But just because there’s a consensus doesn’t mean it’s correct. The “economic issues not culture wars” frame shared by much of the Democratic Party is entirely wrongheaded. It’s an example of intellectual dishonesty, moral cowardice, historical inaccuracy, and flawed electoral politics all wrapped together. The sooner Democrats drop this perspective, the better off the party and country will be.
Let me start with the intellectual dishonesty. When most people think of “cultural” issues, I suspect their mind goes to movies, music, sports, or other elements of popular culture. “Democratic politicians should not focus on which musicians perform at the Super Bowl or which shows win Emmys” is perfectly fine advice. But Democratic politicians are rarely fixated on football or Taylor Swift. What gets lumped into “cultural issues” these days includes all manner of meaty matters: higher education, K-12 education, immigration, racism, transgender rights, policing, abortion, sexism, religion, voting rights, and numerous other matters. And it’s true that some Democratic politicians and activist groups emphasize those issues.
As they should. Labeling those issues as “cultural” or “social” trivializes them. But Republicans trying to restrict the teaching of sociology, African American studies, and other academic fields they disagree with, bar transgender Americans from getting the medical care they need, deport people to countries that they have never lived in, and the hundreds of other radical actions that the Trump administration and state-level Republicans have taken on the vast range of issues I listed above is very important. Overly aggressive police departments kill innocent people. Restrictive voting laws limit Americans’ participation in our democracy. These efforts to rig the political system are no mere “culture war.”
