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The party that has spent the last decade marketing itself as the country’s guardian of democracy is compiling a notable record of dismissing balloting results and thwarting competitive elections. A few months ago the Democratic National Committee set aside its voting results for two party leadership posts, claiming that in last winter’s elections the party’s gender-balance rules had not been correctly applied. This followed the DNC’s successful effort to limit competition against Joe Biden for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination by hosting no debates and changing the primary schedule.
Biden allies even got away with cancelling the Florida Democratic primary altogether. It’s true that political organizations should and do enjoy broad freedom to set their own rules, but of course Democrats’ troubled relationship with the democratic process has not been confined to intra-party debate. It’s hard to ignore the Democratic “resistance” to America’s free and fair general election results of 2016 and 2024. By comparison with some of the examples described above, the party’s latest decision to avoid democracy as a means of resolving disputes may appear merely symbolic and procedural. Still, this week’s action is striking given how badly things have been
going for the party that incessantly talks about democracy but often doesn’t seem willing to live with the results. One might have expected some lessons to be learned, and perhaps an understanding that appeasing the most radical members of a political coalition is no way to assemble a democratic majority. The Journal’s John McCormick reported this week from Minneapolis: A debate Tuesday at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting exposed a growing rift over U.S. policy toward Israel that threatens
to heighten party division ahead of next year’s midterm elections. The dispute centered on a resolution pushed by progressives that called for an immediate cease fire in the Gaza war, an arms embargo, suspension of military aid to Israel and recognition of a Palestinian state. Another resolution offered by DNC Chairman Ken Martin took a more moderate approach and called for a cease-fire, the release of humanitarian aid, the return of hostages taken from Israel and a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.
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