If Democrats pursued a working class agenda, then they would pursue a policy of external revenue generation that compelled corporations to re-shore manufacturing to the United States to avoid paying tariff duties—not taxing affluent white-majority communities to pay for state-run grocery stores, a policy proposed by New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani that will see those who can relocate move their businesses and families to Florida, Tennessee, and Texas.
If Democrats pursued a working class agenda, then they would eschew internal revenue generation, leaving more money in the hands of working class men and women who know far better than the government how to spend their money. I hear talk about how Republicans are going to take away money from those who need it for health care and food. My wife and I need money for health care and food. Cut our taxes and we will be able to do that more effectively—and maybe have some left over for recreation and retirement. That’s not a selfish concern. We earned it. And we’re not exceptional. We are among the millions of Americans who made something of themselves.
If Democrats pursued a working class agenda, they would close the borders and deport the millions of illegal aliens who take jobs from American workers and drive down their wages. They would invest in law enforcement to secure for American residents the public safety measures that provide residents with the security they require to go about their lives. They wouldn’t invite the Third World to come to America. They would keep barbarians outside the city walls. They wouldn’t defund and stand down ICE and local law enforcement.
If Democrats pursued a working class agenda, they would make sure that girls and women enjoy safe spaces to go to the bathroom and undress in locker rooms without having to worry about males being present. They would ensure that females sports were for females. They wouldn’t allow administrators, counselors, librarians, and teachers to sexualize children in our public libraries and schools. If Democrats pursued a working class agenda, then they would stand with families to protect childhood innocence.
If Democrats pursued a working class agenda, they wouldn’t make race a qualification for education and employment opportunities. They wouldn’t subject working class Americans and their children to discrimination on the basis of skin color and other suspect classifications rationalized with academic theories and abstract bases lacking discriminatory intent.
The reason Democrats find themselves in the position they do, with only around 20 percent of voters across various polls approving of the party’s performance—as high as 70 percent disapproval—is because Democrats on the opposite side of every one of the items noted above. Meanwhile, Trump has maintained an approval rating of over 50 percent for weeks now, and Republicans as a party enjoy approval ratings approaching that. Republicans are now the largest party in the United States, drawing support from across demographic categories. The party pursuing the working class agenda today is the Republican Party. I never thought I would see the day when I would say such a thing. But here we are.
Democrats desperately want to contrast themselves with Republicans. That would be a massive mistake. Leaning into the contrast will only keep the Democrats mired in the rut they’ve put themselves in. The American people are suffering from progressive fatigue. Progressivism has only made their lives worse. They don’t want what Democrats are peddling. They want good paying jobs, low taxes, safe neighborhoods, and an educational system that puts families first. They don’t want government to run their lives. They want government to say out of their lives.
Zohran Mamdani does not represent the working class agenda. He represents a boutique, academic progressivism that plays well in Ivy League faculty lounges and on social media, but falls flat in the break rooms and kitchen tables of working American families. His policies are crafted not for those who build, fix, haul, or protect, but for activists who treat politics like a lifestyle brand. The working class doesn’t need state-run grocery stores (the face of socialism’s failure)—they need the freedom and means to choose where they shop, where they live, and how they raise their children.
Mamdani’s vision, like much of the modern Democratic Party’s, is top-down, ideologically rigid, and fundamentally disconnected from the practical realities of everyday Americans. Until Democrats abandon that vision, they will continue to lose the very people they once claimed to champion.
freedom and reason 