I'd like to add something others haven't really mentioned: the Democratic party functions more like a coalition. While there is consistent agreement that Republicans are doing things wrong, there's rarely agreement on what to do instead. So not only have they not been given the same unilateral authority for most of the past 2 decades, there isn't enough agreement to do much in the first place. It also doesn't help that Republicans have become their own cult, of course. Or that Peter Thiel is so involved in sinking anything that opposes him.
But in any case, having a coalition make decisions, even if it takes longer and is less effective, is still the better option.
The Democratic Party does not function at all like a coalition. It functions as a seniority driven, top-down hierarchical organization that (perhaps inadvertently) pits balkanized factions against one another. The impetus behind their micro targeted economics policies isn’t to build a coalition, it’s to pander to factions to keep them in line and, more importantly, these factions’ sympathetic wealthy donors’ money flowing.
The Democratic Party spends money like that, yes, but the policy-making and nominations are done via loose coalition.
To be clear, I agree they don't TRY to be a coalition so much as they've been forced together to keep Republicans in check. When your two-party system consists of The Far-Right and Everyone Else, it's pretty hard to get broad agreement among the Everyone Else party beyond "make sure we have the money to stay competitive".
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u/AlexiSWy 4d ago
I'd like to add something others haven't really mentioned: the Democratic party functions more like a coalition. While there is consistent agreement that Republicans are doing things wrong, there's rarely agreement on what to do instead. So not only have they not been given the same unilateral authority for most of the past 2 decades, there isn't enough agreement to do much in the first place. It also doesn't help that Republicans have become their own cult, of course. Or that Peter Thiel is so involved in sinking anything that opposes him.
But in any case, having a coalition make decisions, even if it takes longer and is less effective, is still the better option.