With the rather large exception of the White House, these are dark days for the Democratic Party. The 2014 election left the party with 188 seats in the House of Representatives, its lowest count since the Truman administration. Their 46 seats in the Senate put them almost at their Bush administration nadir in that body. They totally control the governments of ten states – by having both halves of the legislature and the governor or having supermajorities in the legislature to overrule the governor – whereas Republicans control a whopping 23. Even if Democrats hold on to the White House in 2016, and even retake the Senate, winning back the House would take a miracle.
All of this has sparked debate as to how doomed the party really is. Are Democrats caught in a doom loop that ensures long-term decline? Or is there nothing wrong with the party that a loss in a presidential election, and ensuing gains in Congress and states, couldn’t fix?
After reviewing the numbers, and talking to some political scientists doing research on related issues, I think pessimists are too pessimistic, but they also have a point. A Democratic recovery is possible, but it’ll take a while. And America’s increasing racial diversity – which is usually seen as the Democrats’ ace in the hole – may not necessarily help.
To read more of Dylan Matthews’ story in Vox click here.
Don’t underestimate the ability of Trump, Rubio (corrupt), or Cruz (Castro double agent by his own standards and utterings about immigrants) to do what the Democrats couldn’t do themselves.
The entire two party system was doomed with the arrival of the Supreme Court Decision in “Citizens United” that equates purchased speech with free speech. Who needs a political party any longer when you can now directly purchase all the political influence you can afford by simply maintaining a facade of separation from the elected officials you will “educate” the public to love or hate.
Want to see the new reality at work in Alaska? Look no further than the birth last week of “One Alaska” a PAC (Political Action Committee) that under federal law can raise money in secret. This is nothing but a blatant effort to persuade the Legislature and Governor to make sure that nothing bad happens to the PAC members which could include both corporations and the unions very dependant on maintaining current levels of State spending and very interested in using the earnings of the Permanent Fund for that purpose now. You can bet “One Alaska” will be bending the ears of the willing and unwilling in Juneau using either a carrot or a stick and political party makes no difference.
Go ahead you Alaskans so proud of your “R” or “D” on your voter registration. The PAC members depend on you staying the course and actually thinking your party membership means a thing any longer so they can play you off against each other as necessary.