Over at his Substack “Americana,” historian Jim Cullen explains the difference between republicans, populists, and democrats. Here is a taste:
There is, however, a stratum in our political culture between the republican and the populist: the democrat. Democrats in effect occupy a middle ground: they are institutionalists, but institutionalists of a more freewheeling kind. They compromise; they improvise—they’re pragmatists. This is why both republicans and populists tend to dislike them: republicans consider them unprincipled and populists consider them sell-outs. Which, at different points, has been true. But at different points they have also been crucial figures in stabilizing the health of the body politic. Abraham Lincoln was a democrat. So was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. In times of crisis, they tried to steer a middle course. They were hated for that reason, and their solutions tended to be partial at best.
We really need democrats right now. We have members of the chattering classes who saying this, but leaders have yet to emerge. We need to look had for them and encourage them. The future of the republic depends on the democrats.
Read the entire piece here.
