June 7, 2025

Friends,

New York Time’s columnist David Brooks wrote a challenging article this week on the crisis of the Democratic Party. (See a link to Brooks' full article in footnote below.*) The gist of the article is that the Democratic Party has not been able to adapt to the new global populist movement, and continues to pursue a course dependent on policies that emphasize economic relief and social justice that have excluded a large middle class. I admit that the liberal agenda has largely defined my personal and professional commitments over the years, and I still believe the basic liberal tenets of compassion, inclusiveness and justice are noble goals consistent with my basic values. But I have come to believe there is a whole level of graciousness, humility and spirituality missing from the political assumptions about my liberal governmental philosophy, and I am open to explore the alternatives.

In practical terms, and what we have had to recognize in response to the Trump elections, is that the liberal agenda is seen as ignoring, or even hostile to, a large number of disaffected fellow Americans who have not felt included in it. Although it must be recognized that the New Deal infrastructure of our governmental social policy has served the general population well, especially those who now feel disenfranchised from it. And we in general can now agree it needs reevaluation. 

During most of the last century the commitment of government policy has been shifting away from the primacy of the common good as codified in the New Deal to one favoring the military, wealth, and partisan-driven control. The revenue side of public policy also eroded through a decrease in the percentage raised through income tax and loopholes in corporate tax policy. The result is that a huge number of our citizenry have seen their expectations for the future of their lives and that of their children diminished. Meanwhile, those Brooks called the educated and comfortable social elites who have been able to maintain a high level of lifestyle (like myself!) have become less and less attuned to the diminishment, hopes and assumed expectations of so many others, the "forgotten middle class” made up primarily of caucasians who were not recognized as part of the emphasis on promoting racial and marginalized equality. 

So the Democratic Party - and I would add, all of us - need to envision a new model, a new paradigm of government and lifestyle if we are to maintain a successful democracy. I actually believe the solution is as obvious as it is difficult. But it is possible.

In short we need to shift from a competitive, we/they culture to one that actually assumes an acceptance and responsibility of each other, especially the outcast and marginalized. From the time of the biblical prophets, including the momentous moral reforms promoted by the recorded teachings and life of Jesus, the compassionate message of a viable populist movement has included both the need to oppose the exploitative social order and replace, or reform, it with a commitment based on compassionate morality and the discipline of just laws. That is what Moses did for the Israelites. I think of Jesus confronting his ensconced Jewish leadership as well as the Roman Empire with a whole new morality of inclusiveness and mercy. For me this approach was the compelling heart of the governmental reform led by Frances Perkins in the New Deal. ( See footnote ** below)

Where to start? In spite of the current authoritarian takeover, I actually believe a major movement toward the common good, and away from hierarchy, has already been been fomenting, perhaps mostly underground, for some years now in the U.S. and elsewhere. There is an increasing recognition of the success of the Scandinavian models in terms of a commitment to social welfare and well-being. And I have watched various social groups willing to experiment with a consensus decision-making process. Young leadership especially has adapted this form of group dynamic. I have been so surprised and pleased that one of my advocacy group for criminal justice reform, led by those who have been formerly incarcerated, follows a strict discipline of shared leadership, a commitment of personal respect, and group decision processing. And I think this is happening in many more communities who are rejecting hierarchy and experimenting with alternative habits and practices of communal life in major institutions such as churches, medicine, and even the military. . 

Yes, we have the reality of the destruction of the current authoritarian rising, but now perhaps we will begin to internalize the compelling need for the cultural shift that will fill the vacuum left by the authoritarian takeover when, hopefully, it has run its course. The immediate question for the Democratic Party, and each one of us in our personal life and communities, is how to commit to internalizing and promoting a culture that follows the lead of the prophets, the teaching of Jesus, and the New Deal. We all need to join in a commitment to prioritize serving not only the most needy, but all of us with fair and equitable taxation and honoring the public welfare. An initial stumbling block to realizing this shift is what we may call it. Whatever the acceptable name we can call this shift it ultimately must find a common anchor that will summon out the best of our past cultural values. I am beginning to realize a that I am increasingly comfortable with the term Christian socialism which expresses an integrity with my personal values and my faith and practice. However this movement gets named and implemented, I believe this is the direction the Democrats must learn to follow, as well as the rest of us. I am increasingly convinced it is not an option to do otherwise if we are to preserve democracy and a civil society. I intend to be more transparent in my commitment to this goal in my writing and personal lifestyle.

Ultimately the art of fomenting change is to match a moral vision with a structure worthy of holding the new vision. the Bible offers an interesting image of how to create change in Jesus’ image of the need to pour new wine into new wineskins.  As Brooks pointed out, the old models of populist governance no longer serve. We need new “wineskins” that can adequately hold the incredible challenges and changes being imposed upon us with AI, climate issues, unbridled, cruel warfare among others. What are the new “wineskins” we need to create to hold this whole new world? I actually believe we know the answer but as yet do not have the full vision to begin implementation

Peace,

Tom
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*https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/opinion/democrats-trump-winning.html

** I take considerable encouragement from the example of Frances Perkins, the secretary the Department  Labor in the 1930’s, who was the steadfast, driving force behind the New Deal legislation during the FDR administration. Perkins shifted, against all odds, a government committed to primarily supporting corporate interests, to a New Deal government emphasis that assumed responsibility for the average citizen, especially those in crisis or on the margins. Our nation needs to be forever grateful for the critical advances she promoted that have affected millions of people since: Social Security, minimum wage, workplace safety legislation, unemployment insurance, for example, all of which are now threatened by the Trump administration.