Democratic Unity is Overrated

[AN63093]

Well, I guess it depends on what the Dems' goal is. 

If it's just to win elections, then no, of course unity is not required.  The current atmosphere is so polarized, the Dems could run anybody, regardless of who that person is (or how liked or disliked they are), and are guaranteed a certain number of states (same goes for the GOP).  The Dems just need to increase minority turnout in Detroit and FL, flip back those states, and they win.  No unity required.

But Timmy has a point.  If the goal is actually getting something passed, then some amount of unity is required.  Let's say one of the first items on the agenda is some type of universal health coverage.  Well, consider that the closest the Dems could get last time is an old Republican plan from the 90s.  So, there obviously has to be some degree of consensus of the way forward (Lieberman says hello!).

Along those lines though, I think Yank2133 has a good point too.  The schism may seem quite large, and though Griffin has a point that the Dem party is just a collection of disparate demographic groups (many of which have little in common), at the end of the day, I would suggest that they all do believe in some type of universal health coverage (whether that be multi-payer, single-payer, or whatever).  Contrast this to the GOP, where for some, repealing Obamacare was practically the most important thing in the world and a holy crusade, and to others, they could barely hide the fact that they couldn't care less if it got repealed.  Point being- maybe the schism isn't quite as onerous as it may appear.