The Progressive Democrats policy will not save the Progressive Democrats

At JM Barrie’s “Peter Pan”, TinkerBell, The Little Blond Fairy, which he may imagine from Disney air conditioning in 1953, you can only live if others believe in their existence. In the play, it was revived from death due to the applause of the audience. To my knowledge, no production was deprived of this applause. Fortunately for her, she is in the text – and she escapes the final curtain, whether the audience really believes or not.

Various in the “TinkerBell effect”, the idea that a sufficiently serious belief can make something real, appears in both academic and popular culture. Now, I began to see a political version of it in democratic policy. (I will notice that it may be present in the Republican policy as well, but I know the progressive policy better, after I worked in this space for years.)

The progressive “Tinkerbell Policy” believes that electoral losses occur because we either nominated a true believer – a person who slows the progressive ideals loudly and without a compromise – or because, collectively, we have not believed in sufficient strength in those ideals. In this saying, any defeat is the mistake of those who are emotional, loyal or pure. It is an emotionally patient interpretation of painful loss, preserving the ethical high ground and avoiding uncomfortable self -examination. There is no need to analyze what the voters love or hate about your platform or messages. Just cleansing non -believers, victories will come.

A recent experience that pushed this house for me. Since joining the television comments circle, a few ports with conservative tendencies have appeared. In these offers, I try to present the most convincing issue against Trump’s agenda by carefully selecting my battles, extinguishing my language, and avoiding the “Harris campaign and the liberal administration of Biden” that conservative viewers may expect. I don’t always pretend to succeed, but this is my Guideposts.

In one part of the peak time, a conservative host asked me about the historically low corresponding classifications of the Democratic Party. My answer was simple: Democrats should focus on living issues, and the maximum priority for most voters, and be a great party that can elevate both Bernie Sanders in Vermont and Joe Mancin in West Virginia. Without a wide alliance to win a majority in Congress, we were not going through historical progressive legislation such as the law of care at reasonable prices or the law to reduce inflation.

After that, one of his distant acquaintances commented on my video: “And this noise. Everyone who voted against us is just a mistake.” Call me by selling and rejecting the idea of ​​a big tent. I assume that I would have preferred to tell the host, the committee and the conservative audience who were wrong and needed to “get the program”. But how is it supposed to be persuaded by anyone? Even with a more friendly audience, screaming about pools is not a strategy to win hearts or build alliances.

I do not pretend the theories of major persuasion. Every campaign it worked on has canceled part of the “traditional wisdom” and replaced it with new lessons. But I have one belief that it never changes: politics revolves around the addition. To achieve success, you must expand your alliance with both persuasion and packing. In a diverse country, exhausted like us, this requires modesty about your views and prepare to meet the voters where they are – two “TinkerBell” things that cannot do.

Some progressive may be read as an invitation to moderation. it’s not. In this television part, I could say that Democrats were very progressive; He could gain easy applause. But I did not throw the progressive on the bus, because I am one. I believe that progressive economic arguments, especially on economic equality, can be electoral winners. But moving forward in every issue is not always strategic from a strategic point of view, and that the deletion of those who disagree with us is, frankly, political misconduct.

In the end, it’s simple: the addition surpasses the fairy dust every time. You win at least one vote of your opponent. I would like the voter under the tent of the Democratic Party.

Mali Smith worked on multiple presidential campaigns, including in President Biden’s supreme political roles and Vice President Harris. It is also a frequent political television commentator, appears on networks such as BBC, NewSnation and Fox News.