October 23, 2024
On our (permanent?) political realignment...
I don’t think it’s escaped many people’s attention that the composition of our political parties has altered somewhat over the past eight to twelve years. “Country club Republican” had been a pretty standard insult employed by Democrats for most of my childhood. Today, the Republican presidential nominee literally owns a chain of country clubs and I haven’t heard the line once. Relatedly, Democrats advertised themselves as the party of the working man — hence the “country club” dig — but unions like the Teamsters and International Association of Firefighters have declined to endorse this year's Democratic nominee (they also declined to endorse the Republican, but Democrats not getting union endorsements is like my dog not getting attention — it doesn’t happen).
These aren’t remotely the only examples. Republicans — hawks of the Cold War — are taking a backseat to Democrats over Russian aggression. Prominent Democrats are criticizing Israel and embracing free trade (that last is more than twelve years old, but they vehemently objected to Trump’s renegotiation of NAFTA in 2020, so I’m counting it). So I’ll ask now what I’ve been asking all election season: What is going on?
Today’s link is an attempt at an answer. I say attempt because the man offering the explanation doesn’t pretend he has it all figured out. But he has an idea, and it’s worth reading. It’s also worth wondering how long this party shift could last. Could the “emerging Democratic majority” become the “emerging Republican majority”? Could old party positions reassert themselves? Again, who knows for sure? It’s nice to see some educated guesses, though.