The Supreme Court just delivered a devastating series of opinions designed to upend liberal policies that have been place for decades. The most high-profile case ended a woman’s right to choose when to become a mother, but other cases block states’ abilities to regulate guns, prevent federal regulation of coal plants by the EPA, and allow prayer to be led by authority figures in public schools. Conservatives, of course, are cheering, while liberals are in various states of denial or depression. 

Conservatives are sneering that liberal courts have protected those rights and that now Democrats need to win at the ballot box. However, the court is also taking up a North Carolina case, Moore v.Harper, that could shift the power of federal elections away from individuals and into the hands of state legislatures. If the court rules broadly in favor the legislature, state legislatures would have power to not only draw all Congressional maps unimpeded, but also set the rules for federal elections, possibly making voting more difficult in races for Congress, Senate, and President. It’s another step in consolidating power and limiting democracy.

The past decade has been really bad for democracy and much of the trouble began right here in North Carolina. When Republicans first took power in the state legislature, they began instituting laws that would rig elections and restrict access to the ballot box. They introduced the country to extreme gerrymandering and they targeted African American and younger voters in efforts to make voting more difficult. It’s no surprise that the case that could both rewrite federal election laws and consolidate Republican control originated here in North Carolina.  

When Republicans first took control of the North Carolina legislature after the 2010 elections, a lot of people thought that their victory would be short-lived. We’re now in the second decade of GOP control and no relief is in sight. When Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, a lot of progressives thought his victory would wake up America and motivate a younger, more progressive base. But the Supreme Court today showed that the impact of his election and the actions of Mitch McConnell will shift power in this country for decades to come. 

If we’ve learned anything, it should be that the fight today is in its infancy. The conservatives who control state governments in places like Texas and North Carolina want to take us back to the days before the Civil Rights Movement and even before the New Deal. They are following a model that was successful for much of the first few decades of the 20^th century and in the aftermath of Reconstruction. They’re changing the rules of elections to consolidate power and they have a Supreme Court that will back them up. 

Too much focus today is on quick fixes that won’t likely happen. Twitter and social media are full of people calling to end the filibuster and pack the court while blaming Joe Biden for failure to get it done. In reality, the margins Democrats have are too narrow and the opposition too unified. They wasted too much political capitol on pushing for transformative legislation like Build Back Better instead of celebrating other victories and trying to build a broader based coalition that might have a better chance of achieving their goals to reform the court and protecting Roe v Wade with national legislation. 

Realistically, winning the fight to restore rights will take a longer term effort to rebuild a centrist party in America that appeals to working class and suburban voters of all stripes and it will take hard work, not quick fixes. Too many on the left believe a progressive agenda that includes Medicare for All, cancelling student debt, and a Green New Deal will motivate a lackluster base that doesn’t vote. That base doesn’t exist. We’ve been hearing about them for a decade and they’ve yet to show up. 

The left is correct, though, that the current Democratic leadership is atrophied and out of touch. Our leaders are largely geriatric and uninspiring. They came to power in a different era, one that’s not coming back. They may still have some legislative tricks up their sleeves, but they aren’t inspiring or encouraging the next generation of leaders. 

The Democratic campaign machinery is also corrupted. The same strategists and consultants have been guiding, or misguiding, the party for decades. There’s little accountability. There’s a revolving door between SuperPACs, interest groups, and party committees. They’ve failed up, following their financial patrons to acronym after acronym with few new ideas or strategies and failing to capture the imagination of much of anybody outside of the DC power bubble.

Before Democrats can successfully combat the tide of right-wing power, they need to reform themselves. They need new leaders and new ideas that can capture a broad cross section of the American public. Fortunately, those people are out there. They are young and dynamic and they’re up for the fight. They understand common sense and pragmatic politics. They’re trying new things and not afraid of failing. We need to speed up the shift of strategic and tactical thinking into their hands.

The blows that our progressive society took this week will not be undone quickly. Their impact will be felt for generations. The fight we’re beginning will last decades, like the fight to end Jim Crow or slavery before that. There will be successes and setbacks in the years and decades to come. The key to victory is not exciting an imaginary progressive base, but to capture the imagination of a broad center that believes both parties are too extreme. It’s not a short fight but involves a progressive movement that can reform itself by introducing new leaders and new ideas while holding off a left flank that has defined the Democratic Party without the support of a broad-based majority.