Sane Democrats know that the party can't keep running on outrageous, rabidly radical issues that cause most Americans to recoil in horror from anyone who advocates for them.
Even Democrats who don't much object to medical transitioning children, or DEI initiatives, or Bernie Sanders' idea of "economic fairness" talk about "moderating the message" around election time. The raw, unhinged radicalism of national Democrats, embodied in what "inside the beltway" Democrats refer to as "The Groups," now dominates the party to a degree rarely seen in American politics.
Both parties have "litmus tests" and "no-go" positions on issues, but Democrats embrace them to the point that candidates need a scorecard to make sure they're not offending any interest groups. And since The Groups are universally more radical than the average American voter, it's a snap to portray Democrats as crazy radicals out to put your boy child in a dress and force your girl child to shower with transgender anatomically correct un-girls.
Democrats can't escape this "radical overdrive" if they expect to get money and support from The Groups to run a competitive campaign. And the nexus of influence for The Groups is at the granular level of politics: state and local government.
Progressive groups exercise growing leverage over primary elections and supply ready-made legislation drawn from think tanks and, increasingly, directly from the Democratic Socialists of America platform. Over time, this dynamic has produced a steady leftward shift in major Democratic strongholds. The policies that follow are often ambitious and coherent in ideological terms, but insufficiently grounded in political and economic reality. The visible consequences of these local governing decisions—including rising crime and homelessness, fiscal strain and governance mismanagement—now shape how many voters perceive the Democratic Party as a whole. The party’s current national brand problem does not arise from their actions in Washington, but from the bad outcomes in cities and states where Democrats hold power.
I've written previously about the "Interest Group Questionnaire Industrial Complex," in which Democratic candidates are forced to fill out 20-30-page questionnaires from several major interest groups, with dozens of "litmus test issues" that determine whether they receive that group's support.
“They all have their own niche questionnaires, some of which are so broad as to be almost absurd, 20 to 30 pages of questions that don’t always have anything to do with their actual issue focus," said Rohan Patel, co-founder of Majority Democrats.
Patel noted that the transgender question was “one of about 20 questions that were absolutely deranged.”
Not only do candidates need to answer the questions "correctly," but there are other requirements that must be met before the interest group opens its wallet to fund their campaign, writes Alicia Nieves, a former campaign worker for Democrats in Texas. The candidate must include the organizational logos of interest groups on the campaign’s website and display their form endorsement on social media channels. In many instances, proudly displaying allegiance to LGBTQ groups is a campaign death sentence.
It's even a bigger problem at the state level.
When I later worked inside the state legislature as a staff member for the House minority leader, the power of progressive groups was even clearer. Teachers’ unions worked to make sure Democratic members who supported charter schools remained on the periphery of the party’s decision-making. They were also vigilant to ensure that no member broke ranks to support the governor’s school voucher program proposal. On socially divisive issues such as abortion, immigration, gun control, and criminal justice, progressive groups expected unwavering opposition to Republican proposals. Members were unable to vote in ways that reflected the diversity of viewpoints of their constituents. Their dependence on progressive groups also atrophied their ability to engage in independent thought and policymaking on less controversial issues, like fiscal policy and strengthening the state’s electric grid.
The Groups have Democrats in a vice grip, unwilling to moderate even to win elections. These activists would rather lose and go down with their pride flag waving in the breeze than compromise one iota.
And they're taking the Democratic Party down with them.
Related: We Will Be Paying the Cost of 'The Great Awokening' for Generations
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