I get paid millions to write about why Democrats should be more moderate. Here's why Democrats should be more moderate.

That's good money right there

AL ZORZ

APR 28, 2025

Following the 2024 election, Democrats have had to grapple with some tough questions about why we lost. It's clear that Harris simply wasn't able to take advantage of the electorate's dissatisfaction with the system in the same way Donald Trump was able to. While the election was by no means a landslide, I think it's still important that we begin to take action and prepare for the next election cycle.

First, it's clear that the issue that hurt Harris the most was transgender rights.

The one at the top says “Transgender Rights“

I mean look at the top of the picture. For most voters, it's clear that the feeling that transgender rights had gone too far was at the top of their minds when they cast their ballots, and it shows! It's a hard pill to swallow, but the Democrats' willingness to extend transgender people even the slightest crumb of dignity and representation unfortunately became a weakness in 2024.

Exemplified by Donald Trump's scathing, masterful, brilliant, absolutely devastating, unbelievably perfect campaign ad attacking Harris for being for “they/them,“ the Democrats simply don't know how to draw lines anymore, and are constantly pushed towards the extremes by the unreasonable demands of various interest groups in every cultural issue.

Therefore, I propose that our first course of action be to impose a full federal ban on the participation of the less than 10 transgender college athletes, letting independents and moderate Republicans know that the Democrats are the real party of Common Sense and science.

Of course, we can still treat these things with dignity and respect, we just need to also explain to the wider public that yes, we understand this is frightening and weird, and that it may make you uncomfortable, so we are prepared to work with you to make sure transgender people only get the bare minimum amount of rights. This way, compromise and open dialogue will be the path forward for Democrats.

Taking the 20 side of an 80/20 issue is all too common for the Democratic party, as hundreds of interest groups stretch us all across the political spectrum.

Right now, the issue that hurts Trump most is the economy and tariffs, him being underwater in approval on that. However, according to the polls, his immigration policy is still very popular! So, regarding current events, why in the world are we focused on the story of Abrego Garcia instead of the price of eggs?

I've long said that politicians should just listen to the polls and base their policy simply on what most people want. Too often we see Democrats squander their political capital trying to push through unpopular policies, putting them in a predicament they could've avoided had they kept it simple and went with popular opinion.

A Gallup poll from the 1960s, displaying the immense unpopularity of the Civil Rights Movement. Lyndon Johnson's stubborn unwillingness to distance himself from the movement almost certainly contributed to his unpopularity by 1968, and a Democratic loss that year.

Continuing on this path and giving more attention to the Garcia story is going to only make Trump more popular, as Americans clearly already overwhelmingly support his deportation based on immigration polling.

Editor's note: A new poll was released showing voters disapproving of deporting Garcia by a 2-1 margin.

But there are still some issues we need to take a firm stand on, no matter what the polls say. Defending Israel, our vital ally and the only democracy in the Middle East, is an issue that we absolutely cannot back down on.

I find it all too common for figures on the far left to try and simplify the conflict between Israel and the brown people there into a story about colonialism and oppression, when in reality, the situation is far more complex than that. Too complex, in fact, for me to explain in just this one article, but just know that the standard American narrative of the conflict is mostly correct, just like most other events and conflicts America is involved in, and will be the one I use moving forward.

So, when history started on October 7th, 2023, and Israel began to exercise its god-given right to defend itself against Hamas soldiers and take pre-emptive strikes against Hamas hospitals and schools harboring Hamas doctors and Hamas babies, I was overjoyed to see great American universities take action against the anti-Semitic terror-supporting demonstrators. It was the right thing to do, and it should be something that Democrats continue to support, defending our nation against foreign agitators and home-grown terrorists, while at the same time promoting peace and unity in the Middle East.

But what the Trump administration is currently doing is a step too far.

We must remember that when I supported the arrests of student protestors on Columbia, I only very rarely called for them to be deported, and I did so with good intentions behind my words. The Trump administration, however, is going too far by doing what I wanted Biden to do, but as Republicans.

Finally, we must not lose our party to far-left radicals that will alienate voters and cost us elections.

What we are in desperate need of now is a group of leaders who are willing to step up and speak to an electorate that is tired of the current image of the Democratic party. It would be a grave mistake to elevate unpopular far-left figures like Bernie Sanders or AOC, who would certainly be considered too radical and socialist to form a true winning coalition. Instead, moderates who can show courage in the face of opposition from the left are our best bet for the future. Personally, some of my top choices are Josh Shapiro, Elissa Slotkin, Gavin Newsom, and John Fetterman. They've absolutely got the courage to make change in the Democratic Party, and bring it back to the center.

Fetterman has displayed impressive and admirable bipartisanship, showing a true willingness to reach across the aisle in confirming Trump's Cabinet nominees.

These 4 years of Donald Trump won't be easy, but by taking these steps, I believe we can finally get back on track to victory.

Al Zorz is a former Clinton policy advisor and founder of the Institute for the Defense of Capital, a moderate Democratic think tank. He will be joining Marc Andreessen and Peter Thiel on his “Abundance of Abundance“ book tour in May.