Still Crazy...

And Happy Anniversary to Sanity Clause

I’ve been doing this for two years now. It’s been fun and we thank you for your support. Sanity subscribers are 12,000 strong…and growing. I especially appreciate the quality and thoughtfulness of comments from paid subscribers (most of them)…and I’d also appreciate any suggestions you may have to make this a better place to convene. Meanwhile, I’m offering a second anniversary discount to newcomers:

And now the news…OY, the Democratic Party. Here is how Jonathan Chait opened his recent account of the Democratic National Committee meeting in The Atlantic:

Speaking to the Democratic National Committee, which met to select its new leadership this weekend, the outgoing chair, Jaime Harrison, attempted to explain a point about its rules concerning gender balance for its vice-chair race. “The rules specify that when we have a gender-nonbinary candidate or officer, the nonbinary individual is counted as neither male nor female, and the remaining six officers must be gender balanced,” Harrison announced.

As the explanation became increasingly intricate, Harrison’s elucidation grew more labored. “To ensure our process accounts for male, female, and nonbinary candidates, we conferred with our [Rules and Bylaws Committee] co-chair, our LGBT Caucus co-chair, and others to ensure that the process is inclusive and meets the gender-balance requirements in our rules,” he added. “To do this, our process will be slightly different than the one outlined to you earlier this week, but I hope you will see that in practice, it is simple and transparent.”

Molly Ball of the Wall Street Journal elaborated:

Later in the program, an audience member stood up to lament that there was only one at-large seat set aside for a transgender person, and called on the candidates to add another seat and for “making sure those appointments reflect the gender and ethnic diversity of the transgender community.” Only one candidate raised his hand to indicate he wouldn’t make such a commitment.

Yes, friends, still crazy after all these years…and the encroaching dementia is not benign. Can this party be saved? I have my doubts. The intellectual corrosion is comprehensive; it is only matched by the self-righteous arrogance. But what’s the alternative? I’ve been through Dems in Disarray syndrome multiple times in the past: in 1972, in 1980, in 1988, in 2016…but, gotta say, this is the worst I’ve ever seen it. There is a vast cluelessness abroad in the party. Its prevailing vision of an America based on identity now resides in the outhouse. Even my former employer, The New Yorker, repository of stately, elegant liberal myopia has noticed that something is amiss:

According to [Washington state Democratic Rep. Adam] Smith, the Democrats’ main problem is that they can’t govern. In large progressive cities such as Seattle, part of which lies in Smith’s district, “we’ve got a real problem with crime, homelessness, drug abuse, and affordable housing,” he said. Smith said that he’s tried meeting with various local agencies about these problems but has encountered bureaucratic incompetence and ideological retrenchment…

Smith sees ideology as the driver of Democrats’ governing failures. As he wrote to me recently, from his AOL account, “Too many people in power in these places seem to spend too much time pushing an extreme left ideology by policing language on things like pronouns, what given ethnic groups should be called and in general reeducating everyone about the evils of capitalism and all the systemic failures of America over the course of 400 years.”

And yet, and yet:

This is the dilemma for Democrats like Smith: though they may have strong objections to the ideological culture of the left, they’re also uncomfortable with Trump’s program to destroy it from the right.

Sorry, but that horse has left the barn. The Democrats have twice now enabled a World-Historic Demagogue to be elected President of the United States. One wonders if Trump’s reelection will stand with Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon. The Gaza-like rubble of the Biden Administration is just beginning to come into focus. It probably dates to the days before Biden became President, when he made a deal with the socialist minions of Bernie Sanders to create his new Administration. This was Project 2021, the precursor of Project 2025. It resulted in left-nuttiness below the radar throughout the government. Every so often, the nuttiness would surface—as with the chaos at the Southern border—and Biden would do nothing about it. But usually it was a subdural hematoma, bleeding beneath the surface, like the death-grip the teachers unions held over the Department of Education. And the utter lapse in keeping the Pentagon up to date and funded appropriately. And the espousal, in too many Democratic cities, of releasing shoplifters without bail. (It wasn’t Defund the Police; it was Empower The Thieves.)

The Democrats offered a free preview to the American people in the way they governed the largest cities. Here is where things stand in Chicago:

After nasty clashes involving character assassinations and a mass resignation, a showdown is drawing closer in Chicago between the most powerful local teachers’ union in the country and the most financially distressed school district.

The growing possibility of a teachers’ strike in a city with a long history of labor upheavals highlights the troubles rocking public schools nationwide. First came drops in academic performance and enrollment from lower birth rates and the pull of charter and home schools promising a better education and sometimes delivering it. Enrollment has plunged 20% in Chicago since 2012, a bigger decline than in many large cities…

The costly issues in the negotiations are compensation and staffing. The district says it offered a 16% cost of living pay hike over four years, on top of baked-in increases that bring the total to about 30% for most teachers with a master’s degree. The average teacher salary would jump to $110,000, with the most experienced instructors earning $140,000 – compensation that’s competitive with other large urban districts.

Now, I love the idea of teachers being paid six figures, especially the good ones. But the union is, as teachers unions are, utterly opposed to any sort of accountability, which can easily be established by relative progress in test scores, peer and parental review…and to the market accountability of (public) charter schools. I mean, we’re at a point where 70% of our schoolchildren are not even “proficient” in reading, according to the gold standard, the National Assessment of Educational Progress—which means, they can barely read a menu.

Peggy Noonan recently suggested that, as a demonstration project, the Democrats choose one of the large cities they run….and actually try to govern it. A non-starter, sadly. Those cities, as I’ve written, are run for the benefit of their employees. And too many of those employees are selected according to identity, not merit.

What to do? I’m open to the idea of a third party, but I’m also open to the idea of a third nozzle—hot, cold and endless free Margaritas—for the kitchen sink. Probably ain’t gonna happen. Ruy Texeira, as usual, has some sane intermediate suggestions in his just-initiated column in The Free Press, which I recommend highly. The headlines below are his, the comments are mine:

1. Avoid the name-calling: That is, don’t call Trump a fascist, even he does appear to singing from that hymnal. It is simply not a conversation-starter. Oppose him, vigorously, by all means. But don’t set your hair on fire.

2. Moderate—Starting with immigration: Keep the border closed. Favor strict standards for refugees, except for those from places like Afghanistan, where lives are actually at risk. Favor a new comprehensive immigration system that will raise the numbers, especially of skilled immigrants, and not punish those who have been here illegally for 5, 10, 20 years, worked hard, committed no crimes and paid their taxes.

3. Partner with Trump when he’s right—like on DEI. Sorry Rep. Adam Smith, Democrats can no longer support special breaks according to identity—unless that identity involves service and sacrifice. The GI Bill is great legislation.

4. Embrace Energy Abundance. Full speed ahead on all fronts, including those majestic windmills, even though Trump doesn’t like them.

But those are just appetizers. The Democratic Party needs to be challenged—from the outside, by like-minded people, as it was in the early 1990s by the Democratic Leadership Conference. John Avlon teaches a valuable history lesson in The Bulwark, quoting Bill Clinton’s brilliant rhetoric from those days. He also cites Al From, who founded the DLC:

From told me that he’s been receiving calls to revive the organization. “I’ve had a number of conversations with Democrats who would like to see a new DLC style effort,” he said. “Whether it actually happens will depend on getting a core group of current elected officials who are willing to drive it forward—and leaders from a rising generation of governors would be a good place to start.

I hope to have From on a Night Owls podcast session in the near future. He’s got the road map, but there are problems with a DLC revival. The group’s strength came from three sources: great ideas (from the Progressive Policy Institute), the support of strong candidates (especially governors like Clinton) and…well, lots of money from corporate interests. The last made the group a pariah on the left, but it helped get a lot of good people elected. I’m not sure whether enlightened business folks would be willing to pony up this time—too many are intimidated by Trump—but big-time financial support is necessary for a Democratic Party reform movement. And big time courage from Dem politicians. Chuck Schumer recently pulled a futile all-nighter on the Senate floor, trying to block the nomination of Project 2025 author as Director of OMB. Schumer is a fabulous fund-raiser. He can summon lots of money. He should throw it behind a revived DLC—and if he’s into symbolic gestures, he should announce that he will not accept another dime from the American Federation of Teachers (which rules New York and Chicago), until they support merit pay and accountability for teachers, and school choice (charter schools not vouchers). And Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker wants to run for President? Then pull a full-body Sister Souljah on the Chicago Teachers Union, otherwise you’re disqualified as wimpy above and beyond the call.

But, yeah, I’m dreaming….

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