Column | Practical Patriotism and New Momentum: Democrats Embrace a New Dynamic

Tear gas exploded on the streets of Chicago as American Democrats gathered there for their party convention in 1968. Raging police mobs attacked tens of thousands of raging protesters, many of them students or other young people. Chaos ensued. The party was overthrown and lost the election.

More than half a century later, back in Chicago, the party is brimming with newfound optimism, the pro-Palestinian activists are the only ones shaking the walls, and the result, for now, is a statement on the stage. It’s not chaos, but momentum that sets the tone this time. A shift?

“National pride is to countries what respect for one another is to one another: it is a necessary condition for self-improvement.” So began the philosopher Richard Rorty in 1998, with Bill Clinton as president, Achieving our homelandIt is a short book about American politics and the dead end he believes the Democratic left has entered.

Rorty turned against the “cultural left,” which had retreated into abstract anti-capitalism, focusing on original historical sins and illusions of revolution. In his view, this stood in the way of practical politics and alliance-building. His advice for reinvigorating left politics: “stop” theory (the collective name for cultural criticism brought over from Europe) and “get out of the habit” of philosophy.

If not, he predicted electoral success for the “strong man,” the know-it-all, the fascist, who promises his voters to get rid of all those hated government officials and “postmodern professors,” and in the meantime, of course, he will be great friends with the “super-rich.” Socially, this means “the return of sadism,” open racism, and “joking contempt for women.” There you have it: Trump.

Rorty had a vision, but a quarter century later the situation is different. Harris-Walz’s optimism and his aspirational message that “we will not go back” are in keeping with his call for practical patriotism. In her speech, Michelle Obama made a scathing reference to the ideological self-flagellation that had torn the party apart at the time and rendered it hopeless: “We cannot be our own worst enemy.”

Chicago 1968 was a disaster for the Democrats. The radical wing of the party lost itself in sectarianism, and the mainstream stumbled helplessly into the wave of neoliberalism that had swept through American politics since Ronald Reagan.

Chicago 2024 could be the beginning of a new dynamic for Democrats on the road to truly progressive politics. This, as Obama said, is an “uphill” battle, but this time, if possible, without tear gas.

Sjoerd de Jong writes a column here every Thursday.

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