Civil War Within the Democratic Party?
Michael Barone posted a piece this morning on a subject that you will not find explored anytime soon in The New York Times or on MSNBC or CNN. In it, he looks at the recent primaries in New York, Maryland, and Washington, DC, and what he notices is this. In all three places, the public-sector unions – intent on keeping civil-service salaries and pensions high and accountability low – have won primary victories that set them at odds with what we, with an eye to yesteryear, might call “the limousine liberals” – the well-to-do who have swelled the ranks of the Democratic Party in recent years, the folks who pay high taxes and want excellent service for themselves and for the rest of us in return.
To his analysis, one might want to add this. In 2004 and 2008, the Democratic Party scored dramatic victories in areas populated almost exclusively by the filthy rich. Right now, the leaders of that party are insisting that it is both necessary and just that the taxes of those who invest in dividend-paying stocks and who take in more than $250,000 a year be jacked up dramatically. My bet is that the coalition that brings together African-Americans of all sorts, other Americans dependent on government largesse, the public-sector unions, and the affluent cannot be sustained – not, at least, in a time of slow growth and massive unemployment.
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May '10
Re: Civil War Within the Democratic Party?
As strongly as most conservative voters consider this November a unique election, I suspect that voters of the Left also perceive the present political climate as special... if for no other reason than the drama among their political opponents is forcing Lefties to be more attentive to politics and reflect on the current situation. If so, it seems logical that a shift in the Democratic Party's voting and representation is likely.
What form that change will take is beyond me. But the current administration has certainly given more to labor unions and middle income Americans (house subsidies, "Cash for Clunkers", etc) than to its wealthiest supporters.
Unions were never friendly to stockholders, and yet many rich people stuck with Democrats. The difference now is in how directly the rich are being singled out. A lot might depend on what loopholes Democrats provide for their wealthy supporters.
Jun '10
Re: Civil War Within the Democratic Party?
I'm skeptical about defections in large numbers of the filthy rich from Democrat coalitions, despite Mr. Barone's voting analysis of gentry liberals.
As Aaron Miller noted, the rich feel there is usually a way to avoid higher taxes, and they have the advisers and resources to make it happen. John Kerry's yacht is a great example of this.
More importantly the Left gives the rich a moral system complete with a sense of cause and an absolution of sin. Harry Reid can be forgiven for his racial remarks because he's part of the cause. Even a drunk and a moral coward like Ted Kennedy can be hailed as "The Lion of the Senate". This is something on a spiritual level that the Republicans can't offer. Nor should any political party, but that's the way things are progressing.
Aug '10
Re: Civil War Within the Democratic Party?
One more sign? When dozen or more House Dems voted against ObamaCare last year, the HuffPo and other Regime Media organs threatened them with Armageddon at the polling booth come November.
Well, it turns out all of them are safe now, and it's the ones who voted 'yes' that are standing in deep effluvium.
Jun '10
Re: Civil War Within the Democratic Party?
It will be interesting to see how "tax the rich" works leading up to 2012. I think many of the "wealthy" democrats consider it a necessary and willing sacrifice to pay more in taxes (besides, they know how to shelter their earnings from taxes anyway...). They are even more self-congratulatory in their vote, especially because they think it is going to help the country.
Over the next 2-6 years, when they discover that, even with all of their sacrifices, those areas of the economy that the government "fixed" the most are the most stagnant and dependent on government infusions, and their own sacrifices seem to have been for naught, the idea of self-sacrifice is going to lose its appeal.
They are going to recognize that they have been suckers, and that the government has been siphoning their wealth and sanction into increasing bureacracy, control, and soft despotism / liberal fascism...
A guy can dream can't he?