To preface this (because some DK’s aren’t reading before making comments), this is a question regarding a new caucus, not a new party. We were approached regarding a new party but are advocating for an approach that involves a new caucus.
I work for a firm that does work for several small tech companies with connections to bigger key players in Silicon Valley. These are people you’d probably know, but I can’t discuss specifics. After the 2016 election, we were alerted to a potential project being discussed by these Silicon Valley entities that would focus on voter outreach, non-partisan issue education, and data collection… all with the goal of eventually starting a new political party that would blend the Progressive vision of Bernie Sanders with some of the libertarian views of Silicon Valley regarding the inadequacy of some modern economic regulations. Think Elon Musk but a bit more liberal. I’m not sure they really understood how these value systems would be reconciled except perhaps that it might embrace a new focus on Federalism, and as such may take a more hands-off approach to issues like abortion rights and gun control. We got the sense as well that charter schools might not be anathema.
And yes, I don’t like the sound of some of that either… so I’m here to see what people think.
There was very very big money being discussed. These people are horrified by the current state of the GOP Congress and the White House, but don’t believe the Democratic party can convince enough Americans to win elections in a sustainable way. They believe their branding is too compromised and too many rural Americans have convinced themselves that Democrats are just as bad as Republicans. They agree it’s absurd, but they also probably believe that much of rural America is absurd too (when it comes to politics).
The question we had for the team discussing this was whether they really believed they wanted to start a 3rd party or whether instead they were open to the idea of creating a new “caucus” that would run candidates in both the Democratic and Republican parties in an attempt to bring reasonable behavior and cooperation back to government (primarily from the GOP of course). This seemed to be on the table.
My question for the DailyKos community is whether this is something that holds any interest, and if so, how could we start to shape such an enterprise in a way that it wouldn’t damage the Democrats’ chances in upcoming elections.
For myself, I’ve come to the belief that due to the pendulum effect and the cyclical nature of our two-party democracy, combined with lag between evolution in the cities vs in rural areas… it will be impossible for key economic generators in our country to make the kinds of progress we’ll need to compete with up and coming global powers. Put shortly, we’re being held back by red areas of the country, who are at war with American values and the idea of progress itself. This is a cultural war that I don’t think can be resolved, and certainly not in time to allow liberal areas of the country to save themselves.
I no longer believe we can all move forward together “as a country.” This was only possible in the past via pure brute force from the cities. We no longer have that. The U.S. is too large, too divided, and too many concepts that slow progress are baked into our Constitution in such a way that it’s too easy for Conservatives to dismantle our policies even once we institute them.
So, my view begins with this: Bernie is the future. In the short term, both the Democratic party and the Republican party are highly compromised as “brands.” I don’t think it’s a good idea to waste time, effort, and money starting a new political party, but I do think that a new big tent caucus could do quite a bit to change the current political equation.
One concept could be to consider a new type of Progressive+Federalist coalition in Congress that offers a new deal to the American people, runs its own candidates in both parties, and offers some hope of functional and rational governance to all Americans regardless of party preference.
I’m not interested in embracing the concept of Libertarianism, but I do wonder if a more Federalist approach (ie state control) could be the best short to midterm strategy towards convincing Americans that progress isn’t a dirty word. We need to build models for what a Progressive vision of the future looks like. These models need to be tested in an American mold. It doesn’t work to point to Europe. Americans resent that by definition. We need to point to an American state where our new Progressive proposals are tested and have been successful. I’m thinking of things like single payer healthcare in California, New York, and/or Illinois (ie the states with the largest cities). I’m thinking of things like environmental regulations, a focus on green energy, and creating the new economy of the 21st Century.
I’ve also come to believe that accessible abortion rights have been so degraded in red areas that for many women they’re already essentially nonexistent. In the short term therefore, I wonder if this is an issue that needs to be rethought from a Federalist perspective, until we have some of these Progressive models to point to and our culture has evolved to the point where these issues aren’t consistently losing us elections. I hate the idea of doing this, but taking abortion rights off the table as a wedge issue could in the short term allow progress in other key areas. I understand that for most Progressives (including myself) stepping back from abortion rights in red states is a non-starter. And for the Democratic party, this could remain true. But for this new caucus, maybe it’s not an issue we focus on. Additionally, gun restrictions could be carved out of the platform for this new caucus. I just don’t feel like we’re making the kind of progress on these two issues that’s required to justify them holding us up on all the other things we need to be doing: regulating the wealthy, preventing corporate control of our government… ie the Bernie issues.
I think there could be an opportunity for a new group to consolidate the disenchanted Trump and Bernie voters as Republicans and Democrats circle their wagons around their establishment (which is what I think will happen after the GOP/Trump failure to govern over the next few years). This new group would be composed very much of people like Bernie who identify with a party but probably hyphenate it with an independent signifier. Merely from a marketing standpoint, I think this is a strong position to be in going forward. The new caucus could run their own presidential candidates from within the two parties. There could even be a bipartisan agreement to choose a VP from the opposing party but from within this caucus.
So, what do people think? There’s potentially billions of dollars on the table as well as an unstoppable data collection infrastructure for this enterprise, but it needs grassroots activists to provide some direction and common sense.
Is this worth pursuing? Or is it better to ignore these calls from Silicon Valley and attempt to corral them into the establishment Democratic party progressive caucuses simply because there’s no other option? If it’s the latter, they may not be interested in the kind of investment of energy and money that was being discussed. Being Silicon Valley, these people are quite Progressive on most issues, but they’re also highly pragmatic and highly iconoclastic… ie not all of the interested parties are devoted Democrats and most think of themselves as independents. Bernie touched their hearts and minds, but they don’t believe a “new Bernie” can emerge from the Democratic party as a devoted Democrat given the taint they perceive in the party from a branding standpoint.
Just putting this out there. Thoughts?