Kansas is a Victory of the People

Momentum is building for a populist reaction to the GOP's extremism. It's time for the Democratic Party to read the room.

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In a high turnout ballot, nearly 60% of Kansas voters chose to protect a woman’s right to choose. The so-called “Value Them Both” initiative, a well-funded and meticulously obfuscated campaign, was soundly defeated in a state with two Republican senators that hasn’t seen Democratic control of its state legislature in three decades.

To begin, it’s hard to describe what good news and what a victory this is. Following the stolen Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe in late June, the national response from politicians has been depressingly lacking. Constantly we have been reminded that the right is on the ballot come November, but not much has been made in the way of messaging outside of fundraising, which has typically been the medium by which outrage has been marshaled to bring in the money. This, however, is a momentous thing, a clear and loud rejection, by the people, of the extremist Republican agenda.

There will be plenty of time to celebrate the win and unpack exactly what has happened here, what the lessons are and what the future should hold, but let us be incredibly clear.

This victory belongs to the people.

When we talk about politics in the United States we spend too long focusing on the parties, and this is to our detriment. Spurred on by the media and our continued alienation from power, we view politicians as fictional characters and Olympian gods battling over our fates. We tune into the prime-time shows, the Sunday morning insider sessions, we cross our fingers, we implore them on social media to do something, anything, and then we watch the cycle play out again.

Meanwhile, evidence keeps mounting that our system, with its parties, with its politicians, with its institutions, has been fundamentally bought out by special interests and the historically wealthy. That the absolute bare minimum will be done to keep the system chugging along and redistributing wealth from the bottom up and furthering the corruption. The deadlock on the national level, an intentional impediment to reform or progress, only moves aside when the forces of capital deem it necessary.

But, again, we are not powerless. We are not alone.

As individuals keep pushing the issue in organizing unions and troubling corporate domination, they are also organizing on the ground. In the South, where they are battling gerrymandering and disenfranchisement the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the Civil Rights Movement. And in Kansas, where a mass of people gave everything they had to organize and rally the vote to protect a fundamental right.

These groups and these people have done this as a matter of determination and principle. They have done it because the Republican Party has shed any semblance of respectability and embraced regressive authoritarianism. They have done this on the local and regional level without all that much support or messaging while partnering with organizations largely outside the party’s umbrella.

And here is why: there is a massive, yawning gap between the people and the party structures. The Democratic Party, beginning in the dawning of the neoliberal consensus in the 1980’s and 1990’s, moved its base from vulnerable populations and organized labor to corporate donors and the burgeoning professional managerial class. To offset this, and to protect its economic outlook, the party consistently and tirelessly appealed to the fabled “independent voter,” seeking out “moderate” citizens who were, as one study put it, “on the outskirts of Dayton, Ohio” with a “mixed view of civil rights.”

Everyone else has been taken for granted because, well, you can’t expect them to vote for Republicans, right? This has been the dominant view among the Democratic Party’s consultant and strategist class for decades with mixed to middling results. Occasionally it wins majorities, but those majorities are typically incapable or unwilling to do much considering their links to special interests, moderate views, and neoliberal values.

Kansas shows us something incredibly important. The country sees the Republican Party as extreme by several percentage points. The power grab with the Supreme Court, the conspiracy theories, the radicalization, the attempted coup, Donald Trump, you name it. No one, save for the most diehard MAGA footsoldiers and brain-melted supporters, thinks any of this is okay. And it’s time to capitalize off that.

Strategists undoubtedly see this as a victory, but also a sign that the Democrats can leave abortion alone for November, that the victory is already won and to push it would only alienate moderates. This is a mistake. A huge mistake that misreads the temperature of the country and also only supports their own mercenary/moderate worldviews, which has been at the beating heart of the party for decades now.

Though you will see more articles about “the party moving left” or “the danger of wokeness” from corporate media in the coming days and weeks, the actual population understands that the GOP is an existential threat. Almost every single day they wait for the Democratic Party to treat it as such and, more importantly, offer an alternative. Democrats have been playing defense since the beginning of the neoliberal consensus, consistently framing themselves as defenders of institutions and offering up right wing-light legislation, including funding law enforcement initiatives, attacking welfare, and supporting wars, all to keep the appeal to that Dayton, Ohio voter going, despite the strategy almost always backfiring.

The people, at least now, need the Democratic Party as a medium to fight the Republicans. Our two party system demands that something somewhere work on our behalf, or else we are only living in a faux-representative state. If there is to be a realignment, and that is what it would amount to should the Democrats rediscover their populist roots and embrace a waiting majority base, it will only happen with the party accepting the actual will of the people and delivering an agenda for a future rather than a defensive stance that’s easily bowled over.

Populism isn’t back. Not exactly, anyway. There are organizations working hard, there is solidarity on the rise. The vote in Kansas shows which way the wind is blowing, and what potential is there, but either we, the people, are going to have to flex our collective muscle and pressure the system into changing or else the party is going to recognize the shift in conditions. I have my doubts as to whether the leadership in place is capable of doing that, but I remain confident in our ability to meet the times.

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