One of the strangest things about our current political moment is just how fucking weird the Republican Party has become. When you step back, it’s really something to behold.

The Grand Old Party is led by a former reality television show host who incited a violent insurrection against the United States government, sending a lynch mob after his own Vice President in an attempt to halt the peaceful transfer of power. For today’s Republican Party, such overt and treasonous absurdities no longer qualify as disqualifying. Instead, the Party of “small government” and “law and order” maintains its fealty to a man who had dinner with a neo-Nazi, asked his Secretary of Defense if the military could shoot peaceful protesters, praised Adolf Hitler, uses verbatim fascist rhetoric deployed by Hitler and Benito Mussolini, and so on. In for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose.

And yet, despite these facts, which every American has access to, the outcome of November’s election appears set to come down to the equivalent of a coin flip. Unsurprisingly, the Democratic Party presently finds itself in its Patented Perpetual State of Panic. But, if we’re meant to save democracy, the Democratic Party must cease its inparty fighting and put forward a clear and comprehensive platform, asking the American people to deliver a powerful mandate on behalf of progress and democracy this November.

The Democratic Party must commit to a Pact with America: Deliver us control of the House, Senate, and White House and expansive progressive transformation will follow. This new deal with America can be marketed as Progress 2025.Subscribed

For their part, the Republican Party seems fully committed to its ongoing assault against America’s 248-year old constitutional republic. They’re publicly projecting their radical plans and stating their desire for a Second American Revolution, “which will remain bloodless, if the left allows it to be.” The GOP has opened the door to radical transformation, and as the destructive nature of Project 2025 begins to take hold within the collective American consciousness, it seems necessary for the Democratic Party propose an alternative path forward.

For my entire life, the Democratic Party has been a party of reaction. Both Barack Obama and Joe Biden were forced to pass massive stimulus packages to save the American economy as a result of catastrophic failures of their Republican predecessors—both of whom, it’s worth noting, lost the national popular vote. Indeed, Republican policies pursued since the 1980s have resulted in a steady widening of the wealth gap while plateauing access to the American dream. Despite popular support, particularly during the Occupy Wall Street movement, in the last 40 years no significant progress has been made to level the playing field for the average American.

Now, in 2024, with American democracy on the line, it’s time for the Democratic Party to fight. I’m certain there are a hundred reasons why the consulting class would pump the brakes on bold solutions to our present problems. But given the battle we’re in, it’s necessary for us to imagine a radically optimistic path forward which embraces America’s core strengths and reaffirms the country’s commitment to progress, polling be damned. It’s time for the Democratic Party to shift its approach, to become a party of action rather than reaction.

So, what might this look like? I’ll leave it to the professionals to fully develop this rather obvious idea, but I want to make one thing clear: the platform must be bold. It must contain big ideas, which galvanize the nation and renew a spirit of American optimism. Anything short of that will surely fail.

Here’s a brief outline of what a Progress 2025 platform might look like:

Progress 2025

Domestic Policies

• Codify Roe v. Wade
• Expand Voting Rights Protections
• Fight Climate Change
• Common Sense Gun Control
• Complete Student Loan Forgiveness 
• Federal Legalization of Marijuana
• Congressional Stock Trading Ban  
• Overturn Citizens United
• Medicare for All
  • Regulate Prescription Drug Prices 
• Tax the Rich
  • Raise the Minimum Corporate Tax Rate
  • Increase the Capital Gains Tax
• DC Statehood
• Puerto Rico Statehood (or Independence, to be decided by referendum)
• Comprehensive Immigration Reform
• Pack the Supreme Court
• And so on

Constitutional Amendments

• SCOTUS Code of Ethics
• Enshrine Presidential Accountability Under the Law
• Eliminate the Electoral College

We will not overcome our present challenges or defeat the darkness consuming our country unless the Democratic Party proceeds with a bold progressive platform. To bring together a broad coalition, the Democratic Party must become a party of action. These bold ideas must be clearly presented to the American people, ultimately allowing the public to decide this November which path forward they want to take.

The door for radical transformation has opened, but the question remains: what ideas will make it through that door?

Albany, NY
July 2024

Read the next entry in On Politics:
The Riptides of History
July 14, 2024