Moderate White Democrats

Democrats in the last three decades have been far too cozy portraying themselves as Republican-lite than they have been as liberal — or more specifically, progressive — in their policies to American voters. Leading up the 2024 election, Democrats ran campaign ads so vigorously anti-immigrant that one would’ve thought they switched party affiliation after an interview with Fox.

The Democratic Party has compromised on their calls for voting rights, voting protections, civil rights, a livable minimum wage, sensible border patrol, government oversight on tech companies, campaign finance reform, domestic terrorism from stateside white nationalist groups, fair taxation of the wealthiest Americans, etc. Oftentimes, it feels that when they don’t have a solid position of their own…they assume one that veers away from creating a functioning democracy.

Stop moving to the center to be sort of Republican. As a party meant to represent fair viewpoints to benefit Americans of every social class, you’re not there for that. Someone scream this message to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the rest of the old guard that should take advisory roles in Washington. The moderate dance by most white Democrats brings the only two viable political parties that this country has into hues of gray and slightly less gray depending on the intensity of one’s lenses.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shared his thoughts in his Letter From Birmingham Jail (1963):

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”

King’s quote continues to live as the politics of 2026 and 2046 churn. Democrats haven’t pushed harder for the innovative values they claim they want to build America’s present and future upon. It’s a party that talks about the poor, working poor, and lower middle-class but doesn’t strategize reaching them in the ways necessary to keep them engaged. That’s not saying that Democrats abandoned the majority of American citizens that comprise those three groups.

Do Republicans care for them?

They’ve never represented themselves as anything but a party that serves the wealthy. Which further confounds me. How did anyone in America EVER buy the marketing that the former GOP was a fiscally conservative party?

When was that? What year was the now-MAGA Party financially reasonable? Name it?

They ruin economies while passing unfathomable tax breaks for their corporate friends. Leaving deficits that successive Democratic presidents are summoned to fix after having the responsibility hastily chained to their foot once the White House keys are recut. The Grand Old Party is fiscally sharp if that means pulling the wallet from the most needy of their countrymen to then enrich those who hold more wealth than nations. The former Republican Party was never one bound to principles of fiscal restraint. Yet you’ll hear those gasping for the fumes of what remains of the GOP eternally hopeful. Like resuscitating those old shoes to pair with a new outfit.

The priorities of Democrats flail about. A human version of the used car balloon collapsing and reviving itself. Winds push them this way and the next. They too have jumped into bed under the same capitalistic spell the Republicans have been attached to embryonically. Democrats shouldn’t make headlines for pushing against its progressive members. The entire party should be progressive. They’re not because the majority of the party and the senior members at the front continue to insist — by action and legislation most notably — that the party must be aligned to the center to win elections.

Who does that serve?

Not anyone walking around as a Democrat that can only vote for them as their party of representation because it’s the lone political entity in the country that occasionally will speak for them. MAGA won’t. Especially, if they’re Black, too Hispanic, or speak with an accent they don’t value.

King’s quote doesn’t play nice with or ignore the scourge of the moderate. A moderate approach to governing is neat. Accommodating. It never removes the status quo. Or tries to. Ever. If said normal operating procedure is financially inclusive and prosperous for all citizens regardless of race, sex, age, residency status, etc., then identifying as politically moderate would be sound. This place would be the first, human, utopia on Earth. That place is not this planet.

The moderate position in America – or anywhere – keeps generational and societal inequities as they are. It exacerbates and widens disparities in wealth, education, wages, employment, healthcare, employment, etc. Oppressive regimes yearn for the moderate like a dog wanting a treat.

Those that hoard gargantuan wealth and wish to expand it no matter the circumstances go with conservatives. That includes the old GOP, now MAGA Party, moderates, and the Independents they pick off. Comprehensive and adequate funding for public education will not come from the work of moderates. Ensuring civil rights and due process requires grit. White moderates wish to keep tidy. Their mandate is to play it simple. To remain quiet. Not to make a mess of the current order. Nurturing white supremacy, daily.

With their inaction, they become complicit in the ills of the groups of their society that need the most protection. The workers that have been underpaid and grinding their bodies for years can’t bring their collective bargaining pitch to a moderate Democrat. MAGA despises unions as the Republicans did before they were cannibalized. Still, unions across the U.S. endorse MAGA.

Power structures won’t encounter a challenge or need to lose sleep concerning themselves about the motives of moderate Democrats. White moderates will never lead a movement. What’s their platform?

“Hello, everyone, let’s not make anyone upset with our rally. Not the capitalists. Not the hungry. Not the victims of generational racism. Let’s keep our mouths closed and…you know what? Let’s stop this and throw away these signs we made.” – Moderate Politician

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was a tonal shift by Democrats in their march to inhabit the political middle. Viewed as soft on crime by Republicans, then-President Bill Clinton reacted. The legislation that both parties supported was disastrous then. It continues to be. Another point where Democrats ignored their principles arrived when then-President Barack Obama made the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 into law. He inherited an awful economy from his predecessor and tried to curtail the doom that came in the Great Recession. The bank bailout that was the heart, lungs, and brain of the bill is still scrutinized for providing what amounted to welfare for millionaires and billionaires. Normal Americans that got burned in the recession due to the excesses of the financial sector got a pat on the back along with debt. A safe landing provided by the government for the rich didn’t save them. These are two examples where Democrats choosing to camp in the center…made it easier to keep a tent there.

Republicans have revved up their attacks on the entire structure of voting in across the U.S. while simultaneously attacking the voting rights of Blacks, primarily, and every minority group behind them. With a fervor not seen since the end of Reconstruction. When the U.S. abandoned the very reason to embark on the Civil War to begin with.

The white moderate Democrat will dip their head in the sand. Letting the world flutter along uninterrupted. Politically naïve. Their inaction costing people their civil rights, opportunities to advance across every sector, and their lives. Passive. Submissive. Shhh…they ache to blend in. Unless they wear outfits a mother only dons when she wants to be known as the cool parent to her teenagers. Or, pretending to work as a senator. Staying in the middle allows an openly aggressive anti-democracy party like MAGA to grow and extend its reach with the accommodating American voter.

Moderate Democrats procrastinated when it was time to prosecute President Donald Trump 24 hours after he left Washington in 2021. They called him “dangerous” but debated amongst themselves about how to confront the crimes he committed during the 2020 election. Staring at each other silently while the calendar turned due to unwritten rules about prosecuting former presidents. Trump’s call to “find 11,780 votes” spawned the Georgia RICO case that seemingly had consequences but was ultimately undone. Moderate Democrats allowed Trump to go unpunished for criminal activity for three years and nine months. Petrified of presenting cases that could interfere with Election Day 2024, former Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith was dogged in his pursuit but the clock expired. Trump’s oafish behavior was normalized. There wasn’t accountability. There are 34 felonies for falsifying business records attached to him which didn’t halt his march to power. He’s president. Again. Right now. With gifted immunity from the Supreme Court that no president has ever enjoyed.

MAGA has both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, the DOJ, and the White House. MAGA politicians have the numbers needed to stop him. Now. They won’t. Moderate Democrats missed their chance to end the first imperial presidency. Blame lands on the American voters, first. Before MAGA; before the Democratic Party moderates.

Dr. King’s letter will not lose influence.

When Americans were presented with the choice of a reasonable alternative, 49.9% of voters selected this administration.