You're gonna have to serve somebody...

Today's lesson: respecting your base. Or, as Molly Ivins put it, dancing with them what brung ya. This is the evidently complicated political tactic of listening to the desires of the people who voted for you, then carrying out said desires. I know, it's a radical idea. But stay with me here.

Every political party has a natural base; that is, an amalgamation of individuals and interest groups who stand to benefit most when the government is run by that party, and will therefore vote for that party. In the US, the party/base split is as follows:

Republican Party: Large corporations, wealthy individuals.
Democratic Party: Everybody else.

So in a representative democracy, how is it possible that a party whose governing philosophy would benefit everyone with fewer than two houses (a slight majority, last I checked) loses any elections at all?
Partly it's cultural. There's a very deep-rooted piece of the American mindset that likes the idea of government stepping in to help people, but thinks they're doing way too much for the darker-skinned folk, or the gays, or the (fill in minority/special-interest group here). Tribalist stupidity? Oh yeah. But it's there. And as long as you're a party that really wants a better shake for everyone, regardless of gender, race, orientation, religion, etc., you're probably going to lose a few people who don't want to share their toys with the weird kid.

A bigger part, though, at least with the post-DLC Third Way-horseshit Dems, is that they took a look at that calculus, and decided that rather than follow their basic philosophical instincts and cater to the needs of every American who doesn't have a trust fund and a winter home in the Caymans, they would try to out-corporate the GOP. There's a funny thing about that, though. The big corporations already have a party, and don't need another one. And when everyone else looks around for a party, they don't have one. Come Election Day, they either don't show up, or they vote for the good-looking guy with the truck who at least seems like he listens occasionally.
Too theoretical? OK, cool. 3 out of 5 MA Obama voters who voted for Brown said that they support a public option in healthcare. And of Obama voters who stayed home, 80% support a public option. This is what we call in political science "a pissed-off base." Might be time to fix that.