"The Democrats Finally Seem to Be Developing a Clear Political Message of Their Own"

"In 1964, a political scientist named Philip E. Converse published a chapter in a book called Ideology and Its Discontents, in which he argued that voters selected leaders they thought would benefit their 'group,' rather than basing their decisions on broader political ideologies. His observations launched 50 years of research into voter behavior, from push polling to the effect of weather on electoral outcomes. This changed both parties, but Democrats most of all. Republicans adopted data and metrics, too, but they also crafted a powerful story—of the little guy crushed under the heel of a huge government bureaucracy that props up lazy ingrates—that would dominate American politics for the next 40 years."

Heather Cox Richardson at The New Republic asserts that "[t]he idea that Democrats, rather than Republicans, are patriots has the potential to change American politics."

And Win McCormack emphasizes the civic-republican concept of "communal liberty."