How to Break Ranks and Escape the Democrats’ Plantation

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What if enough minorities — Latinos, African Americans, Jews, and Asians — broke ranks with their default political loyalties and split their vote this November?

If the taken-for-granted and ill-served among these groups just split their vote to reflect their present dissatisfaction, their political power would tangibly increase within both parties overnight.

Put it this way: Instead of one seat at the Democratic table that is not serving you and yours, you would have seats at two tables — both competing to serve you and yours. It’s a pretty good deal. So, why is it not being pursued aggressively?

Politics is the art (and science) of understanding what’s possible and making it happen.

Smart Republicans understand that this election will be won with (and lost without) a big swing in Hispanic support. Democrats’ black, Jewish, and Asian blue wall appears to show signs of cracking, and this vulnerability is gaining electoral polling attention.

If enough of this cohort walked away from the Democratic camp, it would mark a tectonic shift in American politics. It would push the Democratic Party back to the center — a good, salutary development, and far from where it currently resides.

A whisper to dissatisfied Democrats: Please don’t register and vote as independents. It’s such a political waste.

Independents come in two primary political colors: embarrassed Democrats and embarrassed Republicans. Only 10% of independents are truly independent — that is, nonaffiliated.

Traditionally, these two dissatisfied voting blocs vote for the brand and party that they disavowed for doing them dirty when Election Day comes around. Doing so is a form of political Stockholm Syndrome, which is when you identify with and support your captors. It’s worse than a wasted vote. Independents know what the problem is — yet they still contribute to it.

That might not be completely fair. In the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterms, dissatisfied Republicans and their adjacent independent cohort crossed partisan lines and contributed to the Democratic win. In their defense, they wanted their establishment, deep-state perks back and their more liberal spouses, kids, and friends to stop hating them. (Kellyanne and George Conway are notable exceptions to this broad-brush rendering).

But dissatisfied Democrats and adjacent independents have not reciprocated. They consistently fail to do their part, and, in doing so, they send a confusing, illiberal message: that it’s OK to turn up the woke heat, when all the polling data suggests otherwise.

Ruy Teixeira over at the Liberal Patriot— a must read on Substack — has captured the growing divide within the Democratic and adjacent independent ranks. The dissatisfaction runs deep and wide. But in contrast to dissatisfied Republicans and adjacent independents, dissatisfied Democrats and adjacent independents have shown a structural inability to cross the political picket line and send a clear “knock-it-off” message at the polling both.

As a result, the “wash, rinse, repeat” insanity of Democratic partisan politics continues and probably will do so again this November. This is the leading reason why “We, the People” can’t have nice things and why we are not currently enjoying a happy, well-adjusted, pursuit-of-happiness-oriented 21st century.

Who can lead the way out of this illiberal, woke madness?

Dissatisfied Democratic men — or so the polling suggests. Males across blue-wall ethnic cross-tabulations are rightfully unhappy, more than concerned by the madness, and want better.

In contrast, the ladies have not budged in their commitment to the party in power and its woke program. And herein lies the challenge.

This is the unstated reason Democratic men don’t stage a political walkout in the requisite numbers: It would infuriate the women in their lives and raise the heat on them at home. Not just from their girlfriends, wives, and daughters, but from their mothers and grandmothers, not to mention church ladies. The blue wall is devoutly defended by women.

I come from an Irish, New Deal, Democratic family. My grandfather was a machine politician. But it was my grandmother who was the enforcer of political faith and morals. She has been gone for more than a decade, but her stay-on-the-political-reservation voice and influence is still felt and followed within our extended clan. Might my experience be typical among Democratic households, as well as among mating and dating partners?

I think it is. But more importantly, what do our politically unsatisfied and potentially tectonic-plate shifting Democratic men, stuck on the sidelines, think is holding them back? There is not a poll to consult on this yet. You need to look inside yourself for the answer.

What’s a conflicted guy to do?

How about following your political gut in the polling booth?

The polling booth remains a “safe space” for now. You don’t have to share your voting choices with anyone, including your loved ones. Just vote based on what you think is best politically for you, your family, your job, and your country.

When the election results are tallied — it might take a few days for Pennsylvania to come in — and the message is sent, you’re not obliged to take credit for what has happened.

Just say, “Wow.” Ask the women in your lives what they think happened and listen patiently. Shake your head in supportive disbelief.

“Wow.”

If asked for your thoughts, say something like this: “I guess, for the silent majority of American voters, the bad-orange-boogie-man card we played was less scary than the woke-boogie-woman-and-party-in-charge-for-the-past-four-years card.”

You might add: “My read going forward is that the Democratic Party needs to find the winning, common-sense center, or else it’s going to lose even more of the base that it has taken for granted and served so poorly for years.”

Throw in one more “wow” if you think it will help. And leave it at that.

Guy Shepherd is founder and editor of Planned Man.

This article was originally published by RealClearWire and made available via RealClearWire.