President Barack Obama must act now to fix the Democratic National Committee in the wake of recent catastrophic losses for the Democratic Party.
The overwhelming victory of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton shows that the Democratic Party has fallen deeply out of touch with crucial groups of American voters in key parts of the country. This election should not only have been winnable for the Democrats, it should have devastated the Republican Party for years. We live in a time when millennial voters like me proudly embrace diversity and inclusion at the same time our now president-elect calls for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States and the reinstatement of humiliating stop-and-frisk tactics. Given this harsh reality, the Democratic Party must do some serious soul-searching, and I present here some reforms essential to the party's survival moving forward.
First, every single person in a position of power at the DNC must be fired. In the past four elections since 2010, the Democrats have lost dozens of seats in the House of Representatives, gubernatorial elections across the nation, control of the Senate and the Oval Office. In this election in particular, WikiLeaks did a valuable service to the voters of the Democratic Party by proving once and for all that the DNC did in fact favor Secretary Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders, violating its own bylaws. During debates and television appearances, Hillary Clinton and others have deflected questions about these issues by pivoting to Vladimir Putin of Russia. But that doesn't diminish the fact that leaders in the Democratic Party have over time called Democratic socialist Cornel West "trash," set up questions at town hall debates to disqualify Senator Sanders based on his religion, called Mr. Sanders' young supporters "Berniebros," and engaged in other forms of malicious behavior toward the very candidate who galvanized a generation crucial to the success of the party moving forward.
Next, positions of leadership must be given to those who have shown integrity throughout their careers in the Democratic Party. Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, for instance, chose to resign from her position as Vice President of the DNC in order to support Bernie Sanders' campaign. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been a lioness in the Senate, uncovering corruption and fraud in our government and banking system. Bernie Sanders himself, after the aforementioned abuse was revealed, stuck by Hillary Clinton and supported her through Election Day. America has spoken, and the Democratic establishment is done for.
Third, the Democratic Party must shut off all corporate donations into the party coffers. The banks and investment firms that have sponsored the Democratic Party through this election were not paying the Democrats to regulate them. Rather, these banks paid the Democrats to lose. The finance chair of the Democratic National Convention was the CEO of the health insurance giant Blue Choice, a company that ironically donated more money to Republicans than Democrats in the 2014 election cycle and has lobbied to repeal parts of Obamacare. The vast majority of American voters understand that money corrupts politics. We in this country have a magnifying glass on the backdoor meetings between politicians and lobbyists. And that door just got smashed open.
Finally, and most importantly, the Democratic Party must grow a backbone and adopt a message that it can bring to the American people. I've heard many times that I needed to vote for Hillary Clinton because she will appoint the right Supreme Court justice and not outlaw abortion. But after eight years of a Democratic administration, the banks that were too big to fail in 2008 have only gotten bigger. Guantanamo Bay is still open, and prisoners across the country have been held for years without a trial. President Obama refused to listen to the backlash within his own party and continued to press for the Trans-Pacific Partnership throughout the summer.
Our new Democratic Party must put forward specific proposals to end fraud on Wall Street. It must bring forth specific policies to protect our civil liberties. It must bring specific provisions to fix our trade deals. It must stand for environmental justice. It must fight for a constitutional amendment to get corporate money out of politics. It must fight to galvanize the country. The American people have spoken: Enough is enough. My generation is ready. Let us fight onward!
Nathan Feldman is a student at the University of Maryland; his email is nfeldma1@terpmail.umd.edu.