In the wake of the presidential election, voices are calling for the Democratic party to move in one of two directions: toward the center, becoming more moderate; or toward the left, becoming more liberal.
Here’s my sincere advice: Forget the directional labels. Don’t even use them. Instead, fully embrace the rhetoric and policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt. And emphatically reject Reaganomics.
Most people know that the middle class grew under FDR’s policies. What they don’t know is how much.
- In 1933, only 15% of Americans were middle class. A small number were upper-class or wealthy, while the vast majority were poor.
- By the time Reagan took office, the middle class had grown to include 66% of Americans. (Since Reaganomics became the overriding approach to governing, it has dropped below 50%.)
Here’s a blunt truth: Without policies like FDR’s, you wind up with a small wealthy class and a very large poverty class, and only a few people able to make it into the middle class.
In other words, a thriving middle class is the result of government policies and actions.
What are we talking about? Here’s a sample:
- Building strong support for unions and union membership
- Spending significantly on education for all, including making college very affordable
- Requiring hospitals and health insurance companies to be non-profit – or actually implementing Medicare for all
- Getting the cost of housing under control, including going after rent gougers and putting in place programs to support first-time home buyers
And along with embracing such policies, we must also reject Reaganomics and the takeover of our country by the wealthy elite:
- Call out the “tax cuts” for what they are: a transfer of wealth from the middle class to the already-wealthy, thus damaging the lives of the rest of us.
- Also call “trickle-down economics” for the sham it truly is, as proven time and again by every researcher that has looked at it.
- Repeal “right to work for less” laws, and make it easier for workers to join and support unions.
- Put laws in place that prevent the uber-rich from buying elections and politicians, as they just did in 2024. (Trump’s campaign and associated PACs was largely funded by several hundred billionaires, both American and foreign.)
Joe Biden was the first Democratic president in a generation to actually implement some of FDR’s approach to governing. But he and Kamala Harris did a horrible job of communicating what they had done.
And, for the most part they refused to name names and call out the oligarchs who want to take over America and sell it for parts, to quote Sarah Kendzior.
Going forward, we have to do both: We have to promote an explicit vision of the America we want to build, AND we have to point out clearly the program the wealthy have to suck the marrow out of the middle class, just so they can have another mega-yacht to add to their collection.
It won’t be easy. Democrats have themselves become too cozy with the rich, and have forgotten both how to talk with everyday Americans clearly and bluntly, and what it feels like to live on the edge.
But if we are going to save America from the coming storm — or rebuild it after the storm — we have to figure it out. We have to be clear, and we have to be brave. Our future depends on us getting it right.
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