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Is there a future for the Democrats?

The American Democrats have chosen a new chairman, Obama’s labour secretary, Thomas Perez

By: EBR - Posted: Tuesday, February 28, 2017

What is the Democrats future? It’s urgent that the party stops squabbling and recognise a few fundamental truths. If the party doesn’t understand these truths and fail to do what’s needed, a third party will emerge to fill the void.
What is the Democrats future? It’s urgent that the party stops squabbling and recognise a few fundamental truths. If the party doesn’t understand these truths and fail to do what’s needed, a third party will emerge to fill the void.

by Hans Izaak Kriek*

He is the first Latino chair of the Democratic National Committee, DNC. It was a battle between him and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.). The last one is more progressive than Perez and got the support of Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), the opponent of Hillary Clinton. 

Perez and Ellison have different views how the Democrats must change the course of the party and have also different ideas about the process of the party to implement unified opposition against Donald Trump. According to Reuters, Perez said: "I hope that the Democratic Party can regroup itself after the defeat in the presidential election by the trust not from Washington, but to rebuild it from the grassroots. We're facing a crisis of confidence, a crisis relevance."The question is of Perez has enough charisma to bring his party back on track. in charge. Does the party anyhow have a future?

The win by Obama's labour secretary marked a defeat for the progressives, who had rallied behind Rep. Keith Ellison during a contentious party meeting in Atlanta. The race was close enough that it required a second round of balloting, with Perez as a winner. With tensions still high as a result was announced, some Ellison supporters shouted: "Party for the people, not big money" and stormed out of the room. On stage, Perez gave Ellison the symbolic role of deputy party chair, and the Minnesota congressman gave a short speech asking his supporters to stay with the party and avoid recriminations. Trump responded to the election by simultaneously congratulating and belittling Perez in a tweet: "I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party."

What is the Democrats future? It's urgent that the party stops squabbling and recognise a few fundamental truths. If the party doesn't understand these truths and fail to do what's needed, a third party will emerge to fill the void. 

The Democratic Party is on life support. Democrats are in the minority in both the House and Senate, with no end in sight. Since the start of the Obama administration, they have lost 1,034 state and federal seats. They hold less governorships than the Republicans and face 32 state legislatures entirely under GOP control. No one speaks for the party as a whole. The party's top leaders are aging, and the back bench is thin.

The future is bleak unless the party radically reforms itself. If Republicans do well in in the 2018 midterm elections, they will control Congress and the Supreme Court for many more years. If they continue to hold most statehouses, they could entrench themselves for a generation.

We are now in a populist era. The strongest and most powerful force in American politics is a rejection of the status quo, a repudiation of politics as usual and a deep and profound distrust of elites, including the current power structure of America. Bernie Sanders primary campaign represented the progressive side. How will Perez, the newly chosen chairman act in future? It seems he isn't liberal enough. The question hovering over America's future is which form of populism will ultimately prevail.

What's the quickest way back to relevancy? What I think is, the Democratic Party must win governor races in 2018. 

That would at least give them veto power over post-2020 Republican-drawn maps and, in the worst-case, kick it to the courts. But governor’s races aren't the sexiest in politics; although it's hard to overstate how important these elections will be. They won't just chart the future of their states; they also may determine whether Democrats can get back on their feet in Congress and in the major state legislatures at any point in the next 15 years. Democrats estimate they could pick up as many as 10 or more seats in the House of Representatives if they can have a say in post-2020 redistricting, and they have launched a new redistricting effort aided by former President Obama to try to make that happen.

The executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, Elisabeth Pearson said: "I honestly believe that if we don't win these states races - particularly governor's races - in 2018, we are going to have another decade of lost Democratic leaders."

*Hans Izaak Kriek is international journalist and political commentator for European Business Review and editor-in-chief of Kriek Media

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