Is The Democratic Party Too Diverse?

A growing diverse populace (can't recall where pic came from...)

I've been thinking a lot lately about the potential future of the United States and whether the two-party democratic experiment is a realistic model for when the current regime is finally in the rear-view. I've been reading Heather Cox Richardson for her analyses of our current situation through an historical lens (highly recommend, by the way) as well as reading a lot about how we got here. I have several extremely left-leaning friends who think the Democrats have no chance to fix/repair/restore things because the Democratic party is too centrist. I also have plenty of folks in my orbit who believe the ultra-left/progressive arm of the Democratic party is just too extreme, unelectable and/or doesn't represent the "typical" Democrat. It feels like never the twain shall meet. And that is what keeps me up at night.

By their very nature, the Democrats of today are the party supporting diversity and civil rights, while the Republicans are the party of MAGA, the ultra-wealthy, and more conservative beliefs. Over the past several decades, I have watched what may prove to have been irreparable splintering within the Democratic Party. Yet, over that same period (until very recently), the Republican party has stuck together like glue, seemingly blindly, and often against the interests of their constituents (and not infrequently even against their own prior beliefs).

Given all that, is realistic for a party that embraces diversity and civil rights to be able to have a single figurehead who can adequately represent the inherent divisions within the party? While the Republican party's demographics have not seemingly changed all that much, we have seen the color, ethnic/religious backgrounds, and support for democratic socialism continue to grow within the Democratic party. I therefore find myself wondering whether, ironically, the Democratic party is just too diverse to work as one of the two parties in our government.

The USA was (obviously) much smaller when the Constitution was written and the country was born. The two-party system worked well enough because of a general cohesion in beliefs within each party and a tacit adherence to the Constitution. The world is very different now, and the US population has indeed become a melting pot, which I, personally, think is great. But I'm just not convinced that our two-party system makes sense anymore. Republicans seem to be pretty good at following the mandates stipulated by their "leadership" whereas Democrats are more -- how shall I say this? -- feisty about ensuring their leaders represent their will (which is pretty impossible given the splintering I spoke of before). I'm tired of Democrats bad-mouthing their own party (which they absolutely have every right to do!), but then not coalescing when it comes to voting. Do I want the blind sycophancy of the Republicans? No, of course not. But when push comes to shove, Democrats bringing down other factions within the party only makes the party weaker and leads to disenfranchisement and skipping voting.

I believe everyone should vote, and everyone should have a candidate who they feel represents them (more or less). As I've said before, and will undoubtedly say again, I think it's clear that enormous changes need to be made to our government if there is any hope of moving on. Term limits need to be imposed for congress people and Supreme Court justices, lifetime benefits need to be abolished for elected officials, and corporations need to pay their fair share in taxes (just for starters). But even with those changes (which I don't believe will actually happen), I really wonder whether the two-party system in the US makes sense going forward at all.

The current consideration set for potential Democratic presidential nominees includes several candidates I would be thrilled to see as President (especially compared to what we have now). But the majority of them are considered unelectable because they are too centrist or too progressive (not to mention gay, not-white, female, Jewish, and/or something other than a traditional old, white politician). And, while I will 100% vote for the party that embraces equality, diversity, science, education, and social justice regardless of who the nominee is, I know many who won't be willing to to that -- meaning they won't vote or they will vote 3rd partly (which arguably is what got us here).

As we think ahead to the post-Trump/MAGA era, we need to consider not trying to recreate what we once had. If we do try to re-establish what once was, neither our former allies will be able to trust us, nor will roughly half of our own population. I am thinking that the diversity the Democratic party embraces is itself at least part of the problem. So let's hope the grownups in the room/ party, or the learned pundits consulting those adults, are giving this some thought. If we need to rebuild (which we surely will in my opinion), then let's look forward not backward.

Thoughts?