and lasting political change.
While Democrats managed to take back the White House, they lost numerous races in the House of Representatives just two years after their 40-seat “Blue Tsunami” of 2018. They also dramatically underperformed in key Senate races across the country, with the two Georgia runoff elections being their last hope of regaining a majority. How was it that Democratic congressional candidates across the country did so poorly, while President-elect Joe Biden easily coasted to victory by turning traditionally red states like Georgia and Arizona blue?
Part of it’s simple — because Biden represented what most Americans want, a practical moderate who intends to find common ground. It also didn’t hurt that he ran against a once-in-a-lifetime political lighting rod who never succeeded in gaining the approval of a majority of Americans. As the Jan. 20 inauguration nears, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have already begun to feel the heat from some on the left.
One of the defining characteristics of adults is the ability to choose the best of two or more imperfect options. It’s great to have lofty political goals, but if you can’t get a majority of Americans and Congress to go along, it ends up amounting to nothing more than a pipe dream. President Barack Obama didn’t hold out for a perfect healthcare plan that was never going to get passed into law — he accepted reality, compromised, and allowed tens of millions of uninsured Americans to gain healthcare coverage, along with protecting over 100 million Americans with preexisting conditions.
Obama was a profoundly un-woke political realist who focused on setting and achieving obtainable goals. Like Biden and Harris, he continually evolved as a person during his time in politics, including when it came to policy issues like same-sex marriage, climate change, and foreign intervention.
Contrary to the “alternative facts” bubbles on social media, a majority of Americans are political centrists. Even far-left progressives and far-right conservatives still adhere to basic principles like compromise and free elections. The major political problem in America today is radical extremists who would rather burn down the system than not get their way.
Radicals on the right include anti-government militants, totalitarian religious groups, and the cultish portion of Trump-sters. On the left these extremists take the form of anti-government anarchists, nihilists, and the self-appointed Woke-ster clergy. None of these people accurately represent real-world America.
These radicalized corners of American politics share many fundamental values. They look at people who disagree with them politically as the enemy. They maintain a victimhood mentality. They lump entire sections of society into monolithic groups, who they then stereotype and demonize. They make excuses for violence and criminal behavior perpetrated by those they deem social or political allies. They whine about politics being “rigged” when elections don’t go their way. And most of all, they love putting their feelings over facts while diving head-first into conspiracy theories and safe-space information silos.
One key difference between these two groups is voting. The radical right generally votes for political candidates who have a chance of winning, while the radical left always finds a reason not too. You don’t have to dig through the dusty pages of history to understand this — just flashback four years ago to the 2016 election.
Trump represented much of what the political right has been crying about for decades — a lazy coastal elitist who mooches off the system as he thumbs his nose down at working-class people. Yet once it looked like he was their best bet to win, you couldn’t keep them off the Trump Train. The reason was simple: political power, and the ability to effect substantive and long-lasting change.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell made a historic political bet when he stole a Supreme Court seat from Obama, using it as coercion for the political right’s vote. That bet has paid off in three Supreme Court Justices over the last four years. While many liberals were busy using Republican talking points to smear the horrible email lady as the “lesser-of-two-evils”, those on the right stayed focused on consolidating political power for decades to come.
The lessons of recent past are there for the political left to learn, but they won’t. Try listening to what a majority of Americans want, not the Trumpsters, Wokesters, or Russian bots. Don’t allow yourself to be boxed in by extremists on either end of the political spectrum, especially pundits and propagandists who make their living off of triggering the sheep. Enact common sense policy decisions that address the basic needs of the American people. You know, govern.
The next four years will be a fascinating experiment for America’s political left. The question remains whether they rise to meet the moment, or stay true to their cannibalistic roots.
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