By Ryan Coleman
Special to the AFRO
In the 2024 elections, a wide swath of Americans — especially young, non-college-educated men, Blacks and Latinos — swung towards the Republicans. Democrats know they must change course if they don’t want to become a permanent minority party that appeals only to those with college or higher degrees.
Of course, the debate about what went wrong, and how to right it, has taken a turn — yes, many people did not vote for Kamala Harris because she was a woman and Black. However, we must dig further, and there are individuals who believe the Democrats have abandoned working and middle class families.
I strongly believe Democrats must tone down their very heavy focus on issues that do not affect their base – abortion, illegal Immigration, transgender issues, sanctuary cities, etc. That isn’t to say that these are not important issues. Shouldn’t women have control over their own bodies? Is it really an issue of who a person loves or if illegal immigrants who are criminals should not be removed from the country?
Instead, Democrats must return to their economic roots and focus on helping the working and middle classes thrive in America. But these roots must grow in a different economic climate from that of the 20th century. While raising minimum wages and promoting unions remain worthwhile, helping people thrive in a primarily post-industrial economy requires a somewhat different approach. Anti-trade and anti-immigrant actions (separate from having a secure border) are also self-defeating and will only raise costs and inflation down the road — exactly what hurt the Democrats so much in the past election.
Instead, Democrats should focus on the following three factors that distress voters, especially the young and non-White. First, they must help working and middle class Black Americans have a higher quality of life. Second, they must help reduce the cost of living in certain key sectors, starting with housing. Third, they must help all Americans working class and middle class navigate the current economic issues.
At the current pace of societal change, it would take Black Americans 180 more years to achieve true equality in America, according to an assessment by one of the country’s premier Black civil rights organizations. That would mean Black Americans would achieve the same level of pay, police protection and home homeownership enjoyed by White people 339 years after the Civil War ended and 236 years after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Democrats must focus on improving the quality of life for Black Americans, and that requires addressing health, education and economic factors. This includes reparations, improving access to resources, better healthcare, better academic outcomes, and addressing systemic racism.
Promoting more affordable housing, very simply, requires us to build more homes. Yet this is a hard goal for the federal government for two simple reasons: first, the barriers to more housing primarily lie in state and local regulations that stymie and complicate residential construction; second, these regulations benefit current homeowners, since restrictions on the supply of housing raise the value of the current housing stock.
At the same time, thoughtful housing analysts have devised a number of policies and practices by which the federal government could assist and incentivize state and local jurisdictions to ease the regulations that now strangle residential construction and reduce housing supply. If Democrats trumpet these practices, their appeal to young people will grow.
Finally, there is no doubt that more support for child care would help more workers — especially young mothers — join the workforce; while providing more paid family leave would ease the strain on Gen-Xers and Millennials who must often care for both children and elderly parents. Of course, child care and paid leave cost more money, and we want to do so in a way that will not
further grow our public debt. But, here too, creative approaches involving federal and state governments could generate more support for working families with politically acceptable financing mechanisms.
Lastly, the Democrats must stop any new taxes or fees that affect the working and middle class. These groups have no appetite for taxes or fees even for worthwhile causes.
Reducing its reliance on unpopular non-mainstream politics, while refocusing its rhetoric and actions on practical economic needs would give Democrats a platform with broad appeal to young people, the working and middle class while they fight to limit the damage being caused by the White House. They should start refocusing and rebranding as soon as possible.
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