Democrats Are Having a Purity-Test Problem at Exactly the Wrong Time

Lee Drutman was quoted in a New York Times piece reflecting on the growing divisions within the Democratic Party coalition.

Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at New America, wrote in an email:

These divisions reflect larger divisions within the Democratic Party coalition, between an older (and whiter) generation that learned what works in an earlier time, has nostalgia for that earlier time, and is thus more reluctant to give up on the existing status quo (especially because that means relinquishing power to a younger generation they do not trust), and a younger (and more diverse) generation that has no attachment to and little affinity for the past, and a real sense of urgency about the need for major, transformative change across a wide range of issues. Within the Democratic Party coalition, many of the leaders are refusing to pass the torch (look at the leadership of the party), and a younger generation is impatient with the slow pace of change and eager for their turn.

Drutman said his views have been influenced by the work of Kevin Munger, a political scientist at Penn State and the author of the recently published book “Generation Gap: Why the Baby Boomers Still Dominate American Politics and Culture.”

I asked Munger about the dissension on the left and he emailed back:

The fight against identity-based discrimination, against racism and sexism, is of course a much larger movement, but the overlap between age, race/gender, economic stability, and professional power explains why these fights are so heated and why they are happening now.

Munger went on:

When we talk about older people in the U.S. today, we are mostly talking about older white people. And the converse: when we talk about racial minorities, we are mostly talking about younger racial minorities. The baby boomers are the whitest generation in U.S. history (thanks to changes in immigration law and the de-racialization of groups like Italians, Irish and Jews), and Gen Z is the most racially diverse.

While Drutman and Munger focus on generational differences, others contend there are more immediate and more emotionally potent forces at work.