Quote of the Day
They see this as a fight about how Democrats can start winning again, which makes it not merely tactical but also existential: Party officials, strategists, and activists have spent a year sifting through the wreckage of an election that was calamitous to the Democrats’ governing plans as well as their very understanding of themselves. And there is no shepherd to guide them. The party’s erstwhile leader, Joe Biden, is widely scorned. Harris, its would-be standard-bearer, is busy promoting a backward-looking volume of grievances.
Elaine Godfrey
October 14, 2025
The Democrats’ Heterodoxy Problem
As a libertarian/constitutionalist I’m always somewhat amused by a political party changing its policies. And here we have members of the Democrat party considering all policies up for revision as long as they can regain power:
“Permissive” isn’t a word you would use to describe Democrats over the past few years. The party has suffered from a perception that it has become intolerant of different perspectives and preoccupied with identity politics and language policing. Litmus tests aren’t just applied to gun policy, but to policies on LGBT rights, immigration enforcement, policing, and other matters.
But losing power has a way of shaking up party canon. And there are some signs that Democrats are ready to move past this era of ideological purity and rigidity.
I have my differences with Republicans, but the Democrats have been the sworn enemy of the Second Amendment for 60 years. To see them struggle with relevance, self-doubt, and even identity, invokes a fair amount of schadenfreude.
Speaking of litmus tests, the Bulwark is not a good look. You are only allowed to have opinions that are anti-MAGA there. In fact, that is their only reason for existence except for shilling for Democrats.
Here is their publisher.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Longwell
60 years? Make that 150 years, at least. See “The racist roots of gun control” by Clayton Cramer. Or just remember the well documented reasons why the 14th Amendment was created — freedmen being disarmed in violation of their right was one of the expressly stated motivations, as Stephen Halbrook documented in “That every man be armed”.
“Confusion to our enemies!” Was a common mealtime toast in the fairly recent past, nearly as common as “you’re excellent health!” Long may Providence keep them befuddled.