Old MacDonald’s Farm is Democrats Chance for a Comeback

The 2024 presidential election exposed the simmering frustrations the average American voter felt about the Democratic Party despite facing a scandal-prone former president. Our party’s failure with working—and middle-class Americans can be attributed to two fundamental principles: making life more expensive for Americans and harming innocent citizens by not supporting law and order. To win again, the Democratic Party needs to get back to basics and listen to “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” as a roadmap for Democratic success – E-I-E-I-O (Admittedly, there’s no ”O”).

First, the Democratic Party must address the economy (E) and make a concerted effort to lower the cost of living in America. The party’s policies should empower small businesses, tackle healthcare costs, support childcare policies, and offer support for older adults in America.

To unlock our full potential and entrepreneurial spirit, the Democratic Party needs to become the party of small business and working-class Americans. This includes streamlining licensing processes, implementing a single national database for licenses and permits, reducing redundant requirements, simplifying tax codes/reducing tax brackets, and implementing a more efficient tax filing system.

We also have to tackle healthcare costs—our party’s bread and butter issue—by offering more affordable healthcare options, simplifying insurance regulations, and expanding tax incentives for small businesses that provide healthcare for their employees.

Families also struggle with a double whammy of child and older adult care costs. The party needs to permanently expand the child tax credit (& index it to inflation), offer tax incentives to encourage employers to provide on-site child care, and support the creation of vouchers to choose from various childcare providers. To help with aging parents, the party needs to offer tax credits for families caring for older adults at home, invest in training for caregivers across both childcare and older adult care, and expand Medicaid to cover more older adults by increasing funding for home-based care.

Second, the party needs to invest more in infrastructure (I) and rebuild our crumbling transportation system and schools. In New York City, the city’s subways flood when it rains, damaging the commute for students and working/middle-class New Yorkers. Additionally, our schools in America are crumbling, with the average school building being 50 years old (in NYC, that number rises to 70). Our kids suffer from the lack of infrastructure investments in our schools when several studies have shown that improved access to something as simple as daylight improves test scores and our student's social and emotional well-being.

Third, Democrats must admit that spending money on education (E) has not improved outcomes. A well-researched report from February 2024 showed that nearly every state in America has exponentially increased public school education funding since 2000 with zero to minimal improvement in educational outcomes. The same report shows an over 700% growth in administrator jobs since 1950, SAT scores remaining flat, and a disproportionate amount of education dollars going towards employee benefits instead of investments inside the classroom.

Our party must be the party that cares about delivering an excellent education so working and middle-class Americans can achieve the American Dream, which starts with being exposed to an excellent education. I’m a first-generation American whose parents lied about our residential address to send my siblings and me to a better school, and we are better for it.

The party must call for improved outcomes, accountability, and transparency in education spending. This would involve linking teacher evaluations and salaries to student achievement, eliminating tenure to facilitate dismissing underperforming teachers and granting schools more autonomy over curriculum, budgeting, and staffing.

Our focus should be on the advancement of our students and nothing else.

And finally, the Democratic Party needs to eliminate Identity Politics (I) from our vernacular. If we are a party concerned about upward social mobility and ensuring that every race, color, and creed has a fair shot in America, then our total focus should be on the above policies I’ve laid out. Those solutions are color-blind, and enacting these policies with the resulting subsequent successes will allow for a big tent party instead of one that has seen a massive exodus of self-identified Democrats.

The words of Old MacDonald are more than just a nursery rhyme; they represent the future of Democratic success. By prioritizing the economy, infrastructure, and education while eliminating Identity politics as a focus, we can create a brighter future for all Americans. It's time for Democrats to get back to the farm and start building a better tomorrow.