Find common ground

A preening pose of social justice warrior along with excessive virtue signaling is not a winning stance for Democrats. Additionally, political science research indicates that when nations are struggling with significant stress such as a pandemic and its economic fallout, voters tend to drift in a more conservative political direction.

With democracy imperiled, Democrats need a clear-eyed focus on winning elections by listening more carefully to the stories and sensitivities of all Americans rather than just their deep-blue districts. Echoing the messaging from some of those districts, (e.g., defund the police) potentially carries a cost to fellow Democrats and thus possibly to our fragile democracy. Hyper “wokeness” is not a political virtue to the extent that it scares away independent voters and supercharges the far right.

Progressives’ deep concern with the plight of the disadvantaged is certainly admirable. However, at a time when our democracy is under siege, Democrats as a party should ponder whether they have the wit and wherewithal to win a battle with the back-alley street fighters in the Republican Party. Cohesive, smart and effective messaging has never mattered more.

Polling suggests that Democrats are heading toward slaughter in the midterm elections. Unless the sociological intricacies of the culture-war battlefield are better understood, they will continue to be out-maneuvered. If Donald Trump is elected in 2024, desperately dark days will follow. Even the most harmless appearance of disloyalty to the former president can result in death threats.

How can we call a nation exceptional when such vile, un-Christian acts of intimidation, sometimes aimed at a politician’s family, are tolerated?

Unless we want to live in a nation of meanness, death threats and hate, each of us must play a role in rebuilding common ground and norms of respectful discourse with all our fellow Americans.

JERRY HENDERSON

Little Rock