From across the Atlantic, gulf dividing Democrats appears to be a wide one
Sara Innamorato wants health care for all. Joe Biden does not. She wants to decriminalize the border and said “welcome” to those immigrants crossing illegally. Mr. Biden said, “It’s a crime.”
It’s hard to believe, but these two people claim to be in the same political party. Ms. Innamorato sits with the Democrats state Legislature. Mr. Biden, the former vicepresident, wants to run against President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. If he does so, Ms. Innamorato would have to support him. Imagining herself smiling in front of a “Biden for president poster” leads to a very clear reaction: She breathes a long sigh and said: “It will be really hard”
You could say the Democratic Party prizes a huge variety of opinions. Or you could say: The Democrats are split. Watching the debates of their candidates for the presidential election attacking each other more than Mr. Trump, it seems, that the gulf dividing them is huge. At least that’s what it looks like from an European angle, or to be more concrete, from Germany.
Sometimes it clears the vision to take a step back. So looking at the United States through the eyes of a European there arises a thought: Maybe Mr. Biden and Ms. Innamorato shouldn’t be in the same party. Maybe a party system, where a voter’s choice basically is limited to only two parties, is not adequate anymore for a society getting more diverse and polarized. Catch-it-all parties like the Democrats have a hard time these days, not only in the U.S. But in other countries with a multi-party system like Germany, people have other options. In the U.S. they don’t.
It almost seems a little absurd: The U.S. embraces competition and freedom of choice almost like no other nation. In supermarkets people can choose between a hundred different types of toothpaste — but when it comes to politics there are just two options. And this in times where the country and the two major parties are splintered
like they haven’t been in a long time. How can that work?
Ursula Münch knows both sides of the Atlantic. The political scientist from Germany did research in the U.S., published books on American politics and now is head of a political academy in Munich. At first Ms. Münch does what scientists often do: She warns not to compare apples and oranges. What seems alarming in Germany can be totally fine in the U.S. The system in Germany requires parties to vote united in parliament. In the U.S. the need for congressmen and women of the same party to act conjunct is not as huge. So them being divided must not be as precarious as in Germany, said Ms. Münch. But: Yes, there is reason to worry as “the separation especially in the Democratic Party has never been as extreme as now,” she said. She can only think of one time when it was similar: In the 60’s, when Democrats from the North and the South almost split over Civil Rights issues. Back then for the first time, the Democrats were divided because of ideology. Now they are again.
Tough compromises
The difficulty with ideological disputes is that compromise is quite hard. Ms. Innamorato, for instance, said about health care for all: “We can’t keep doing what we did. It will cost people their lives.” How can you compromise on a matter of live and death? The same applies to immigration policy. How can you compromise on questions of human rights? On top of the ideological division comes another one, said Ms. Münch: the division between the Rust Belt and Sun Belt regions. In Germany richer states transfer money to poorer states, so even though the differences are not gone, they are better balanced than in the US where such a system isn’t as advanced.
So politics are more divided in the U.S., but the possibilities to reflect these differences in the political system are less. In Germany, it’s not unusual that new parties emerge and actually will have a say in politics some day. The best example are the Greens. They formed in 1980, were part of the government in 2011 and now polls show the best results they have ever had.
“In Germany we can copy social milieus better,” Ms. Münch said. It’s an “advantage,” that the Americans seem to find attractive. According to a 2018 voter survey from the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group, 68% of Americans say a third party is needed. It’s the highest popularity in 20 years. According to Ms. Münch, this wish will never come true as the constitutional hurdles to change the election system are too high. It seems that Americans have to live with their two-party system and the consequences.
“Either you vote one of the two parties or your vote is for the garbage can. Of course frustration is incredibly high,” Ms. Münch said. For her that’s one of the reasons why voter participation is so low in the U.S. Frustration also gets fed by the fact that a party like the Democrats can never please everyone. Either the moderates or the liberals will be disappointed. That leads to the infinite compromise. Voters want a clear position. There are few things that annoy people more than a politician that never makes a clear point, but tiptoes around it. At least that’s what recent events in Germany imply. One of the main reasons why the popularity of the Greens has skyrocketed is: They speak their mind. That’s why liberals like Ms. Innamorato argue against a “middle of the road approach”. As a Democratic candidate “it’s your job to be a leader, not to be liked and please everyone,” she said. Being a supporter of party leftwing candidates like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., or Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Political scientist Ms. Münch disagrees.
She said it makes it shake her head thinking of “how Democrats right now just pass by the main orientation of the voters. Nominating a woman from the left wing belonging to the elite is not the smartest thing to challenge Trump.” While Ms. Innamorato sees the largest opportunity for the Democrats in the group of nonvoters, Ms. Münch said: “Addressing minorities does not help as they often do not vote.” Saying this she points to another disadvantage of the US system: There is no real party leader. In Germany every party has a strong figure on the top (of course voted democratically). “That is what the Democrats could need right now. A person in a powerful position in the party preventing them from going further in the wrong direction.”
There’s another aspect, the two disagree on: Ms.Innamorato still has hope, that the Democrats could overcome their division. She suggests they concentrate on the basic needs of working people like housing or health: Ms. Münch on the other hand said: “What unites the Democrats is their common enemy — Trump.” Her vision for the future is not that pleasant: Democrats will polarize even more without Trump, she said, and people could get more and more frustrated not having another option for which to vote.