The populist left has an extremely myopic and uninformed view of the American electorate. They believe (incorrectly) that a majority of Americans support progressive policies and that once a sufficiently progressive leader and platform arise, they will easily win. https://twitter.com/danahoule/status/1259335243133263874

If you believe that a majority of the people are behind you, the logical conclusion is that you don’t need to compromise or build coalitions to win an election.

The only problem with this logical conclusion is that the underlying premise is completely wrong.

We’ll never fully understand the populist left without understanding their logic. They believe that because most people will benefit from progressive policies it follows that they will vote for those policies.

We have a lengthy history of this premise being repeatedly disproven.

The populist left does not understand that it isn’t as simple as “we’ll do more for you, so you should vote for us.” Very few voters vote on a strictly economic basis. They may like free health care, but hate gun control, immigration. Many vote their culture, not their wallets.

The progressive worldview is that addressing economic fairness is universal and that social issues are not. Therefore, social issues can (and should) be dismissed. In fact, improving economic fairness might even help ameliorate cultural conflicts.

This view is completely wrong.

How do we know? Because that’s what repeatedly plays out at the ballot box. The chief division in this country is not economic; it is cultural. Voters in both parties mostly vote their values, not their pocketbooks. Economic fairness is important, but it doesn’t win elections.

And if we ever want to address economic fairness, we have to win elections. That requires building broad coalitions that might have some ideological diversity. The populist left does not understand this. That’s why they never win.