By J Ash Bowie
Community
I am utterly shocked at what the Democrats pulled off at this convention. Honestly, I don’t even know how they did it. I’m 55 years old and I’ve never seen the Dems do what they did over these last four days. I’m genuinely gobsmacked. Here’s what they did...
The Democrats pulled in center and even center-right voters without sacrificing progressive values and ideals.
This was not Third Way triangulation. This was not avoiding issues that the GOP believe are lines of attack. Harris and Walz did not tack to the center. Here’s what they did…
The Democrats redefined the middle!
They pulled off this magic trick with unapologetic punch, with joyful humor, with clarity of vision, and with a strong eye on national unity. Every speaker up there made it clear that Democratic priorities are moral, achievable, and just plain common sense. More than that, the Democrats finally, finally, FINALLY framed liberal policies in terms of core American values. Here’s what they did…
The Democrats framed us as the party of freedom and patriotism.
When Democrats talk about justice, fairness, equality, and the rule of law, we are ultimately talking about freedom and we are embracing patriotism.
When Democrats prioritize reproductive rights, public education, affordable health care, reducing gun violence, keeping Americans safe, and tackling the climate crisis head on, we are prioritizing freedom and patriotism.
When Democrats stand up to autocrats, tyrants, abusers, and bullies, we do so to promote freedom and patriotism.
And it was wonderful to see how everyone embraced this framing with so much exuberance, pride, optimism, and energy! Clearly we Democrats have been hungry for this and it has unified the party beyond anything we’ve seen for decades.
Obviously not all the credit for this astounding transformation belongs to the Harris team. We’ve all been pushing the Overton Window leftward for decades. And the overreach of the right, starting with the Tea Party movement and culminating with the MAGA movement, has helped push the right far out of the middle, leaving a political void for us to walk right into. But I will say that the Harris/Walz team has been pitch perfect at defining the GOP as “out of their minds” and the Democrats as good old-fashioned Middle America common sense.
For younger members here, I cannot overstate how badly we center-left folks have been begging the Democrats for years to stop ceding the middle to the Republicans, letting them wear the mantle of freedom, liberty, patriotism, strength, and common sense. But no more!
Time to roll up our sleeves and win this war for liberty.
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