The New Republic: Primary Every Democrat

Democrats, meanwhile, have left too many pale, stale (and, frankly, male) lawmakers in prominent positions where it’s painfully noticeable how icky they find saying the word “abortion” aloud and who prefer to imagine themselves operating in a 1980s fanfic version of Washington rather than fighting in the hellscape where we find ourselves now.

In the face of 40 years of attacks from Republicans who have sold their base, and contorted the national media around, the idea that “government is bad,” Democrats have never once thought to promote the counter idea of “government is good, actually.” The Clinton era shifted Democratic rhetoric in a way that conceded the conservatives’ position on government; the only point of contention was that only Democrats had the wonky technocratic juice to run it properly. This all contributed to a broad idea that the civil service was a faceless bureaucracy, and the media, seeing no objections being raised, helped to drive that point home. That keeping the lights on was the ceiling and not the floor.