This TownHall article by Salena Zito, (link below) while focused on two counties in Pennsylvania and the implications of Democrat infighting there, we think is applicable to the inter-party Democrat personas and tendencies across the country. There are tensions for Republicans to exploit but never to the extent of admitting of “good Democrats and bad Democrats” because fundamental to all Democrats is that they are imbued with the logic of the nanny state and globalism
The logic is relentless and they cannot extricate themselves from there being no social, or economic, or “fairness” problem of any sort that government should not address or fund. The so-called moderates and centrists are only so for electoral reasons not policy implementation. The personnel is policy infra-structure they build is relentless in aggrandizing more “problem solving ” power for government. Individual rights be damned. It is what Democrats are about and what they do.
No one should be fooled about any Democrat’s presentation of being a “centrist” or a “moderate” because they are not in control. The zeitgeist is in control and it is about more control, even if temporarily slower as long as the agenda is moved forward. Their election will only ratchet the nanny state grip on society. Their foot-dragging here and there, or demurrals on this or that, are of no consequence other than to fool people even if they honestly think themselves to be different. They will be made to conform.
Centrists Flirt With Democrats, and the Party Rebuffs Them (excerpt)
Places such as Allegheny and Lancaster counties have made strides in elections with Democratic candidates who ran and won as centrists. Once they are elected, however, local party apparatuses start to demand more fidelity to liberalism, and the national party stresses it in messaging. But these are the kinds of places where any gains that were made since Trump was elected may start to fall apart.
The ideological balance in this country remains firmly center-right. Yearlong 2019 Gallup poll numbers based on combined data from 21 of its telephone surveys show 37% of the country, on average, identifies as conservative, 35% as moderate and 24% as liberal.
It also found that Republicans tend to be less fractured. They have their differences, but in the end, they conform around conservatism.
Democrats are more fractured. Survey results strikingly reflected what happened in Allegheny and Lancaster counties. As Gallup said, “Even though liberalism has been on the rise among Democrats, it is not yet the clear majority position, perhaps leading to the strong intraparty clashes.” This has been seen at the local level in Allegheny and Lancaster counties, as well as the national level, in Democratic Party presidential debates.
A Democratic presidential candidate is not going to win or lose based on how fractured his or her party is. It will depend on how well he or she can coalesce the party and motivate people to show up.
What is happening in Allegheny and Lancaster counties, and countless other counties across the country, shouldn’t surprise anyone. It has been reflected in every single Democratic debate of this presidential cycle.
This didn’t start yesterday, last week or in reaction to Trump or Hillary Clinton. This party has been trying to shed its centrist members since the presidential campaign of Al Gore, and it tipped the scales with former President Barack Obama — who waited until his second term to dismantle the so-called New Deal coalition in favor of the ascendant coalition of young people, minorities, women and just enough white working-class voters.
Clinton failed to include the working class in her coalition and lost. If these smaller county parties mimic that in 2020, and if the Democratic National Committee and its presidential nominee follow suit, Democrats will struggle locally and nationally. The result will be fewer locally elected Democrats, a slim-to-none congressional majority and four more years of Trump.
Salena Zito is a CNN political analyst, and a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through shoe-leather journalism, traveling from Main Street to the beltway and all places in between. To find out more about Salena and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
