Democrats should stop pretending that 2028 is safely theirs. It isn’t. As Nicholas Kristof warns, voters aren’t just anxious — they’re deeply unhappy. And too often, Democrats sound like managers of decline rather than champions of dignity, security, and hope.
People don’t vote on charts alone. They vote on lived experience. When housing is unaffordable, health care feels punitive, education burdens rather than lifts, and work no longer guarantees stability, abstract achievements ring hollow. Telling voters the economy is “strong” while their lives feel fragile is political malpractice.
The party’s problem isn’t values — it’s credibility. Democrats must speak plainly about cost-of-living pain, confront corporate concentration with real teeth, and stop treating cultural fluency as a substitute for material progress. Moral clarity without economic courage will not defeat authoritarian populism.
If Democrats continue to prioritize donor comfort, technocratic language, and incrementalism in an era of emergency, they will forfeit the trust of working and middle-class voters. Elections are referendums on reality. Ignore that reality, and 2028 will not be a mystery — it will be a verdict.
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