Author Leah Hunt-Hendrix penned a piece titled “To Overcome the Republicans’ Culture War, Democrats Need to Punch Up, Not Down,” in which she suggested that moving more toward the center is the wrong strategy for Democrats in 2022. She sets the stage by acknowledging the precarious situation in which Democrats find themselves, noting that there is a “growing fear that a toxic mix of culture war attacks and spiking inflation will doom their congressional majorities in November.”

Hunt-Hendrix then refers to those in the Democratic Party who are calling for a move to the center. She wrote:

In response, some Democrats and like-minded commentators have urged the party to veer to the right. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has urged lawmakers to denounce “amnesty” for immigrants and tout their support for police. Slate columnist Jordan Weissmann suggested that “maybe Democrats need to offer some serious concessions on culture war issues.” And political scientist Ruy Teixeira recently wrote, “All the political signals are screaming: Democrats must move to the center.”

She calls this idea a “terrible approach” and a “self-defeating idea” and notes that it will further alienate those who have previously supported Democrats. “Notably, Democrats are not just suffering from low approval ratings among independents; they are also registering low ratings among key elements of the base, such as young people and people of color,” she pointed out.

The author contended that the reason the Democrats are having so much trouble isn’t because of their policy ideas but because of how they are framing their messaging and because they are not paying attention to culture war issues. She wrote:

The reason the Democratic Party keeps losing is not because some communities are speaking out against the violence they experience at the hands of the police or the immigration system. The reason Democrats lose is because they don’t tell an effective story of who they are, what they’re up against and what they are fighting for. Democrats can’t ignore the culture war being waged against them.

She then suggests that Democrats should embrace “inclusive populism” to counter attacks from Republicans. The author rightly points out that “[w]hen Republicans go after Democrats as too ‘woke,’ what they’re really doing is painting the party as too elite” and that conservatives are arguing that Democrats “are so far removed from the daily concerns of working people that they are more interested in ‘virtue-signaling’ than kitchen table issues.”

Ding ding ding! Give the women a cigar!

The author suggests that Democratic leaders “must confront this elitist image head-on” and employ “an inclusive style of populism that punches up at elites instead of down at activists.” She contends that this would require “demanding the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share” and all the usual far-leftist claptrap that every member of their chattering class regurgitates ad nauseam.

Hunt-Hendrix has appropriately diagnosed the problem. People perceive that Democrats are elitist and out of touch and this is hurting their chances of not getting beaten like a drum in November.

But what folks like her fail to understand is that the messaging coming from the right is resonating with the public because it is true. Democrats are viewed this way because they have shown themselves to be elitist and out of touch with ordinary Americans. And yes, that includes black and brown voters, who are steadily pulling away from the party.

When Democrats push for defunding the police while crime rates are skyrocketing, they show they either don’t know what everyday people want – or they just don’t care. And this goes double for black Americans, who bear the brunt of the increased violence.

When progressives scold the rest of the nation for not wanting teachers to instruct small children on issues related to gender identity and sexuality, they are revealing that they are out of touch with parents – even those that vote Democrat. The fact that left-leaning politicians and media figures support the idea that parents should not have a voice in how their children are taught further shows their lack of concern for everyday people.

I could go on and on with this.

The bottom line is that Democrats are not going to save themselves by simply doubling down on their rhetoric and silly ideas. The average person does not embrace the pie-in-the-sky policy proposals that are popular at cocktail parties in D.C. Instead, they want tangible, pragmatic solutions that address the issues they are dealing with on a daily basis. Unfortunately for progressives, they haven’t yet figured this out.