Dwain Northey (Gen X)

The Big Tent Isn’t Supposed to Be an Echo Chamber

One of the more fascinating spectacles in modern politics is watching people inside the Democratic Party panic every time someone to the left of center wins a primary.

“A Democratic Socialist won!”

“And?”

If they’re a Democrat who won a Democratic primary, isn’t that exactly how a political party is supposed to work?

For years we’ve proudly described ourselves as the “big tent” party. That’s supposed to mean something. It means environmentalists and labor unions. It means suburban moderates and urban progressives. It means teachers, engineers, veterans, entrepreneurs, scientists, and yes—even Democratic Socialists. If the tent is only big until someone we disagree with walks inside, then maybe it wasn’t much of a tent to begin with.

What strikes me as odd is that some Democrats seem more terrified of debating someone who agrees with them 80 percent of the time than they are of a Republican who agrees with them almost none of the time.

Somewhere along the way, disagreement became betrayal.

It didn’t used to be that way.

There was a time—not all that long ago—when liberals, moderates, and conservatives argued like cats and dogs during the day and then sat down together because governing actually required solving problems. Democrats and Republicans negotiated budgets. They hammered out infrastructure bills. They compromised on tax reform. Nobody walked away thrilled, but the country generally moved forward.

Today that model barely exists.

One party has increasingly decided that compromise itself is weakness. Legislation becomes secondary to messaging. Outrage polls better than governance. If your political opponent proposes breathing oxygen, your first instinct is to ask what sinister agenda oxygen must have.

So where does that leave the people who actually want government to function?

It leaves Democrats talking to Democrats.

Frankly, that may not be the worst thing.

If Republicans have largely removed themselves from serious governing negotiations, then the coalition-building has to happen somewhere. Why not inside the Democratic Party itself?

Let the moderates argue for fiscal restraint.

Let progressives argue for bigger investments.

Let Democratic Socialists push ideas that make centrists uncomfortable.

Let centrists remind progressives that elections are won in swing districts as well as deep-blue cities.

That’s not dysfunction.

That’s democracy.

The irony is that conservatives have spent decades accusing Democrats of wanting everyone to think alike. Yet the Democratic coalition is probably the most ideologically diverse major political party America has seen in generations.

We’re arguing because we’re actually different.

Some members think universal healthcare should look one way. Others think it should evolve more gradually.

Some want aggressive climate legislation immediately. Others worry about implementation and political feasibility.

Some emphasize economic redistribution. Others focus on expanding opportunity.

These aren’t signs of a collapsing party.

They’re signs of a living one.

The goal shouldn’t be to eliminate those differences. The goal should be to channel them into better policy.

The Democratic Socialist might have an ambitious vision.

The moderate might know how to get fifty-one votes.

Neither succeeds without the other.

That’s the part people seem to forget.

Politics has become obsessed with ideological purity, as if the perfect candidate exists somewhere in a laboratory waiting to be cloned. In reality, every coalition requires compromise. Every governing majority is built from people who don’t agree on everything.

The Democratic Party shouldn’t fear that reality.

It should embrace it.

Because if we’re truly the big tent party, then the tent has to be big enough for people who occasionally make us uncomfortable.

Healthy disagreement is not a bug in democracy.

It’s the operating system.

I’d much rather watch Democrats argue over the best way to expand healthcare, protect voting rights, address climate change, or strengthen the economy than watch Congress grind to a halt because one side has decided that solving problems is less important than scoring points on cable news.

Bring the democratic socialists.

Bring the moderates.

Bring everyone willing to govern in good faith.

Argue passionately.

Disagree honestly.

Then do the thing Americans elected you to do in the first place.

Solve the damn problems.