Democrats are turning the phrase ‘Big Tent’ into a throwaway talking point as they try to justify the growing ranks of declared socialists within their party. The problem is that tents can get too big, leaving the party’s leadership in the uncomfortable position of getting what they asked for but not what they wanted.
The best recent example comes courtesy of Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin, who says his party’s tent is so big, “All are welcome.” This open invitation has resulted in socialists not simply joining with Democrats; they’re trying to take over the party and turn it into something it’s never really been. It’s kind of a brilliant political strategy.
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is not a political party. That’s intentional. Socialist candidates like Angie Nixon, the nominee running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate in Florida, can’t run on a DSA Party ticket because doing so first requires a very laborious process of qualifying as a party on the state’s general election ballot in November. So rather than expending the time and resources necessary to form a new, ballot-eligible party, the DSA is simply taking over an existing party. This approach also eliminates the risk posed by an additional center-left party that would splinter the liberal voter base, greasing the skids for years of Republican electoral dominance.
That’s the problem facing Martin and the DNC today, and it will only get worse for them over time. While the DSA wants to blow up the Constitution by eliminating the Senate, the presidency, the Electoral College and the Supreme Court, Martin claims “there’s more that unites us as Democrats than those small differences.” Small differences indeed. No wonder other establishment Democrats say flat-out that the DSA doesn’t reflect the party.
This is what happens when the tent gets too big. It’s analogous to the old saying about not being so open-minded that your brain falls out. Martin and the DNC have allowed their tent to get so big, they’re on the cusp of losing their party altogether. But this isn’t the first time a party’s tent has become unmanageable. It happened to Republicans in the late 1980s, and the GOP’s response was the polar opposite of what Democrats are doing today.
It was Republican National Committee Chairman Lee Atwater who popularized the term Big Tent in 1989, and the party did indeed begin to grow. But when Louisiana politician David Duke changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in his 1989 special election campaign for a seat in the state legislature, it was more than the GOP would allow. Duke was a notorious bigot, a white supremacist, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard and vocal antisemite, so the RNC took immediate action.
Shortly after Duke won his race, the RNC’s leadership quickly convened and unanimously repudiated Duke, cutting any and all ties with him. Political parties can’t kick out people they don’t agree with; anybody can claim affiliation with any party they wish. But Atwater referred to the RNC’s actions as an excommunication of Duke, calling him neither a Republican nor a Democrat but “a charlatan and a faker.” The RNC’s tent had gotten a little too big, so Duke was unceremoniously escorted out.
Compare this response to that of the DNC’s Martin, who is willing to accommodate the “small differences” between traditional Democrats and the newly invited DSA nominees. They spew antisemitic rhetoric, agitate to defund the Department of War, and campaign on socialized medicine, socialized housing, abolishing the prison system and queer liberation. These are the people who want to take over Martin’s party, and he appears helpless and hapless as it unfolds before his eyes.
Yes, political tents can get too big, and the results we’re seeing in this election cycle provide evidence of how destructive the process can be. It also suggests desperation among Democrats who crave power, a desperation so great the party is willing to accept and support nominees whose stated desire is to shred the Constitution and dismantle a free market economy that has created more wealth and comfort for more people than anything in world history.
Ken Martin wanted a big tent for Democrats, and he got it. But did he want a tent so big that his party faces being devoured by radical socialists? It’s certainly possible. After all, it was Rep. John Conyers, an establishment Democrat from Michigan, who first introduced Medicare for all as early as 2003, so perhaps Martin is intentionally allowing the DSA to gather steam within his party. The question is whether the DSA is mounting a hostile takeover or simply representing the intended trajectory of the party. Either way, it’s a question that should frighten us all.