The Dilemma Democrats Face in 2026 and 2028

An internal struggle for power and influence among left-wing, further-left and openly-socialist/communist Democrats has broken out and gone public.

Today, party leaders are old, mostly white, extremely liberal, and (other than hating President Donald Trump/his voters) out of ideas.

Nonetheless, party leaders are insufficiently liberal for a group of radical members who are also affiliated with an organization known as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

The DSA has effectively coopted the Democratic Party, and has begun shoving out the old guard.

Victor Davis Hanson reviewed the DSA’s demographics:

“They’re urban people. … consumers…not producers. They don’t know where their water, their food, or their fuel comes from.

“And many of them…are upscale white elites who went to college.

“Most of them are degreed. [B]ut they’re degreed in the social sciences for the most part: psychology, sociology, community studies, public policy, and…have majors or minors as well in ethnic studies, peace studies, leisure studies, environmental studies.

“These are not marketable degrees. [T]hey have large student debt. Their degrees show that they’re not educated, they’re not analytical, they’re not empirical, they’re not applicable to the job market, and they live in very expensive urban environments.”

Let’s examine the possibility, the likelihood even, that higher education provided the genesis, the imagined grievances, and the impetus and foot soldiers for the Democratic Socialists of America.

In fact, 80 percent of DSA members have degrees. Others attended college without graduating. Only 4 percent are blue collar workers.

Higher education is unaffordable, oversold, and schools delivers too many substandard products. Many who purchase those at significant cost fail to receive fair value for their investments. Government student loan policy has encouraged negative, unsustainable institutional behavior. The current system isn’t self-regulating or self-correcting.

People still believe that any college degree will somehow ensure prosperity for graduates. At one time, college-educated workers were more likely to be employed and enjoy higher average earnings, but success in today’s job market requires relevant degree work and solid academic achievement – or practical experience. A culture of entitlement which didn’t anticipate – and disregards – those realities persists among college undergraduates/graduates who are doing/have done neither.

Schools gutted or eliminated demanding core courses once required of undergraduates; lowered admissions standards; increased class sizes; and offered non-challenging, non-marketable majors to attract and retain students who were/are not/never will be ready. Institutions charge tuition for remedial courses, and even the best inflate grades.

Increasing numbers of institutions are charging more for tuition, room and board than America’s average annual gross family income. Even public colleges and universities have increased fees at rates greater than inflation.

America is facing a student loan bubble much like the housing bubble that burst in 2008. 42.8 million borrowers have accumulated $1.866 trillion in student loan debt to acquire degrees, many having little or no commercial value. Millions of debtors never graduated.

A combination of unrealistic expectations, slipping educational standards, increases in college costs, accumulated debt, and a sense of entitlement have produced a cadre of credentialed, but undereducated young graduates who are un- or under-employed, angry, dissatisfied with their lives, and seeking rationalizations that do not involve the embarrassment of introspection.

Not all graduates are misfits, of course, but colleges and universities have created an envious mob of whiny, entitled, unaccomplished malcontents.

American higher education has spewed out the self-absorbed, ill-informed, obnoxious, publicity-seeking, intellectually-dishonest, out-of-the-mainstream, anti-American and anti-Semitic socialist ideologues who dominate DSA membership.

Ironically, the institutions upon which, for years, Democrats depended to deliver voters and donors are producing a wave of insurgents that threaten their party’s future, especially among the old-style working class Democrats the party establishment ignores.

But the Democratic Socialists cannot – will not – be ignored.

Establishment Democrats will be held responsible for any damage the DSA does to their party and America if their elders and officeholders don’t speak out publicly against and reject the radical candidates the DSA have nominated.

Note that only 38.3 percent of American adults have attained associate and higher college degrees. Although a majority of American voters may not hold degrees, lacking a degree does not equal “stupid.”

If senior and, especially, elected Democrats do not – or cannot – reclaim their party from the radicals, the backlash will begin this November, and continue through the 2028 election.

Will Democrats attempt an anti-DSA course correction? Do they dare…?

https://www.pottsmerc.com/2026/07/12/jerry-shenk-the-dilemma-democrats-face-in-2026-and-2028/