Democrats Fail to Live Up to Their Label
By Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. June 19, 2023 5:40 pm ET People attend the launch of No Labels at Columbia University in New York, Dec. 13, 2010. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images Democrats proudly embrace their party name, using it to style themselves as champions of the average voter. The “Democrat” label dates back to the 1820s, an era when the common man gained a voice over ruling elites. Voting rights, however, weren’t protected for all Americans until the 1960s. As a youth coordinator for Martin Luther King Jr. in North Carolina from 1963-68, I watched as bipartisan majorities in Congress passed both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
By
Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.
People attend the launch of No Labels at Columbia University in New York, Dec. 13, 2010.
Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Democrats proudly embrace their party name, using it to style themselves as champions of the average voter. The “Democrat” label dates back to the 1820s, an era when the common man gained a voice over ruling elites.
Voting rights, however, weren’t protected for all Americans until the 1960s. As a youth coordinator for Martin Luther King Jr. in North Carolina from 1963-68, I watched as bipartisan majorities in Congress passed both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
I am a lifelong Democrat and remain active today to ensure voting rights and equal access to the ballot for all Americans. But what’s in a name when the Democratic Party fails to live up to its ideals?
Recently, some 40 leading Democratic officials and strategists, including President Biden’s former chief of staff, met in Washington to find ways to keep potential candidates endorsed by No Labels off 2024 presidential ballots in all 50 states. It’s disturbing that Democratic Party leaders are now mobilizing to limit Americans’ access and choices at the ballot box.
No Labels was founded in 2010 to give voice to the growing common-sense majority that the American political system so often ignores. We helped found the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in the House and worked with Republicans and Democrats to advance the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the debt-ceiling deal this month.
There is a clear demand for greater choice in American politics. In poll after poll, millions of voters say they don’t want a rematch of the 2020 presidential election in 2024.
If the two major political parties insist on nominating presidential candidates and putting forth ideas that don’t appeal to most Americans, No Labels will nominate a unity ticket of common-sense candidates. Ideally, this prospect would convince one or both parties to correct course. Were that to happen, No Labels would stand down.
In Arizona, which was one of the first states where No Labels started gathering petition signatures, the state Democratic Party has responded with fury. It filed a lawsuit in state court against No Labels alleging that the signatures we collected and the petition approved by Arizona’s secretary of state should be thrown out.
In legal filings, lawyers for the Arizona Democrats argue that No Labels’ presence on the ballot could “make it more difficult to elect Democratic Party candidates,” and “require [the party] to expend and divert additional funds and staff time on voter education to accomplish its mission in Arizona.” In other words, the Arizona Democrats seem to think election laws should free them from having to persuade voters that their candidates can do a better job than an independent ticket.
If more than 60 years fighting for civil rights has taught me anything, it’s that selective application of obscure laws often serves as a cover for something repressive. It’s unfortunate that there are some Democrats seeking to suppress the will of voters in Arizona, and now the suppression effort appears to be going national.
Maybe it’s how I came up in politics, but the notion that Democrats and Republicans should repel each other like magnetic poles strikes me as un-American. In the 1960s the parties cooperated on important legislation, and compromise was central to those historic civil-rights victories. It’s been clear since that neither Democrats nor Republicans have cornered the market on democracy. When the two parties function properly, American democracy thrives. When they don’t, the country suffers.
Mr. Chavis is a national co-chairman of No Labels and president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
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