The recently concluded US elections emerged as a shock to many but a victory to the Democratic Party. However, this victory poses a great challenge to them since they need to revive their confidence of the people. They need to listen and analyze carefully what went wrong. Thus, come up with effective strategies to resolve these issues with the objective of performing to the expectations of the citizens of US.
The Democratic Party has lost control of almost all the important seats of power after Donald Trump won the 2016 United States Presidential elections. The party still has the same beliefs it had 240 years ago. The hard work of the American people under President Barrack Obama enabled the nation to emerge from the Great Recession that was triggered by the Republican policies and leadership strategies (Collins 3). Since early 2010, the American business organizations have added more than 14.8 million jobs through the private sector. The number of citizens covered by health insurance has expanded to 20 million persons within the United States. The auto industry recorded last year as the best year ever in its history. Moreover, the country continues to derive most the energy from natural sources such as the wind and solar energy which implies less importation of oil from abroad (Blecker 19). However, many Americans have left the Democratic Party. People work for relatively longer hours with less social security; the wealth gap remains wide, and the cost of almost all things, ranging from healthcare to education, has markedly increased. In the face of these new developments, it is very critical for the Democratic Party to restructure itself to regain people’s confidence.
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"How the Democratic Party Needs To Restructure Itself".
The desire to own a home in the United States has eluded most families in the face of tight economic uncertainties. Despite the struggle by the middle-class people, the nation’s one percent continues to accrue more power and wealth. This situation pushed the Republicans in Congress to choose a gridlock and dysfunction as a means for identifying the challenges that face Americans. This may partly form the reason as to why the Republicans felt that the system has been rigged against them. Moreover, despite the Democrats belief in the cooperation, unity, and empowerment, the system needs to change to include more people into the Party.
The Democratic Party needs to identify the most relevant ways for raising the levels of income and restoring economic security for the American middle class. Bringing many people on board the party requires the new ways to break down the economic walls that segregate Americans in classes of either the rich or the poor. The system needs to identify a means that would hold together the fabrics of America and restore the bargaining power necessary for constituting a stronger middle class within the country. The system should veer towards favoring people that work hard and play by the rules. However, the system is not fair as it is currently constituted where ordinary people work longer hours for lower wages, while a large proportion of wealth goes to the top one percent of people in the economy.
The Republican legislatures, governors, and their allies have launched a series of attacks on the fundamental rights of the people to organize and collectively bargain. Most Americans live from one paycheck to another. At the same time, the traditional hallmarks of a middle class decent retirement, owning a home, and having access to quality and affordable healthcare provision elude most Americans (Hertel-Fernandez 71). As a result, most Americans feel as if the deck has been stacked against them. Therefore, the Democratic Party needs to support workers’ quest for higher wages, social protections in the workplace, policies that would support work-life balance for the working class among other investments that would assist America to rebuild a stronger middle class in the 21st century. To attain this goal, the Democratic Party should support an economic model that would leverage federal dollars to sustain organizations that provide good benefits, a living wage and the opportunity for workers to form a union without reprisal. The Democratic Party’s policies should shift focus to ensure that the billions of dollars spent annually on government contracts and loans be reversed to support creation and development of jobs that would rebuild stronger middle class in the economy.
Moreover, the Democratic Party must take a lead role in supporting protection of workers’ fundamental rights. This is because when the workers are strong, the nation and the economy will remain strong. Protecting workers’ rights will enable them to form and join unions. In so doing, the American middle class who have been tramped down by the stringent policies and unfriendly employment policies will start focusing on supporting the Democratic Party. According to Hertel-Fernandez and Theda empirical studies state that one of the reasons for the forty-year decline in the strength of the middle class is the decline in the workers’ rights to bargain for better (5). Therefore, the party should focus on passing a law that would direct the National Labor Relations Board to authorize a union through validation by a simple majority. Similarly, the Democratic Party should ensure that consumers, students, workers, investors and retirees who have undergone various forms of mistreatment are not denied their rights for fair treatment as enshrined under the rule of law. Therefore, the Party needs to enact policies that would limit the application of forced arbitration in service contracts and employment, which have historically have unstrapped the investors, consumers, students and workers of the right to a court hearing.
If the Democratic Party is to remain relevant in the forgoing situations, it has to enact policies that would support working families across the United States. Gender equality needs to dominate the center stage in the fight for working families. Fighting for equal pay will benefit not only the women in employment but also their families thus making the party gain unprecedented popularity. For instance, the party should fight to ensure that the Congress enact a national policy that grants paid and medical leave to the working families. Additionally, the Party should push for programs that support and enhance the capability of the providers. For instance, the party members should fight to ensure that the national government enacts policies and programs that support the training for the family caregivers. This should be done through introducing a paid care-giving workforce, which will assist families to realize their needs through wage enhancement, improved access to training and encouraging family caregivers to form a national association so that their voices may be heard across the country (Collins 37). Besides, the Party should commit efforts towards ensuring that quality childcare become more affordable.
The Democratic Party will expand their influence if they focus on the expansion of access to homeownership and affordable housing. They should work towards assisting people to work towards financial stability and make the dream of owning a home a reality among the American middle class. Hertel-Fernandez and Theda confirm that the Party through its membership in the Congress should fight to preserve and expand affordable housing through increasing the incentives that would ease local barriers that may impede building new affordable homes (6). Consequently, the Democratic Party must ensure that social security is preserved and expanded. The realization of these programs will make life become more bearable to the average Americans and thus will boost the party’s popularity.
Therefore, despite the depreciating popularity of the party, especially after the 2016 presidential election outcome, the party still has an opportunity to outgrow its popularity. Despite what other people may think about the Democratic Party, good strategy and effort to restructure the party in a manner that focuses on the immediate problems that face the people will grant it unprecedented popularity for the coming elections.
- Blecker, Robert A. “The US economy since the crisis: slow recovery and secular stagnation.” (2016).
- Collins, Sean. “New York City’s Economy: More than Wall Street?” London After Recession: A Fictitious Capital? (2016): 37.
- Hertel-Fernandez, Alexander, and Theda Skocpol. “Billionaires against Big Business: Growing Tensions in the Republican Party Coalition.” (2016).
