I hear people say things like “if Obama (or anyone left of Republicans) did what Trump did, there would be hell to pay.”
Why isn’t that argument taken more seriously by people on the left as an implicit admission that the left is politically weaker or less effective at wielding power?
If one side “can’t get away with” actions that the other can, doesn’t that suggest a real imbalance rather than moral superiority?
The Left is weaker. Period.
Ronald Reagan went after the unions and the GOP never stopped. The Unions used to do a lot of the groundwork for the Dems; things like getting petitions signed and monitoring voting. The Churches do that job for the GOP because ‘Right To Life.’
The Right has a fantastic ground game in US politics. They drive old folks to the polls on election day, put signs on lawns and in store windows, and send dozens of letters to any media outlet.
Another thing the Left does badly is break up into tiny splinter groups instead of uniting. In one town you’ll have one group pushing for bike lanes, and another angry about the schools, and a third with another agenda.
Yes, the left has no coherent vision.
And the funny thing is when they find someone to rally around, like Obama. They act like it’s some miracle of his personality or something. No, Obama just had a coherent policy and message that people could get behind, including the white-working class. For some reason the Democrat leadership refuses to even consider having such a platform, and like you said, pushes all these niche interests to various voting blocs, instead of having one vision that appears to many voting blocs.