After a slew of losses to the Republican party beginning in 1980 with the election of Reagan and culminating in 1988 with the election of George H.W. Bush, the Democratic party has experienced a major shift in fiscal policy. Self-labeled as a new “third way,” the “new democrats,” represented primarily by political coalitions such as the New Democratic Coalition (NDC) or the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC, who have since dissolved), have taken the Democratic party by storm. After adjusting to white middle class constituency in America the new Democrats have assumed a position of fiscal conservatism that has won them seats across the nation. After the election cycle of 1992, Democrats held majorities in each house of Congress and controlled the presidency- a first since the 1970’s thanks to the rise of new democrats. The election of DLC poster boy Bill Clinton served as the most potent factor in cementing conservative power within the Democratic party. Ever since, despite that official membership in the NDC places them as a minority within the Democratic party, the party has been dominated by conservative fiscal policy very similar to the most moderate faction of Republican legislators.
The rise of fiscal “centrism” in the Democratic Party should concern liberal voters. One of the most alarming developments that has occurred is the bi-partisan acceptance of big money. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan Washington group whose job is to track political spending, Republican Super-PAC’s spent 1.75 Billion on campaigns and Democratic Super PAC’s spent 1.64 Billion, a $40 million dollar increase over the past election cycle. While the numbers appear even it has been the Democrats that have truly increased their embrace of dark money and wall street- the Republican party have been stewing in anonymous billionaire sourced funding for years. The effects of this are devastating to the average person.
In a recent study based on 1,800 different policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, Princeton Professor Martin Gilens and Northwestern professor Benjamin Page concluded that America no longer functions as a Democracy, but as an Oligarchy, which is ruled by the elites. They found that regardless of which party was in power, government actors almost always ignored public opinion if it ran counter to Wall Street, or the interests of the wealthy. Initiatives supported by anywhere between 51%-85% of Americans passed through unabated only on the occasion they were also supported by moneyed interests. This is not Marxist rhetoric. This is simply recognizing that a capitalist democracy no longer functions as a capitalist democracy.
Paige and Gilen’s study represents a straightforward trend: money talks, people do not. As big money in politics has risen voter turnout has remained low, particularly in poverty stricken communities. Two-thirds of the general population did not vote in the most recent election. Many within the liberal political community blame voters for lassitude and ignorance without considering the fundamental dissatisfaction brewing in the lowest ranks. To take the time to vote requires incentive. Government trust, according to the Pew Research Center, is at an all time low of 18%, down from 73% in the 1950’s. Issues such as government trust and backroom political deals remain partisan issues. Poverty naturally breeds a greater sensitivity to government corruption. Unrestricted campaign finance breeds backroom dealing and enforces the same sense of total powerlessness that corruption creates. If the Democrats cannot retain any confidence with the majority of their voters then they will continue to lose elections to Republicans who thrive on low voter turnout. Instead of embracing dark money and fiscal policies rivaling their conservative counterparts, the liberal party of America needs to take the first step towards reviving popular opinion in government. As previously liberal electorates become beholden to elite donors, issues such as instituting a more progressive tax structure will be placed on the backburner. As big name democratic front-runners, such as Hillary Clinton and Andrew Cuomo, ramp up their public figures for upcoming political moves, any remaining scraps of their liberal skin will be shed in favor of a pragmatic political formula, that includes familiar watered down rhetoric on job growth and industrial expansion. Poor and minority voters will continue to disregard the vote, and American democracy will continue to be dysfunctional.