Strassel: The Democrats' "Autopsy" Flop

Agreed: 

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Yet the mainstream media’s willful insistence that the loss must be put down solely to Biden/Harris is equally comedic. The coverage is almost desperate to insist that the left’s only problem is the messenger—and the means of messaging. Which puts the media in the exact same spot as the “autopsy” it ridicules, as that document is headed to a finding that the party needs someone who does a better job of “connecting” and “explaining,” and who doubles down on organizing. 

What both camps studiously ignore is the voter verdict. That is, the voters who last year decisively rejected the progressive agenda that defines today’s Democratic Party. A real autopsy would focus almost entirely on the unpopularity of the ideas that animate the political left: open borders, unrestrained spending, union power, climate diktats, police-bashing, anti-Israel sentiment, identity politics. It would note not just the polls showing this rejection, but the proof in the form of recent, extraordinary demographic shifts that show a left losing its grip on whole categories of once reliable voter groups.

A real autopsy would meditate on the disconnect between a nation that wants the freedom to build, grow and achieve, and a Democratic Party increasingly obsessed with locking up and redistributing a government-micromanaged ecosystem. It might even consider a case study of, say, San Francisco, for some evidence of how its policies fail in practice, and how voters respond on issues like crime or education. A few liberal policy wonks are feeling out a new direction—see the talk of an “abundance” agenda—yet party leaders have so far resolutely refused to go there.
An honest examination would drill in to the failure of eight years of lawfare, the party’s decision to weaponize government for political gain. It would ask if the partisan ambitions that fuel the progressive left’s calls to end the legislative filibuster, nationalize election laws, pack the Supreme Court or abolish the Electoral College are worth the distrust they sow among average voters who want stability. It would question what internal or cultural dysfunction allowed an entire Democratic establishment to salute a misguided leader, and worse, to excoriate those rare individuals (Dean Phillips) with the backbone to warn of a coming trainwreck.
None of this will happen, for a simple reason. The progressive left remains a minority in the liberal movement, but its true believers nonetheless occupy all the positions of power, including the leadership of the DNC (and most Beltway press jobs). They won’t criticize their basic world view.

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