TRUMP

258 ANATOMY OF A MONSTROSITY
hence the need to coordinate serious global action to reduce emissions
and stall the effects of climate change.
It’s a relatively simple matter for the left to offer an appealing agenda.
A good social-democratic program can win people over: single-payer
healthcare, better labor protections, fixing criminal justice, and ensuring
access to good schools when you’re young, and a secure retirement
when you’re old. Such a program should emphasis the universal, “we’re
all in this together” aspect of left politics. Because these policies disproportionately
benefit people who have the least, they are able to
resolve the problem of balancing broad appeals with special attention
to particular excluded groups.
In beginning to think about how to remake ourselves and become
politically successful, people on the left should have a few broad goals
on our mind:
• Reformulate a serious progressive platform – No
more Clintonism, no more technocratic politics. Politics
should be based on a set of values that are clear
and defensible. Those values should be articulable to
everyone. We should not just focus on what policies
we want, but explain why we care about them.
• Offering Compelling Narratives – Have clear goals,
but don’t get too wrapped up in policy details. It’s
important not to dwell in total fantasy, but it’s also
true that if you become too “wonkish,” people aren’t
going to know what the hell you’re talking about. To
win political campaigns, you need to lay out broad
principles and plans.
• Moving Beyond Presidencies, Recapturing state and
local power – While the Democratic Party is relatively
competitive at the presidential level, it has been