From the moment Donald Trump shocked the nation by edging out against Hillary Clinton, many Americans have bemoaned the shattered norms that are so central to Trump’s style. Echoing this feeling are the many Democrats whose resistance to Trump has become the almost sole basis of their politics.
The fallout from Trump’s focus on his base has led pundits from all sides to point at an opening for a “return to normalcy” candidate. Such a candidate could tap into the exhausted political center of America. As the Democratic Primary gets into full swing, many have watched to see which candidate could best embody an attempt to fix the shattered norms of our hyper-partisan time. In the wake of the early Democratic debates, it’s safe to say the relevant candidates have no true plans to fix shattered norms.
The goal of many of the candidates is apparently to out-Bernie Bernie. Few have embodied the idea of normalcy less than Bernie Sanders. As the first open socialist to gain traction as a presidential candidate, there are few norms that he doesn’t want to shatter. Embracing this hard-left plan of attack is hardly a “return to normalcy” approach. Such an approach is unlikely to attract support from the beleaguered American center.
Nearly across the board, we have heard a gambit of hard-left ideas. It goes without saying that if you like your private insurance, if you think third-trimester abortions are an offense to the sanctity of life, and if you happen to own what Democrats think are “assault weapons” then you just might have a hard time pulling the lever for any of these candidates, regardless of how you feel about Donald Trump. They seem more interested in a counter-revolution than a return to normal.
The hard reality of the Democratic Primary is that most of the moderate voices are not gaining any traction. And, Joe Biden’s candidacy, while showing some momentum, might have an expiration date before the finish line. As a whole, the Democratic Party seems hell-bent on keeping to its new hard-left direction. They have not yet come to grips with the role their politics, ideas, and rhetoric have played in where we have come as a society. In the minds of the silent majority of Americans, who neither desire a hard-left nor extreme-right government, these Democratic debates have been a disheartening affair. It’s becoming clear that neither major American political party is serious about fixing shattered norms.
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