Unions, Municipalities & The Democratic Party's Future

Last month, the Wall Street Journal ran an interesting editorial by Doug Schoen, Bubba Clinton's former pollster. Schoen, though a Democrat, has become, with Carter's former pollster, Pat Caddell, a more moderate teammate trying to rescue their party from the grip of far-leftists and unionists.

Schoen's editorial, chock full of details concerning union spending and various state crises, contends,

"Unless the party confronts its allies in the public-employee unions, it will continue to lose credibility with voters around the country."

Essentially, Schoen believes that the Democrats' long term strategy of turning to unions, especially the government workers unions, for funding and votes, will now, after 50 years, come back to ruin them by alienating the voters who now realize they are paying the exorbitant tab for this unholy alliance.

Schoen contends,

"A key reason for the Democrats' extraordinary defeat in the mid-terms is that the party lost critical support from independent swing voters. In large part, as polls consistently show, this is because of the party's big-government programs such as health-care reform, the bailouts, and the stimulus packages.

If the Democrats want to be competitive in 2012, they must move decisively back to the center. And unless they're able to break the stranglehold that government-employee unions have on the party on policy, as well as in financial and political support, it will be virtually impossible for Democrats to restore fiscal health to states like New York and California."

Thus, the long run effect of the Democratic party's bedding down with the public sector employee unions it allowed has been to alienate the key swing voters who now realize they are paying for the expensive, unaffordable result.

It's a very insightful, concise argument that makes a lot of sense. Personally, I don't see the Democrats being capable of severing that link, so it's a decent bet that if the GOP can just maintain a focus on spending cuts and entitlement reforms, at all governmental levels, they may enjoy a decade-long run of electoral dominance in America.