The Big Tent: Reconstructed and Repopulated

Democrats have depended on the Big Tent strategy for political success since FDR’s time, when a national crisis alarmed millions of voters and caused them to look for a “savior” would restore order and help them through a rough patch. The stock-market crash, bank failures, the ongoing depression, the Dust Bowl, the end of the gold standard, foreign threats, war – hot and cold – and racial upheaval all brought varied interests into Democrats’ Big Tent and extended their political power. During the 62 years from 1933 to 1995, Democrats held the presidency for 34 years and control of both houses of Congress for all but a few years. Since 1995 they have held the presidency for 18 of the last 30 years.

During the 92 years since 1933, the occupants of Democrats’ Big Tent have changed a great deal. In FDR’s time they were poor people looking for help, working people trying to make ends meet, labor unions, southern (and northern) racists, and leftists working to push the country into socialism. Some of my elderly neighbors think that’s still the Democratic constituency, but things are much changed now.

Readers, family members and folks in my circle of acquaintance, who see how Democrats have turned society upside-down and run the economy into a ditch, are asking me what sensible person would support far left-leaning Democratic candidates and vote for a continuation of their policies. They wonder who could be in that Big Tent now. In answer to that question, I’ll identify the factions and political blocs that I see there.

Old-time liberals. These are the voters, like some of my elderly neighbors, who think Democrats are still champions of the working man – especially the older worker – and protectors of women and children. Often, they are folks whose ancestors have voted Democrat for generations. Many aren’t noticing what Democratic politicians stand for today and which voters they now ignore. Persuading them to look at the result of Democratic governance in many cities and states is almost impossible, unless that governance affects them financially or personally.

Uneducated youngsters and Gravy-Train riders. This bloc of voters believes the government (or the presidency) has money to give out. They want the goodies to keep flowing, and they expect to be net-takers, not payers. Many in this bloc have no interest in controlling government taxing and spending because they are low-paid, unemployed, or on welfare. They pay no income taxes, and they don’t care where the money comes from, so long as it keeps flowing their way. Legions of illegal immigrants are joining this cadre, including some 10 million new arrivals during the past 4 years.

True believers and Trump-haters. These voters don’t care what Democrats stand for or do, so long as they stop Donald Trump (and his MAGA cadre) from gaining control of the government. In many cases they are single-issue voters – e.g. advocates of gay rights, unlimited abortion and transgender surgeries – who know that Mr. Trump and most Republicans will never support their particular causes.

Big Lie believers. These voters swallow every lie preached as fact by Democrats at every level. They don’t listen to any other message or read any other argument. They are living proof of Josef Goebbels’ claim that any lie – however big – if told loudly and long enough, will be accepted as true by a significant faction. It was the tactic that got otherwise sensible Germans to accept the Nazis’ claim that Jews were “enemies of the state” who had to be eliminated. (Sound familiar?)

Deciders on looks, youth and style. These voters, of all ages, will cast their votes for a candidate who looks good, speaks well, dresses attractively, and demonstrates some classy style. This fixation on looks and style explains how a series of Democrats’ “mystery candidates” bypassed voters’ true concerns and cruised to electoral success, over the past 60 years. Starting in 1960, JFK was the first Mystery Dude rolled out by Democrats. His Irish good looks, patrician style and easy public manner wowed young voters – especially women – who wanted a young, dynamic change from old guys like Ike (age 70), Harry Truman (age 68), and FDR (who died in office at age 63). But JFK’s politics were a mystery, even to the politicians and constituents of his own party. During his brief “Camelot” presidency he shocked many by springing surprises in foreign affairs (Cuba Bay of Pigs), economics (low taxes), social issues (opposition to Jim Crowe racism), crime (war on the Mafia), and personal behavior (extra-marital affairs). Many historians believe that some of those disquieting surprises might have led to his assassination.

Mystery Candidate Supporters. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama all brought good looks and attractive style to their campaigns, but little substance except vague buzz-phrases (e.g., “Hope and Change”). Voters hoped Barack Obama would usher in a refreshing new era of racial reconciliation, but he only caused more division. Joe Biden seemed like a harmless old guy who would restore “normalcy” and a welcome calming of the uproar that Democrats had raised over Donald Trump. Joe’s basement-campaign let him win without clarifying what his “normalcy” would be. But big spending on his climate-change pals and other public-feeders, plus his war on fossil fuels, caused galloping inflation, drove the economy into a ditch, and made a second term doubtful. With their party in full panic-mode just three months before election-day, Democrat bigwigs dumped Joe and got Big Media to help them turn the giggling, far left vice-president into another Mystery Candidate. They hope she will fool the voters long enough to get elected.

Counter-cultural identity groups. This motley crew includes militant gays, child-sex enthusiasts (e.g., NAMBLA¹), the transgender “community,” performers of (and profiteers from) irreversible transgender surgery on children, Planned Parenthood abortionists, radical after-birth abortionists, anti-Zionists, pro-Hamas militants, Black Lives Matter rioters, DEI educators, and feminizers of our military arms. All expect support and a place at the public-funding trough in exchange for the votes of their blocs. Some will conduct public riots on demand, which they expect Big Media to ignore or label “mostly peaceful demonstrations.”

Big Media partisans. From the 1930s through ‘60s our print- and broadcast-media reporters and analysts were generally supportive of the nation and its leadership. They were all-in on our war-efforts against Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan. Party was not a factor. At least, so it seemed. Of course, Democrats were in charge during most of that era, so media’s political alignment wasn’t as obvious. During the 36 years, from 1933 to 1969, Ike was our only Republican president (1953-’61). Big Media tolerated him because of his leadership in World War II, but that Era of Good Feeling went the way of the dodo bird after Richard Nixon took office in 1969. Liberals and Big Media – but I repeat myself – hated Mr. Nixon because of his participation in the House Un-American Activities Committee’s 1940s and ‘50s project to root out communists working in our federal agencies. Democrat liberals never forgave Mr. Nixon for his anti-leftist activism and were always looking for ways to bring him down. The Watergate scandal of 1974 produced a way, and Big Media – notably the Washington Post – joyfully joined the effort to destroy their old enemy. Thenceforth, the media’s gloves were off against every Republican candidate and president. It was all war, all the time, and the country’s well-being be damned. Big Media said every Republican president wanted to start a nuclear war, cancel Social Security, and take away elderly medical care. They called Ronald Reagan “a dumb actor reading lines,” but they couldn’t touch him because of his thick skin and witty style. They hammered Bush 41 for an imaginary recession, covered for Playboy Bill Clinton, denounced Bush 43 for lying us into war, and worshipped Barack Obama as the “smartest man who ever lived.” Finally, they went fully unhinged during the candidacy and presidency of billionaire businessman Donald Trump – launching a vicious campaign of lies and DoJ prosecution that continued, full bore, through Mr. Trump’s term and after he left office. Left-leaning Big Media are some of the most valuable occupants of Democrats’ big tent.

I might have missed some factions who are hiding in Democrats Big Tent, but this summary probably covers most of them. It’s a new time now. FDR and JFK wouldn’t have imagined what’s happened to their long-ago “party with a heart.” Too many of its members no longer believe in what America has always been.

I encourage my readers to recognize the factions gathered in that big tent and to understand what issues they are pushing. More than that, all Americans need to be clear about what they want the country to stand for, where they want it to go, and what they want it to be. That will tell us how we need to vote.

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20)

“If it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

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1. NAMBLA = North American Man-Boy Love Association.