A Cautionary Tale…Perhaps : Democracy Journal
by David Nasaw
The Democratic Party victory of 1948, while chock-full of sound and fury, signified next to nothing in the long run. There would be no extension of the New Deal, no grand social programs enacted. In 1950, the Republicans regained 28 seats in the House and five in the Senate. In 1952, effectively playing their anti-Communist card, they elected an ex-general as president and won a majority in both the House and the Senate.
If there is a lesson progressives can draw from these events, it might be that, to paraphrase Naomi Klein, “No is not going to be enough.” The Democrats may do very well in 2018, but their victory will be both short-lived and hollow if they do not offer voters a positive program that is both visionary and doable and changes the political discourse back from one based on fear of the future to one founded on hope for a better one.
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