(ThyBlackMan.com) When you look at the issues the Democratic party is championing, you have to wonder who is sitting at the table. It does not take a Harvard degree to reach the conclusion, the Democratic party has serious vulnerabilities in the upcoming elections. Here are just three of them.
1) While, the economy is headed for an economic slow-down in the upcoming months, Democrats have yet to put on the table what Senator Chuck Schumer himself says the party needs; “Democrats need a strong, bold, sharp-edged, and common-sense economic agenda.” When the economic slow-down actually grips the economy, if Democrats do not come forward with such a plan; that will certainly advantage Mr. Trump and his proponents. Democrats are running an issue based campaign; DACA, racism and misogyny, when they should be running an economic based campaign that resolves the issues they stand for and one that will lift up the electorate (voters) economically. Without such a plan, you tell me, what is the argument for putting Democrats back in power? What will not work, when people are suffering economically, is a plan simply based on anti-Trumpism. Remember, the Hillary Clinton presidential loss.
2) Democrats have yet to present a coherent trading policy that addresses the issue of the exportation of good paying jobs to China, Mexico, and India. If you happen to be among those people who are losing their jobs to exportation, who would you vote for, the party that has no plan or the party that says, “Here is my plan and this is how it will work.”
3) Most of the people, who are against Mr. Trump, are not talking about the above two issues enough. Nor are they addressing the issue, that is shockingly important to the Baby Boom generation and that is, the future of Social Security. Democrats are dodging this issue, like it is a plague. If Trump grabs the issue of how to fix Social Security and runs with it like he did with the exportation of jobs to low wage countries, then it will be awfully difficult for Democrats to pivot and come back and say, we should represent the middle class on this issue, just like they have not been able to pivot, and say, we represent middle class Americans, who have lost their jobs to exportation.
Democrats are becoming the party of California cool, because of immigration and New York liberalism, because of the MeToo movement, rather then a party of substance and solutions, when it comes to the economy. Take for instance, the issue of the COLA (cost of living allowance), when it comes to Social Security. There is nary a word from Democrats, explaining to seniors, about how Mr. Trump and the Republican party took $125 billion out of their pockets and used the COLA to pass the 2017 tax cut. Just this one issue, if they embrace it, connects Democrats to their base, their core constituencies; Baby Boomers, the low and middle class and American workers.
And then, there is the issue, of increasing black unemployment rates. The recent unemployment report according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) stated, the black unemployment rate increased to 7.7 percent in January from 6.8 percent in December. Among those statistics, reported by the BLS was the bump up in the rates of unemployment for the heads of African American households. The unemployment rate for black males, jumped from 6.6 percent in December to 7.5 percent in January. Black females saw their rate increase from 5.8 percent to 6.6 percent. African Americans are in the unfortunate and unenviable position of being the worker group, that is the first laid-off as the economy turns downward.
As the anticipated upcoming economic slow-down gains momentum, the working class and African Americans will be looking to Democrats to come up with a detailed job creation plan, as stated by Chuck Schumer. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who challenged Nancy Pelosi for the minority leadership position in the House of Representatives in 2016, made a similar statement. He stated, “We’ve got to get onto an economic message that’s going to resonate across the board.”
If you think the Republicans are going to admit their tax cuts to the wealthy, businesses and corporations failed to spur growth, and is contributing to the economic slow-down, think again. Nonetheless, wealthy folks, simply based on their low numbers, will not be able to spur the demand the economy needs, to pull it out of this slow-down. Additionally, expect Republicans to say, Congress needs to cut the budget, meaning entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, to get the economy going.
Thus, to forestall this, Democrats need an economic based campaign plan, that the whole country can wrap its head around; a plan as illustrated in “The Fix This Time,” that not only saves and takes Social Security off the chopping block, but expands its benefits, making the program relevant to voters as a plan to spur demand and create jobs, while offering a solution to the thorny immigration problem and giving working Americans a “real” tax cut.
Therefore, the answer to the question above, is a resounding YES. Mr. Trump has a good chance at another four year term because the Democratic party is not running an economic based campaign, as suggested above. The alliance, the leadership of the Democratic party is knitting together, is grounded in numbers only, vs broad based solutions. This coalition is Hispanics, based on DACA (Deferred Action for Child Arrivals), suburban whites based on Mr. Trump’s disparaging behavior toward women, and blacks based on Mr. Trump’s past remarks about African Americans and his recent and hateful remarks regarding Africa and the Caribbean.
So, where is the Democratic party’s economic message, which Ryan and Schumer say, the party so badly needs? Maybe, the economy will not matter to voters at large, and they will set aside their fears, as the economic slow-down tightens its grip on the economy. Maybe, then, they will “just become interested” in supporting issues associated with California cool and New York liberalism. Do you really think, that’s possible?
Staff Writer; James Davis
Mr. Davis is a leading expert and consultant in Financial Analysis and Social Dynamics. He is a graduate of Florida A. and M. University(FAMU), a former stockbroker, and a human rights activist who resides in Sanford, Florida. He was awarded the prestigious Governor Haydon Burns Scholarship to attend FAMU and while at FAMU was awarded the first Martin Luther King Scholarship. He is the author of three books, among them is “The Fix This Time,” Boost Your Retirement Income! Simultaneously Create Jobs and Spur Consumer Demand (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MI3PD2M).
He can be reached through his blog @, (http://www.thefixthistime.com).
