The party has focused on defending institutions instead of empowering families.
Not too long ago, Democrats were the party of change. Today, they have become small-c conservatives, more intent on defending the past than building the future.
Over the last decade, Republicans have transformed their party. They abandoned long-standing orthodoxies, embraced populism and aligned themselves with the country’s anti-institutional mood. The shift has been chaotic, destructive and often cruel. But they recognized the moment and changed.
Democrats, meanwhile, have remained tethered to institutions, frameworks and assumptions from a political era that is disappearing. If they don’t adapt, they risk becoming the minority party in a political order they had little role in shaping.
K-12 education might not be the first issue that comes to mind when diagnosing Democratic drift, but if you want to understand how Democrats went from the party of reform to defenders of the status quo, start with public schools.
Read the full op-ed by Jorge Elorza and Ben Austin in The Washington Post