Show Me a Good Loser, and I’ll Show You a Loser

Democrats are finally fighting like our lives depend on it

Fighting for your life in trench warfare tends to focus your priorities, no soldier dodging bullets and grenade shrapnel gives a damn if the buddy beside him has uttered an off-color joke or passed a purity test, you just care about killing the bad guys and helping each other stay alive. And so it seems the shock of this existential fight for our country is finally beginning to snap Democratic politics to similar attention. Across the country, voters are screaming, “We just care about fighting back and winning!” Thank God, not a minute too soon!

CNN polling data showing voters’ desire quickly shifting toward fighting Trump 2.0

I’m disappointed that it took this long, but I am thrilled to see Democrats realizing what Republicans figured out 20 years ago: the policies you care about are most likely to happen if the political party sharing your values wins. In Carville-speak, “It’s about winning elections, stupid.”

The incredible destruction of DOGE and Trump 2.0 have forced Democrats to deal with a difficult reality: We are behind because for decades, Republicans created a modern political fighting machine, while Democrats and progressives taped together loosely knit network of non-profits and advocacy organizations that secretly hoped for electoral wins and then gently nudged elected officials toward sound policy decisions. In other words, while Democrats cared about policy, Republicans cared about winning.

An effective political party’s sole mission should be to win elections, but far too many of us acted as if the Democratic Party existed to advocate for (insert one single granular policy of choice here). We funded non-profit organizations to elevate those policies into Democratic politics by forcing candidates to pass purity tests and then castigating them if they failed to demonstrate maximum loyalty at all times. Dem candidates became imprisoned by it all. This manifested in the 2024 election, where it appeared to voters, not unjustifiably, that the only unifying Democratic value was “We shall not offend anyone - ever.” Winning seemed secondary. Well, how’d that work out?

Don’t get me wrong, I care about policy and have spent much of my life volunteering for nonprofit issue advocacy organizations. There are a lot of good ones in Montana. Like a lot of you, Sara and I have donated, hosted events, put the stickers on the car, and worn the cool swag hats. We’ve been champions for the things we believe in. I am proud of this, and I hope you are too.

However, believing this is enough is incredibly naive; it’s rooted in a bygone political era when significant overlap existed between the two parties and before Citizens United. During a time when winning elections mattered less than it does now, it comes from an era when neither party would have considered gutting entire agencies, prosecuting women for seeking healthcare, or even suggesting the sale of public lands- all of which are now aggressively pursued by the Republican Party.

The GOP is enacting these policies because they first supported organizations centered on policy ideas and advancing them by winning elections. Unlike Democrats, they changed the polls instead of accepting them. They are doing this because they won.

Progressive people have been slow to accept this fact, as if politics is a game only played by the lower classes. I cannot count the number of times I have met with progressive organizational leaders who purport to care about a policy and then in the same breath utter things like “Well, we don’t want to be political” or “What people really want is bipartisanship.” Really? The veteran losing his VA doctor, the Montana kid losing public land, the elderly couple losing social security, or the starving kid being kicked off SNAP want biparitsanship? No, they want someone with the balls to win a damn election and fight for them.

Even as voters demand a new approach with frustration, many progressive organizations continue to fight an outdated battle on an old battlefield. To grasp the naivety of the situation, imagine Moms for Liberty or Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America being so indifferent to their policy goals that they would refuse to participate in politics to secure election victories. That’s what you are up against.

Progressive organizations that are still refusing to impose a partisan political cost for this destruction are only guaranteeing more destruction. They are kidding themselves and slowing down the groundswell from the voters who now understand what Mr Leach, my high school football coach, often said: “Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.”

So what can we do?

1. Elevate winning political races in your philanthropy and volunteerism,

2. Support new orgs and candidates built to win. They are coming.

3. Shout down any lunacy that elevates divisive issues above broader appeal that wins elections.

4. Push orgs to which you belong to start a 501c4, which can engage more directly in politics (Effective national orgs have them; a few in Montana have started C4s, Montana Conservation Voters has been doing this for a long time because they realize it's about winning.)

5. Push the limits - have you noticed that the old polite rules of engagement are no longer enforced?

6. Stop acting like Republicans are not going to do all the things they are clearly doing - they are only going to stop if they lose elections so make it happen.

Do this all with the fervor of someone who cares enough to win. The people donating and working on the other side certainly do, and they are a few years ahead of you. Just consider this one very truthful public statement from Mitch McConnell in 2017: “Winners make policy, losers go home.”