A new campaign season has launched, and with it, the Democratic Party of Hawaii has repositioned itself to bolster the election chances of its candidates.
There are few states where Democrats hold quite the advantage as Hawaii Dems do, and there seem few prospects for overturning the balance of power in the foreseeable future. And that’s truly lamentable, for a democracy benefits from challenges by a robust second, or even third, political party.
Still, even here, there are divisions in the dominant party, somewhat reflective of what’s happening among Democrats nationally, and some attention must be paid to addressing those schisms.
The state party had its convention last weekend at Waikoloa, and seemed at least superficially to be relying on the one playbook with a unifying theme: opposition to President Donald Trump. No doubt this is a point around which the party is rallying, nationally.
Democratic leaders from Hawaii and other states, however, should be seeking a more affirmative platform, as negative campaigning has its utility but may not inspire the voters as much as imagined.
The convention drew speakers such as U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, who rapped the president for playing fast and loose with facts, to the point of outright lying. And she expressed the concern about the “packing” of federal courts with conservative judges.
She also urged her party to adapt the Trump catch-phrase by embarking on a “Make America Whole Again” agenda. That needs to be the emphasis — especially as acting on that impulse would amount to going back to the party’s, and Hawaii’s, working-class roots.
The elections of 1954 is the line of demarcation between Hawaii’s Republican tenure, largely dominated by moneyed interests, and the era of the Democrats, a party giving the diverse, Asian-ancestry demographic a political home. Its growth was largely fueled by the membership of labor unions, then beginning their own ascent.
As the party became entrenched, however, money followed the new power structure. Some of the interest groups — the unions, larger businesses, to name two categories — became the new elites. The labor movement began to shed private-sector membership, leaving public-sector unions among the primary beneficiaries of the new political ruling class.
Successive labor contracts increased wages and retirement and health benefits to the point at which the state now faces a crippling liability for its unfunded benefits.
What seems to have emerged is an elitist social stratification in which people are placed on the basis of economic status rather than race. Hawaii is as diverse as it ever was, but there are clear haves and have-nots. Those who managed to secure property are the “in” crowd, while the poor are on the outs, and sliding further into poverty.
It’s seen everywhere, in the rents that strain working families’ budgets, in the homelessness suffered by many who earn too little to afford the basics.
At the convention, Kealii Lopez defeated the current chairman, Tim Vandeveer, who was seeking a second term. Lopez, associated with the Democrats’ establishment wing, most recently was a lobbyist for the American Resort Development Association, Expedia Inc. and other groups.
The choice signaled yet another shift in the balance of intraparty power, as Vandeveer represented the more progressive wing that, in 2016, supported Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton for president.
Democrats will need to overcome that tension if they are to attract the new, younger voters and remain relevant. And if they are to accomplish that, it’s time for Lopez and other Hawaii Dems to advocate for those who truly need the government’s help, rather than continuing to back those already well off.
Certainly, the Dems are aware their dominant position is unlikely to erode in the short term. Still, voters and taxpayers want to see leaders work a lot harder at proving they deserve to keep it.
