Dems do not seem to have many new policies, patriotism or otherwise, other than waiting for Trump to implode. The budget is an abomination, but already 1/3 of medical practices do not accept Medicaid. Many poor, must already receive their healthcare in ERs. Polling shows most Americans consider 20 hours a week of employment or volunteering as a condition of enrollment, reasonable.
Also, it is probably not a coincidence Medicaid spending rose 60% from 2019, just as 10 million mostly impoverished Biden migrants entered the US. It seems unlikely, those arriving with only the clothes on their backs, all now enjoy employer provided health insurance, or are paying their own bills. In any event, it's not as if migrants removed from Medicaid rolls, can register their displeasure at the polls.
Generally speaking, Dems lost the election on inflation, immigration and child social engineering. Inflation is now out of their control. The only change in Dem immigration policy, has been the support of violent criminal deportation. Dems insist everyone else remain. While some Dems may now mutter child transitions, might have been a bad idea, the Party and most Blue States still whole heartedly endorse the idea, along with trans girls in school sports.
Finally, Dems do themselves no favors, by repeatedly referencing Scandinavia. It is not remotely applicable. Scandinavian countries, until recently, were nearly as homogeneous as Japan and Korea. They are also tiny. Norway has 5 million people sitting atop a sea of oil.
Moreover, along with shared ethnicity, Scandinavians share a Protestant work ethic that remains deeply engrained, even if most no longer attend Church. "Idle hands are the Devil's Workshop" might as well be tattooed across their foreheads. Dems seem unlikely to morph 330 million Americans from 180 countries around the world, into Oslo Lutherans, anytime soon.
I often cite Scandinavian countries as examples of where a combination of regulated markets combined with a high level of government services has produced a high and largely sustainable quality of life that is widely shared. I agree with your observation that these countries have demographic advantages relative to the U.S., but that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn some things from their experience— including how to enjoy a high standard of living with modest energy consumption.
Today's "left" is a left of the upper class and educated, there is no place for the working class. While it's true the latest legislation rolled back health and food programs for the poor after the midterms and gave large tax breaks for this year, is it that much different than forgiving loans for college grads or subsidising Teslas for the upper middle class? I didn't hear much from my party complaining about the increased SALT deduction.
Jobs and a paycheck aren't as vulnerable to the vicissitudes of politics. One's job is the place the GOP has gained an edge in competing for the support of the multi racial multi ethnic working class voter. Our party, the Democratic Party imported millions of low wage workers over four years. Doing so decreased inflation and ended upward pressure on wages and working conditions.
If you are a flatworker, sheetrocker, roofer, form setter, or one of hundreds of other blue collar workers who have lost in many cases an entire job category having a job and a paycheck is many times more important than rich people fighting over which ones will get the biggest kickback with the change in administration.
The ironic thing is that Trump's trade policies would have resonated with old-school New Deal liberals like John Glenn or Fritz Hollings.
The other thing is that the base of the Democratic Party is liberal white women who have completely different priorities - abortion, DEI, increased welfare spending, and prosecuting the Cultural Revolution.
None of those things will resonate remotely with white working class men.
I stop reading or listening to anyone making Big Lie reference to "Medicaid cuts." Slowing the unsustainable growth of entitlement spending by ferreting out the fraudsters illegally obtaining it -- either because they are able-bodied parasites or Democratic enabled illegal aliens -- achieves the critical end of saving, not ending, this vital program to those for whom it was intended.
My son is out of work right now and is a single man living in Texas. Texas has never given Medicaid to able bodied young men. But you know what? There are health clinic in Texas - including rural Texas - where they charge patients based on ability to pay.
My son gets far better FREE healthcare at Baylor Scott and White than he could get if he were on Medicaid (which most doctors won't take).
Why not give tax breaks to Medical clinics who see patients based on ability to pay, rather than offering people a low caste form of medical insurance?
Good RX also makes his prescriptions totally affordable.
Many clinics are subsidized already by Medicaid. They might well go under, but probably in 2027. Oren Cass the conservative economist suggested those clinics a much less expensive route to medical care. Why pay a hospital for an emergency room visit for a toothache.
Good point. Indiana, like Texas another conservative state, has long had a system of county-run public health department medical clinics with services offered on an ability-to-pay basis, which means free for those without resources.
I would question your suggestion that "most doctors won't take" Medicaid. But Medicare has become a federal program too big, too bloated and too wasteful and, as such,is an easy target for fraudsters, cheaters and political opportunists.
It can be very difficult to get Medicaid while working. Or it was 10 years ago. For one thing wait times on the phone are often over an hour and during the workday when people are.... working. Administered by the states in my state it is set up to accept applications from county administrators and people already on food stamps, welfare, etc. You can apply, and qualify, but it's hard to get on and stay on if you aren't already plugged into the entitlement system. The program is intended to provide medical care for low income people, and low income now includes many people who work.
Not to excuse the Republicans from the parade of horribles but this is an essay about fixing the Democratic Party. The problem is that important elements of the Democratic base are bought into the decline. We can start with the oligarchs/monopolists who are mostly the donor class of the party. (There may be a bit of a shift in the 2024 time frame but it is too soon to tell. They appeared to be spooked by something the Democrats or perhaps the EU were doing.) Disinvestment and stagnant wages are definitely connected to the oligarchs and the latter is definitely related to the surge of immigrants. Failing schools are intimately related to the teacher unions. Unaffordable housing and decaying infrastructure are owned by the environmentalists. The abundance agenda doesn't seem to have a hold on much of the party. The rising inequality that we all see isn't a divide between rich and poor but between the superrich (and their credentialed minions) and the middle and working classes. Democrats are not going to get anywhere worrying about Medicaid and SNAP especially when so many of the current recipients aren't even eligible nor is anyone with a reasonably paid job going to care. Democrats seem to be anti-civil rights and pro-war these days. I am old enough to remember when things were different but Gen Z wasn't born yet.
Democrats are still running against Romney and Ryan but MAGA is different. The only new tax break for the rich in the latest bill was the increase in the SALT deduction. All the focus in the struggle about that was the about the handful of (Romney-Ryan) Republicans who were going to torpedo the deal if they didn't get their way. If the Democrats actually cared, they could have shut this down instantly but they were an automatic no on everything. Something Trump actually championed was the no tax on tips which is hardly a source of income for the rich. Dredging up the old talking points from a generation ago, isn't going to fuel a left populist revival. Might I suggest that there is room for cooperation with the right populists on selected issues if the issue is policy rather than partisanship.
Congratulations to Justin, whom I knew decades ago [I'm Zach's father]. I've seen versions of this argument -- more and more recently -- but this is the best. As a matter of fact, the first version I'm aware of was by me in Here, the People Rule: A Constitutional Populist Manifesto [1994] and in my writings and congressional testimony [1994-2007] advocating the Flag Amendment, to overturn a Supreme Court decision and authorize Congress to protect the American flag against "physical desecration". We ultimately lost by one vote in the Senate but have not given up. The amendment has been re-introduced this year. Will Democrats -- who defeated it over and over with clouds of disdain and scorn -- turn around and support it this time? If interested, contact the Citizens Flag Alliance [of which I'm still Chair]. Richard Parker.
I oppose you on that. Let them burn the flag and thereby identify themselves. Too many people fail to recognize a key strength of free expression. It is a marvelous tool for the identification of fools and frauds. No matter how obnoxious a person or idea is, we should give it the freest rein so we can all see just how ridiculous it is.
Look, if someone were to burn one in my presence, the only reason they wouldn't end up with a busted jaw would be if I were outnumbered or the flag burner was bigger or stronger. I just don't think it ought to be illegal. I realize that I'm somewhat contradictory, but life is somewhat contradictory. lol
FFS, the anti-Americanism of the allegedly progressive left is a feature, not a bug. Modern progressivism is identitarian, a luxury belief of the elite educated, better off. It isn’t about substance of what policies they believe in, but who they hate, which is most Americans, and in particular white, Asian and Jewish Americans.
Look at big DSA socialist ‘success’ Mamdani. That man’s whole existence is online memes hating Americans, especially white and Jewish Americans. His doesn’t care about restoring America, it’s about mimicking Soviet era stupidity. And he’s who ‘progressive’ sociopaths want the entire party to take after.
They’d much rather keep losing to the GOP than be patriotic.
“What left-behind Americans have not yet heard is a concrete, persuasive, and consistent message about national redevelopment and restoring the American dream.” Really? Seventy five millions voters heard a concrete, persuasive and consistent message about restoring the American Dream. Why is patriotism so hard for the left? No idea, maybe they are the just viewing our nation through a glass that appears half empty.
We remember Trump’s track record, “In 2019, unemployment hit historic lows across nearly all racial groups,” based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The percent of workers actually working increased from 2017 to 2019 from 62.9% to 63.1%, reversing a long term downward trend. There was a strong labor market, real wages were increasing, and more prime age workers (age 25 - 54) found jobs.
And now: “Since President Trump took office in January, blue-collar wages have increased 1.7%. This represents the largest increase in working-class wages to start a presidency in more than 50 years. For comparison, working-class wages decreased during the same period under every single president since Richard Nixon with only one exception—President Trump in his first term.”, according to Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.
Three examples of why the "left populists" cannot embrace patriotism. First, you raise the issue of attacking the 1%, yet when one of the preeminent attackERS, Bernie Sanders, had a chance, he accepted a THIRD HOME in return for supporting Hillary. Not very patriotic. Second, you have this yo-yo radical running for mayor of NYC, and his prof father likened Hitler to Abe Lincoln (https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2025/07/06/unhinged-leftists-blast-jason-kelce-for-loving-america/P), then third no sooner does Jason Kelce celebrate America's independence than he is slammed on social media for being "patriotic." (https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2025/07/06/unhinged-leftists-blast-jason-kelce-for-loving-america/). All of that is bad enough, but to throw in shots at Trump's economic plan, which is taking off with falling unemployment, jobs numbers that EXCEED expectations, a massive tax cut for the middle class, cuts on SS taxes, and no taxes on tips and Democrats ATTACK this; tariff revenues at such a level that we can actually think about repealing the Income Tax; and some $16 trillion pledged in just six months of new investments in the USA . . . no. This is a silly line of attack but as an R I rejoice. You continue to show that even here, on Liberal Patriot, the most commonsense of Democrat platforms, many still don't get it.
Even if some left-wingers understand the importance of patriotism, they’ll have to remember that love of country doesn’t always translate into love of the national government. In today’s America, it certainly doesn’t. Democrats can at least partly address this by fighting to simplify things Washington does: consolidate social programs, simplify the tax code. Some of the abundance agenda meshes with this: streamline regulations, speed up building. There’s potential for a union-YIMBY alliance on issues like infrastructure building.
During my Democratic days (40 years worth), I made a point of flying the flag. It wasn't just for wingnuts, and still isn't. Things have changed. I think today's "progressives" despise this country for electing Trump. They make no distinctions. Remember "nuance?" That's long gone, along with many other "principles" once espoused by Democrats. If they don't apply universally, "principles" are nothing more than ephemeral talking points. What principles does the Democratic Party actually have?
We still have much to do to gain the attention and trust of ‘middle America.’ I think there’s at least one ‘line of attack’ that can help:
Donald Trump just really, really hates America.
America values honesty, fair play, integrity. As a pathological liar and con man, Trump has never been able to command the ‘respect,’ power, and regal status he craves. He now feels these to be within his reach.
Trump is not out to make America great again. He’s out to make America grovel at his feet.
Americans need to know this. America needs to understand that this is the entirety of Trump’s motivation and his self-dealing end game so that America can stop him.
Aside from the merits of any of that, there's a much bigger problem with your idea: It is narrowly on Trump, and it is negative and pessimistic. This is not the way to win people over.
Dems do not seem to have many new policies, patriotism or otherwise, other than waiting for Trump to implode. The budget is an abomination, but already 1/3 of medical practices do not accept Medicaid. Many poor, must already receive their healthcare in ERs. Polling shows most Americans consider 20 hours a week of employment or volunteering as a condition of enrollment, reasonable.
Also, it is probably not a coincidence Medicaid spending rose 60% from 2019, just as 10 million mostly impoverished Biden migrants entered the US. It seems unlikely, those arriving with only the clothes on their backs, all now enjoy employer provided health insurance, or are paying their own bills. In any event, it's not as if migrants removed from Medicaid rolls, can register their displeasure at the polls.
Generally speaking, Dems lost the election on inflation, immigration and child social engineering. Inflation is now out of their control. The only change in Dem immigration policy, has been the support of violent criminal deportation. Dems insist everyone else remain. While some Dems may now mutter child transitions, might have been a bad idea, the Party and most Blue States still whole heartedly endorse the idea, along with trans girls in school sports.
Finally, Dems do themselves no favors, by repeatedly referencing Scandinavia. It is not remotely applicable. Scandinavian countries, until recently, were nearly as homogeneous as Japan and Korea. They are also tiny. Norway has 5 million people sitting atop a sea of oil.
Moreover, along with shared ethnicity, Scandinavians share a Protestant work ethic that remains deeply engrained, even if most no longer attend Church. "Idle hands are the Devil's Workshop" might as well be tattooed across their foreheads. Dems seem unlikely to morph 330 million Americans from 180 countries around the world, into Oslo Lutherans, anytime soon.
I often cite Scandinavian countries as examples of where a combination of regulated markets combined with a high level of government services has produced a high and largely sustainable quality of life that is widely shared. I agree with your observation that these countries have demographic advantages relative to the U.S., but that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn some things from their experience— including how to enjoy a high standard of living with modest energy consumption.
Today's "left" is a left of the upper class and educated, there is no place for the working class. While it's true the latest legislation rolled back health and food programs for the poor after the midterms and gave large tax breaks for this year, is it that much different than forgiving loans for college grads or subsidising Teslas for the upper middle class? I didn't hear much from my party complaining about the increased SALT deduction.
Jobs and a paycheck aren't as vulnerable to the vicissitudes of politics. One's job is the place the GOP has gained an edge in competing for the support of the multi racial multi ethnic working class voter. Our party, the Democratic Party imported millions of low wage workers over four years. Doing so decreased inflation and ended upward pressure on wages and working conditions.
If you are a flatworker, sheetrocker, roofer, form setter, or one of hundreds of other blue collar workers who have lost in many cases an entire job category having a job and a paycheck is many times more important than rich people fighting over which ones will get the biggest kickback with the change in administration.
The ironic thing is that Trump's trade policies would have resonated with old-school New Deal liberals like John Glenn or Fritz Hollings.
The other thing is that the base of the Democratic Party is liberal white women who have completely different priorities - abortion, DEI, increased welfare spending, and prosecuting the Cultural Revolution.
None of those things will resonate remotely with white working class men.
These things don't resonate with white working class women either.
I stop reading or listening to anyone making Big Lie reference to "Medicaid cuts." Slowing the unsustainable growth of entitlement spending by ferreting out the fraudsters illegally obtaining it -- either because they are able-bodied parasites or Democratic enabled illegal aliens -- achieves the critical end of saving, not ending, this vital program to those for whom it was intended.
My son is out of work right now and is a single man living in Texas. Texas has never given Medicaid to able bodied young men. But you know what? There are health clinic in Texas - including rural Texas - where they charge patients based on ability to pay.
My son gets far better FREE healthcare at Baylor Scott and White than he could get if he were on Medicaid (which most doctors won't take).
Why not give tax breaks to Medical clinics who see patients based on ability to pay, rather than offering people a low caste form of medical insurance?
Good RX also makes his prescriptions totally affordable.
Many clinics are subsidized already by Medicaid. They might well go under, but probably in 2027. Oren Cass the conservative economist suggested those clinics a much less expensive route to medical care. Why pay a hospital for an emergency room visit for a toothache.
Good point. Indiana, like Texas another conservative state, has long had a system of county-run public health department medical clinics with services offered on an ability-to-pay basis, which means free for those without resources.
I would question your suggestion that "most doctors won't take" Medicaid. But Medicare has become a federal program too big, too bloated and too wasteful and, as such,is an easy target for fraudsters, cheaters and political opportunists.
It can be very difficult to get Medicaid while working. Or it was 10 years ago. For one thing wait times on the phone are often over an hour and during the workday when people are.... working. Administered by the states in my state it is set up to accept applications from county administrators and people already on food stamps, welfare, etc. You can apply, and qualify, but it's hard to get on and stay on if you aren't already plugged into the entitlement system. The program is intended to provide medical care for low income people, and low income now includes many people who work.
Not to excuse the Republicans from the parade of horribles but this is an essay about fixing the Democratic Party. The problem is that important elements of the Democratic base are bought into the decline. We can start with the oligarchs/monopolists who are mostly the donor class of the party. (There may be a bit of a shift in the 2024 time frame but it is too soon to tell. They appeared to be spooked by something the Democrats or perhaps the EU were doing.) Disinvestment and stagnant wages are definitely connected to the oligarchs and the latter is definitely related to the surge of immigrants. Failing schools are intimately related to the teacher unions. Unaffordable housing and decaying infrastructure are owned by the environmentalists. The abundance agenda doesn't seem to have a hold on much of the party. The rising inequality that we all see isn't a divide between rich and poor but between the superrich (and their credentialed minions) and the middle and working classes. Democrats are not going to get anywhere worrying about Medicaid and SNAP especially when so many of the current recipients aren't even eligible nor is anyone with a reasonably paid job going to care. Democrats seem to be anti-civil rights and pro-war these days. I am old enough to remember when things were different but Gen Z wasn't born yet.
Democrats are still running against Romney and Ryan but MAGA is different. The only new tax break for the rich in the latest bill was the increase in the SALT deduction. All the focus in the struggle about that was the about the handful of (Romney-Ryan) Republicans who were going to torpedo the deal if they didn't get their way. If the Democrats actually cared, they could have shut this down instantly but they were an automatic no on everything. Something Trump actually championed was the no tax on tips which is hardly a source of income for the rich. Dredging up the old talking points from a generation ago, isn't going to fuel a left populist revival. Might I suggest that there is room for cooperation with the right populists on selected issues if the issue is policy rather than partisanship.
The people who control the Democratic Party LOVE the SALT deduction, which rewards the coastal rich.
Indeed. Makes the rhetoric about tax cuts for the rich seem insincere. Also ineffective since it is aimed at yesterday's Republicans.
Congratulations to Justin, whom I knew decades ago [I'm Zach's father]. I've seen versions of this argument -- more and more recently -- but this is the best. As a matter of fact, the first version I'm aware of was by me in Here, the People Rule: A Constitutional Populist Manifesto [1994] and in my writings and congressional testimony [1994-2007] advocating the Flag Amendment, to overturn a Supreme Court decision and authorize Congress to protect the American flag against "physical desecration". We ultimately lost by one vote in the Senate but have not given up. The amendment has been re-introduced this year. Will Democrats -- who defeated it over and over with clouds of disdain and scorn -- turn around and support it this time? If interested, contact the Citizens Flag Alliance [of which I'm still Chair]. Richard Parker.
I oppose you on that. Let them burn the flag and thereby identify themselves. Too many people fail to recognize a key strength of free expression. It is a marvelous tool for the identification of fools and frauds. No matter how obnoxious a person or idea is, we should give it the freest rein so we can all see just how ridiculous it is.
Although I hate to see the flag burned, your argument against outlawing it is one of the best I’ve seen.
Look, if someone were to burn one in my presence, the only reason they wouldn't end up with a busted jaw would be if I were outnumbered or the flag burner was bigger or stronger. I just don't think it ought to be illegal. I realize that I'm somewhat contradictory, but life is somewhat contradictory. lol
FFS, the anti-Americanism of the allegedly progressive left is a feature, not a bug. Modern progressivism is identitarian, a luxury belief of the elite educated, better off. It isn’t about substance of what policies they believe in, but who they hate, which is most Americans, and in particular white, Asian and Jewish Americans.
Look at big DSA socialist ‘success’ Mamdani. That man’s whole existence is online memes hating Americans, especially white and Jewish Americans. His doesn’t care about restoring America, it’s about mimicking Soviet era stupidity. And he’s who ‘progressive’ sociopaths want the entire party to take after.
They’d much rather keep losing to the GOP than be patriotic.
“What left-behind Americans have not yet heard is a concrete, persuasive, and consistent message about national redevelopment and restoring the American dream.” Really? Seventy five millions voters heard a concrete, persuasive and consistent message about restoring the American Dream. Why is patriotism so hard for the left? No idea, maybe they are the just viewing our nation through a glass that appears half empty.
We remember Trump’s track record, “In 2019, unemployment hit historic lows across nearly all racial groups,” based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The percent of workers actually working increased from 2017 to 2019 from 62.9% to 63.1%, reversing a long term downward trend. There was a strong labor market, real wages were increasing, and more prime age workers (age 25 - 54) found jobs.
And now: “Since President Trump took office in January, blue-collar wages have increased 1.7%. This represents the largest increase in working-class wages to start a presidency in more than 50 years. For comparison, working-class wages decreased during the same period under every single president since Richard Nixon with only one exception—President Trump in his first term.”, according to Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.
Three examples of why the "left populists" cannot embrace patriotism. First, you raise the issue of attacking the 1%, yet when one of the preeminent attackERS, Bernie Sanders, had a chance, he accepted a THIRD HOME in return for supporting Hillary. Not very patriotic. Second, you have this yo-yo radical running for mayor of NYC, and his prof father likened Hitler to Abe Lincoln (https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2025/07/06/unhinged-leftists-blast-jason-kelce-for-loving-america/P), then third no sooner does Jason Kelce celebrate America's independence than he is slammed on social media for being "patriotic." (https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2025/07/06/unhinged-leftists-blast-jason-kelce-for-loving-america/). All of that is bad enough, but to throw in shots at Trump's economic plan, which is taking off with falling unemployment, jobs numbers that EXCEED expectations, a massive tax cut for the middle class, cuts on SS taxes, and no taxes on tips and Democrats ATTACK this; tariff revenues at such a level that we can actually think about repealing the Income Tax; and some $16 trillion pledged in just six months of new investments in the USA . . . no. This is a silly line of attack but as an R I rejoice. You continue to show that even here, on Liberal Patriot, the most commonsense of Democrat platforms, many still don't get it.
If you think Mamdani is cuckoo, take a listen to Bernie's interview on Joe Rogan. Truly unbelievable.
Oh, and to my comment's point, look at the utter crazed responses to Democrats in town hall meetings, saying they needed to be "indicted" or "get shot" or "get violent" and get rid of the "norms of decorum." Say what? Since when did Democrats have norms of decorum. The article is chilling, and these people are terrorists. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/there-needs-to-be-blood-democrats-voters-tell-them-to-get-shot-in-trump-resistance-push/ar-AA1I6yMa?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=575e3f104ebf46f398be6922d21e8b3b&ei=20
It's exactly the OPPOSITE of what our authors here are calling for.
Yes, I heard that. Now it's coming out that Zohran put himself down as black on his college entrance forms.
Even if some left-wingers understand the importance of patriotism, they’ll have to remember that love of country doesn’t always translate into love of the national government. In today’s America, it certainly doesn’t. Democrats can at least partly address this by fighting to simplify things Washington does: consolidate social programs, simplify the tax code. Some of the abundance agenda meshes with this: streamline regulations, speed up building. There’s potential for a union-YIMBY alliance on issues like infrastructure building.
Yep.
Well said.
During my Democratic days (40 years worth), I made a point of flying the flag. It wasn't just for wingnuts, and still isn't. Things have changed. I think today's "progressives" despise this country for electing Trump. They make no distinctions. Remember "nuance?" That's long gone, along with many other "principles" once espoused by Democrats. If they don't apply universally, "principles" are nothing more than ephemeral talking points. What principles does the Democratic Party actually have?
And then there's this:
https://share.newsbreak.com/dxllpxb3
We still have much to do to gain the attention and trust of ‘middle America.’ I think there’s at least one ‘line of attack’ that can help:
Donald Trump just really, really hates America.
America values honesty, fair play, integrity. As a pathological liar and con man, Trump has never been able to command the ‘respect,’ power, and regal status he craves. He now feels these to be within his reach.
Trump is not out to make America great again. He’s out to make America grovel at his feet.
Americans need to know this. America needs to understand that this is the entirety of Trump’s motivation and his self-dealing end game so that America can stop him.
https://open.substack.com/pub/jonthinks/p/donald-trump-hates-america?r=mrvx1&utm_medium=ios
Yes, that line of attack has been so successful <sarc>
Aside from the merits of any of that, there's a much bigger problem with your idea: It is narrowly on Trump, and it is negative and pessimistic. This is not the way to win people over.