The 80/20 framing has potential—but only if we define it clearly and quickly. In today’s fractured and fast-moving environment, priorities can shift overnight. That makes it even more critical to explicitly identify and validate what belongs in the 80% we rally around—and what falls into the 20% we set aside.
Right now, we don’t actually know. And until we do, “80/20” risks becoming another vague slogan instead of a guiding principle.
There’s too much opinion and not enough rigor in the Democratic ecosystem today. Everyone’s got a theory of what “most voters care about,” but few ground it in hard data, broad testing, or real-world results. If we want to build trust, we can’t guess—we need to prove what moves people and what doesn’t.
This isn’t a decision to make in op-eds or Twitter threads. It’s the work of a policy committee or a national convention—a deliberative, transparent process where party leadership, grassroots organizers, and local voices hash out what the core priorities really are, using evidence—not instincts—as their guide.
If we’re serious about winning back the middle, let’s do the hard work of defining the middle—together, and with discipline.
Agreed, but the DNC hasn’t even done a post mortem on the ‘24 election. That shows no desire to really dig in and that’s my problem. I want to know empirically, just like you.
We cannot be okay with taking away health care and equal rights for transgender people. If equal rights and health care for transgender people is part of the 20% you are talking about dropping, count me out.
Can you please come up with a position paper Like project 2025 but the democratic version. Not policy but a legislative playbook. Write one like the heritage foundation did with ways to propose and pass legislation.
Peter Buttigieg and Jamie Raskin together would be the men to write it. Pete’s brilliant and Jamie knows ways and means. Pete has got time now. Jamie will make time.
This playbook doesn’t have to be 900 pages but readable for most people with dates and issues to be passed. That would give everyone a way to get the government back we just lost.
In other words think like a republican and strategize. Think through the next election and what you’d do with it. Confidence in democrats ability to govern isn’t high. Don’t get into office and wait for things to happen. And wait for Lobbyists to suck dry of money. Think of the people you serve before you serve yourselves. the democrats always think of serving themselves first people maybe later. You can’t govern And stuff your pockets at these time.
Don’t Just Preach the 80—We Need to Prove It
The 80/20 framing has potential—but only if we define it clearly and quickly. In today’s fractured and fast-moving environment, priorities can shift overnight. That makes it even more critical to explicitly identify and validate what belongs in the 80% we rally around—and what falls into the 20% we set aside.
Right now, we don’t actually know. And until we do, “80/20” risks becoming another vague slogan instead of a guiding principle.
There’s too much opinion and not enough rigor in the Democratic ecosystem today. Everyone’s got a theory of what “most voters care about,” but few ground it in hard data, broad testing, or real-world results. If we want to build trust, we can’t guess—we need to prove what moves people and what doesn’t.
This isn’t a decision to make in op-eds or Twitter threads. It’s the work of a policy committee or a national convention—a deliberative, transparent process where party leadership, grassroots organizers, and local voices hash out what the core priorities really are, using evidence—not instincts—as their guide.
If we’re serious about winning back the middle, let’s do the hard work of defining the middle—together, and with discipline.
Agreed, but the DNC hasn’t even done a post mortem on the ‘24 election. That shows no desire to really dig in and that’s my problem. I want to know empirically, just like you.
We cannot be okay with taking away health care and equal rights for transgender people. If equal rights and health care for transgender people is part of the 20% you are talking about dropping, count me out.
Can you please come up with a position paper Like project 2025 but the democratic version. Not policy but a legislative playbook. Write one like the heritage foundation did with ways to propose and pass legislation.
Peter Buttigieg and Jamie Raskin together would be the men to write it. Pete’s brilliant and Jamie knows ways and means. Pete has got time now. Jamie will make time.
This playbook doesn’t have to be 900 pages but readable for most people with dates and issues to be passed. That would give everyone a way to get the government back we just lost.
In other words think like a republican and strategize. Think through the next election and what you’d do with it. Confidence in democrats ability to govern isn’t high. Don’t get into office and wait for things to happen. And wait for Lobbyists to suck dry of money. Think of the people you serve before you serve yourselves. the democrats always think of serving themselves first people maybe later. You can’t govern And stuff your pockets at these time.