Domestic Color Revolution of the Democrats

After the mid-term election was over on November 6, the Democratic Party took back the majority status in the House of Representatives while the Republicans maintained control in the Senate. Although the Blue Wave the Democrats called for became merely a ripple, the party sees a bright future in 2020 with the Republicans suffering setbacks in the suburbs. All in all, the color revolution instigated by the Democrats in the U.S. has finally begun to bear fruits. This color revolution aims to change the color of the people and that of the thought.


Fruits of Diversification of the Population

For the Democrats, their obtained a number of “the firsts” in the history of the U.S.: the first gay governor; two Muslim women elected to the House of Representatives for the first time ever; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman with belief in Democratic Socialism, won a seat in House among others. With an overall victory for “Political Correctness” as defined by the characteristics of the voters, media aligning with the Democrats cheered: their side made history in the mid-term elections in 2018 and will lead the way in the future.

The Republican still controls the Senate. However, the media generally see that president Trump will face countless troubles from the House. For instance, the House can call on an investigation on the president, demand him to submit tax report or even indict him.

People who vote for the Democrats are mostly the have-nots (those living on social welfare or meager income), the intellectuals (people working in the education, media and other culture-related sectors), the minorities (ethnic minorities, teenagers, and the sexual minority) and the female voters. As the Democrats themselves admitted, they owed their victory in this round of elections to the increase in Hispanic and female voters and the younger generation of Americans who become the popularity cornerstone of Democratic Party.

It took the Democrats years of effort to mode the voters into this current structure. Except for the number of intellectuals that remains relatively stable, all other voters have seen increase in number and this is very good for the Democrats.

From Melting Pot to Salad Bowl

The U.S. has always identified itself as a melting pot, where the population may be of different backgrounds but all share the American values and would not form parallel societies like the Muslims who do not accept the mainstream values in France. After the Charlie Hebdo attack, the French did some reflections and concluded the tragedy was a result of the second- and third-generations of Muslim failing to be assimilated by the mainstream society and they became envious of the melting pot culture of the U.S..

However, the melting-pot culture in the U.S. has long changed. In order to win over voters, the Democratic Party has been creating new interest groups with new appeals. And the fastest way to boost the Democratic camp is by encouraging immigrants and illegal immigrants. During Obama’s tenure, the largest single amnesty turned five million illegal immigrants into U.S. citizens. Most of these people are of Latin-American descent and are staunch supporters of the Democratic Party. In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s election platform was the promise to immediately open the border after she got elected into the White House.

As a result of the influx of immigrants and the high fertility rate of the ethnic minorities, especially that of the Latin-American, the structure of the U.S. population changed. Back in 2008, a report by the Census Bureau already forecast a gradual decline of the White population, from 66% at that time to 46% percent by 2050. In another report published in June 2017, the Census Bureau found that as of July 1, 2016, the total number of Hispanic people stood at 57.5 million, registering an increase of 2% from the year before; the number of White people not of Hispanic descent increased by less than 0.01%, or roughly 5,000; the number of Asian Americans increased to 21.4 million, or a 3% jump, larger than all other ethnic groups. And by 2044, it was forecast that over half of the U.S. population will be from ethnic minorities. In the space of less than a decade between the two reports, the change of the color of the U.S. population got accelerated by six years.

It is necessary to point out that the fastest increase in the number of Asian Americans posts no significant influence on the politics of the country because of the diversified background of this ethnic group, which includes people from India, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and several countries in the Middle East. This ethnic group, due to difference in race, culture, religion, political beliefs and its scattered nature, will not possibly become a strong political force in the short run. The Muslim immigrants, on the contrary, can become a wavering political force easier. Take Florida and Minnesota for example, the fast increase in the number of Muslims immigrants from Somalia and Kenya who live closely together enabled them to elect two Muslim women to the House of Representatives.

Aside from calling for the legitimization of illegal immigrants, the Democrats and a few social groups meddle with the tension between ethnic groups to further their own political interests, and pocket of the votes of the ethnic minorities by making them angry. As a result of this manipulation, the U.S. as a melting-pot is no more; it has become a salad bowl instead.

Democrats taking a turn for Socialism

In June 2015, the Census Bureau published a report saying that the millennials—people born between 1982 and 2000, with a total number of 83.1 million—make up more than a quarter of the entire population of the U.S. The younger generations have always been steadfast supporters for the Democratic Party. In this round of mid-term elections, a sharp increase in the number of voters aged between 18 and 29 was registered and was a third factor contributing to the success of the Democrats. In a poll conducted by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in October that targeted young people, it was revealed that 40% of young voters will go to the polling stations to cast their ballots, up from the usual 20% turnout rate since 1986. Furthermore, most of the voters of this demographic group support the Democrats. According to a report by the Atlantic, in states like Texas and Nevada, where the competitions for the seats in the House were the fiercest, there was a five-fold increase in the turnout rate of young voters in early-voting.

Like their counterpart in Europe, young people in the U.S. are mostly left-leaning. In November this year, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation released, in partnership with YouGov, their second annual report on U.S. attitude toward Socialism and communism.

According to that report, the majority of the Americans, regardless of their demographic groups, prefer to live in a free market society. But for the millennials, their number one option is socialism. Forty-four percent of the people in this age group want socialism, surpassing capitalism (42%), and 7% opt for Fascism and Communism respectively.

With belief in socialism, the millennials throw their support for the Democrats. On July 3, the New York Times published a piece, ‘the Millennial Socialists Are Coming’, which cited the finding of a recent survey: “61 percent of Democrats between 18 and 34 view socialism positively”. They are the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

General Election 2020, 50/50 for both camps

Despite the cheers of victories for the blue camp, sensible observers know that neither side can win for sure in the General Election in 2020.

Within the Red camp, the differences between the party establishment and Donald Trump have sorted out somewhat. As can be recalled, Donald Trump succeeded by defeating the establishment of the Democratic Party and that of the Republican Party as well as the Bush’s and the Clinton’s families. For this reason, Trump will not get the support of Republican establishment. Late Senior Senator John McCain for one opposed Trump more than the Democrats. In this mid-term, many of the Republicans who lost their seat are followers of John McCain. Thus, while the Red camp lost seats, it became more united under Trump. In the coming two years, policies by the White House will get greater support among Republicans. However, taking into account that voter demographics, the campaign strategies, mobilization ability and fundraising capability, the odds are against the Republicans.

For the Democrats, its establishment and the grass-roots are at odds though. Originally an independent presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders joined the Democratic Party only in 2016 to get its support. Former staffers of the Sanders campaign team, his supporters and followers—by and large socialists—joined the Democrat Party this year and formed the Brand New Congress, an organization that aims to get young people with similar political beliefs elected.
The progressive played a big role in the mid-term. Notable achievements included helping Ocasio-Cortez defeat Joe Crawley and, as The Hill reported, during the Democratic National Convention summer session on August 25 in Chicago, secured a vast-majority vote to restrict the role ‘super representatives’ play in deciding the Party’s presidential candidates and so a replay of the Blue camp choosing Hilary Clinton over Bernie Sanders can be avoided. ‘Super representatives’ include former presidents, former vice-presidents, Congress leaders, DNC chairpersons, its members Democrats in the House and the Senate as well as incumbent governors.

The victory of Ocasio-Cortez and the restriction on the role ‘super representatives’ play signify the victory of the grass-root democrats, who without question will become even more at odds with the establishment.

With years of effort made, the Democrats have silently brought forth a domestic color revolution, one which race and thought are important components. In the last 50 years, countries in the Latin America formed a Leftist circle. Immigrants from these countries are inherently supportive of socialism. And as the political and economics beliefs of the Democratic Party become increasingly Utopian, the rivalry between the Republican and the Democrats will not just be a competition between common sense and Utopian beliefs but will also determine the roles the U.S. will play around the globe.