An Open Letter to Democrats:
To the Democratic Party,
You have spent decades selling yourselves as the Big Tent Party, the party of inclusion, the party that welcomes all voices willing to stand for progress. And yet, somewhere along the way, you lost the plot. You have allowed ideological purists, internal feuds, and an obsession with optics over outcomes to carve away at your base, piece by piece. While you’ve been busy self-policing and exiling your own over social infractions that wouldn’t even hold up in a court of law, the opposition has been laser-focused on winning—building power, consolidating control, and advancing their agenda with ruthless efficiency.
This is your fault.
You have turned political engagement into an impossible balancing act, where candidates and activists alike are expected to appease an ever-narrowing circle of self-appointed arbiters of ideological purity. You eat your own over missteps, perceived slights, and moments of human imperfection. A party that claims to champion working people has alienated labor. A party that prides itself on economic justice has made small business owners feel ignored. A party that speaks of religious tolerance has all but driven faith-based communities—except for the steadfast African American churches—into the arms of the opposition.
Meanwhile, the other side, the party that wants a homogenous society, doesn’t care about ideological purity. They don’t eat their own. They don’t waste time debating whether an ally is problematic enough to be cast out. They focus on the bigger picture: winning. They despise difference, and yet, they have the political maturity to accept help from anyone willing to give them money, votes, or power. They know that if they hold their coalition together—even if it’s fragile, even if it’s built on conflicting interests—they win.
And win they have.
Labor, the working poor, small business owners, and even religious institutions—all groups that should be aligned with policies of economic justice and social progress—have increasingly aligned themselves with a party that, at its core, resents their very existence. Why? Because they’ve been made to feel like there’s no home for them under the Democratic tent. Because when they’ve tried to engage, they’ve been met with hostility, gatekeeping, or outright rejection from factions within the party who would rather be right than be effective.
And now, here we are.
A political landscape where one party is focused on winning at all costs, while the other is preoccupied with infighting and gatekeeping. Where one side builds power by forging alliances, however cynical, while the other tears itself apart over individual grievances and ideological purity tests. Where one side actively oppresses and excludes, but knows how to keep a coalition together, while the other side prides itself on inclusivity but can’t seem to figure out how to actually work together.
Figure it out.
Grow up.
Learn to actually be a big tent party—or resign yourselves to another fifty years of watching the opposition dictate the future. And if that happens, don’t blame the voters. Don’t blame outside interference. Don’t blame apathy.
Blame yourselves.
Sincerely,
An old, white, agnostic man who finds it easier to have an honest political conversation with religious Black women than almost anyone else—despite our divergent views—because at least they understand what it means to build a coalition.
