To Democrats: Don’t be the stupid party

My dad was one of four children, all of them Republicans. By the time

I was old enough to pay attention to political discussions around the Thanksgiving table, they had spread out along the range from moderate to conservative (for context, this was the early 1990s, the GOP looked a lot different then).

I distinctly remember one uncle — the most conservative of the siblings — calling the GOP the “stupid party.” His lamentation was not about the intellectual abilities of the party or the fitness of their ideals. It was because whenever the GOP found itself in a position of relative power, it squandered the opportunity and ran down some rabbit hole that did not serve conservatism and about which the electorate ultimately did not care.

This month’s election defied conventional wisdom, historic trends, and the predictions of many. It should have been a red wave. Here in Pennsylvania, the red wave appears to have happened during a falling tide. Open seats for Governor and U.S. Senate went to Democrats, Pennsylvania will send more Democrats than Republicans to the U.S. House, and the state House has flipped blue.

There are plenty of people out there writing premature autopsies of the GOP, blaming election denialism and Donald Trump. Now that Donald Trump has officially announced he is running again, there will be uncountable words said about how this will hamper the GOP. (Yes, I may write a piece or two to that effect over the coming…brace yourself…two years.)

But what I want to say right now is this: Dear Democrats, please do not be the stupid party.

Biden’s first two years in office, with Democrats in control of Congress, have yielded some major accomplishments: for example, the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and the White House’s careful crafting of multinational support for Ukraine. All of these enjoy the approval of large majorities of Americans.

Voters rejected election denialism and the politics of grievance, and returned most of those involved in making the accomplishments of the last two years happen. But the hard work is not over, and settling into a two-year long tit for tat with Trump would be a mistake.

The economy — and in particular inflation — was heavily cited by voters as a major issue in the 2022 elections. Since inflation is a supply-and-demand problem, the party will need to use the tools that are available to it to boost productivity. Increased availability of childcare will help workers be more productive. Increased investment in American industries will streamline supply chains and make us less reliant on imports from countries whose regimes may not be reliable, longterm partners.

More than that, while the unemployment rate is only 3.7% in the U.S., the unemployment rate for minorities is much higher, with Black and African-American people experiencing unemployment at a rate of 8.6%. There are ways we can help close this gap, like better enforcement of existing anti-discrimination laws and increasing support for unions.

Another major driver in this election was the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, a decision with which only 13% of Americans agree. Without control of the U.S. House or the Pennsylvania state Senate, Democrats will find it hard to enact legislation encoding abortion rights, but wherever they have power, they should use that power to put forth undiluted legislation to codify this right and put every sitting legislator on the record for where they stand.

Crime was also heavy on the minds of voters. Crime has risen in cities, suburbs, and rural areas alike, and the rises are pretty equally in both “blue” and “red” areas. Part of the increase in crime is tied to the ongoing effects of the opioid epidemic, part of it the pandemic, some of it could be curtailed with better gun regulation. It is an overwhelmingly complex problem that affects different parts of the country, and different people within each community, differently.

But we all know — and studies confirm — that increased opportunity leads to decreased crime. This would be a great moment to show underserved communities — rural and urban alike — that they matter between election cycles, too.

Remember, those that voted for you were not looking for marriage, they were looking for someone going their way. So long as you remain the candidates that get them closest to their destination, you won’t have to worry about being the stupid party.

Will Wood is a small business owner, veteran, and half-decent runner. He lives, works, and writes in West Chester.