The policies that Warren and her colleagues want to enact may be popular, but too many of those who embrace these ideals are unable to vote for them. Money in politics can subvert the popular will, as Warren says. But nothing undermines democracy like simply getting rid of democracy altogether. Any progressive agenda must begin by ensuring that the people who support it can have a voice in their government. Yet, even though disenfranchisement has hobbled the Democratic agenda it has received little high-profile policy attention.
It’s not that Democrats have ignored voting rights altogether. While he was in office, President Barack Obama denounced voter ID laws requiring voters to show driver’s licenses or other identification at the polls, effectively disenfranchising many poor and minority voters. Then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) undertook a high-profile effort to restore voting rights to people convicted of felonies in Virginia. Democratic groups successfully sued Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for failing to hold special elections for the state legislature in a timely manner.
Democrats’ initiatives on voting, however, tend to be reactive and piecemeal. This is in sharp contrast to the Republicans, whose efforts to suppress voting are closely and consciously tied to the party’s core messaging and strategy. Unless the left can make these goals central to the conversation, we risk a climate in which the right’s agenda goes effectively unchallenged.
