The Real Threat to a 2020 Democratic Party Victory is the DNC

I’m still reading a lot of “Democrats need to appeal to centrists” articles. I think they’re wrong.

For one thing, Sanders is a New Deal social democrat, not a socialist. He’s not talking about nationalizing industries or giving workers control over the means of production. He’s not even talking about ending American Exceptionalism in foreign policy. Medicare for All, his most ambitious proposal, is merely an extension of an existing program that Americans like. It’s a big extension, but it’s not a radically new proposal.

That Sanders is considered radical instead of merely liberal speaks volumes about the success of American propaganda and the poor quality of our political discourse. Our education system, the media, and both political parties relentlessly propagandize for American Exceptionalism, for the myth of rugged individualism vs. communal flourishing, and for the neoliberal market system, which commodifies everything, including human beings, and offers them for sale*. Sanders isn’t seeking to change any of that; he is merely attempting to smooth the rough edges of a brutal system.

Chris Matthews’ pathetic performance on his show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, last week illustrates the success of American propaganda while it not so subtly reinforced it. Matthews plaintively mused that if Sanders were elected president there will be public executions in New York’s Central Park and that he, Chris Matthews, will be one of Sanders’ victims.

Sorry, Chris, but that’s a poor, red-baiting prophecy. Democratic socialists don’t execute people, but capitalism-loving fascists do, so you might want to shift your concern to the ever more problematic reelection of Trump and the continued Republican Party majority in the Senate.

As far as the election itself is concerned: (1) Recent studies show that only about 5 percent of voters are swing voters. Watering down proposals in the hope of capturing one or two percent of these voters risks alienating the Democratic Party’s base. An enthusiastic base is more likely to turn up in greater numbers than swing voters on election day. (2) In 2016, Trump ran an “energize the base” campaign and won the electoral college; he did not appeal to swing voters. Bush Jr. did the same in 2004. (3) Clinton attempted hold the Obama coalition together but failed. Her appeal to swing voters failed, and the Democratic base in at least three important electoral college states were not enthusiastic about her and stayed home. (4) The biggest theoretical danger of appealing to your base is that it energizes the other side’s base. I say theoretical, because that did not happen in in 2004 or 2016. The Democratic Party’s base did not respond to Trump or Bush by turning out in overwhelming numbers for lackluster Democratic centrists.

Establishment Democrats like Chris Matthew and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) are the real threat to a 2020 Democratic Party victory. They are not presenting an argument of fact but of emotion and privilege. They are seeking to preserve their own power and to please their base, which is composed of Wall Street financiers and corporate barons.

Don’t fall for it.

*The “free” market, which requires government action to even exist, isn’t free or disinterested; rather, it is controlled by corporations, which seek to maintain information disparity between themselves and consumers, because, although it’s contrary to the principles of free markets, it allows corporations to charge higher prices. Corporations also work to reduce or eliminate competition, another violation of free market principle. And corporations evade, whenever possible, the cost of externalities, like pollution or birth defects, shifting the burden of negative corporate behavior onto individuals or the government. American propaganda — in education and in the media — then conflates this “free” market myth with personal and political freedom, because that reduces the threat that Americans will change the system.

Democratic socialists seek to break up this corporate love fest by decentralizing economic and political power. Corporations are bastions of authoritarianism, and democratic socialists will devolve power away from capitalists and the government toward workers.

Why shouldn’t the workers make production decisions, since they will experience the positive or negative effects of them? Why should the benefits of increased productivity flow out of communities and toward anonymous shareholders, who merely own stock? Most stock sales are between individuals and institution and, after an IPO, don’t benefit companies or their workers.

Fossil fuels are the big exception to the “no nationalization” mantra of democratic socialists. The exigencies of climate change will force the government to nationalize fossil fuel companies to: (1) Stop the damage companies are causing to the environment by quickly ending most production. (2) Provide institutional support for the cost of the draw down. Fossil fuel companies threaten human lives and human civilization, so extreme action is warranted.