Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Why Democrats Should Stop Using the Phrase “Culture Wars”

newrepublic.com · 5h · first reportShare

Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, who is surprisingly close in polls against Republican incumbent Greg Abbott, attributes that strong standing to her campaign strategy. She says her secret sauce is avoiding the “culture wars.” “I think that has to be the way forward for Democrats, to focus on the economic issues and not take the bait when it comes to the culture wars,” she told Politico in an interview last week. Politico treated that comment as a bold, surprising declaration. It isn’t. While progressive and centrist Democrats disagree on a lot, politicians in both camps often make comments similar to Hinojosa’s. And this perspective is widely shared among many pundits. Writers at both the socialist publication Jacobin and the center-left Bulwark have recently echoed this view. But just because there’s a consensus doesn’t mean it’s correct. The “economic issues not culture wars” frame shared by much of the Democratic Party is entirely wrongheaded. It’s an example