This past week, the mainstream media has suggested strongly that the Democratic Party has lost its way and doesn’t have a leader. That’s been more than obvious ever since the fall election and raises a simple question – Why?

I think the answer to that question lies in a line of a country song – “Let’s get back to the basics of living.”

The Democratic Party has been far too concerned about issues that aren’t important to the vast majority of the American people, while the Republican Party has been immensely successful in reframing basic issues in ways that avoid the underlying problems and appeal to negative stereotypes, often involving issues that get people upset and fearful, but really don’t affect all that many people.

The furor over transgender athletes is a good example. People are worried about the unfair physical advantage possessed by biological males transitioned to women and how such transitioned individuals shouldn’t be allowed in women’s lavatories. According to the NCAA, out of 510,000 athletes competing at the collegiate level, there are fewer than ten who identify as transgender. As a practical matter, I seriously doubt that biologically-born males would go to all the trouble and difficulty of transitioning to women merely to obtain a possible advantage in athletics.

In addition, no one seems to be making a furor about the size and weight disparities among male athletes or female athletes. That’s just accepted. Some sixty years ago, I swam competitively on the collegiate level. Except for the divers, I was the smallest and shortest man on a team that won the New England championships year after year. Today, that physical discrepancy is even greater, but no one even considers it, even in football where 180-pound receivers and running backs are routinely tackled by 300 pound plus muscular behemoths. I have a granddaughter who’s six feet tall and who played volleyball. Of course, she had an advantage over shorter women.

Likewise, has anyone really considered the actual construction of women’s public restrooms? They have individual stalls, with latches/locks. Yes, theoretically there’s always a possibility of an assault, but it’s minuscule, compared to the altercations among women.

Yet a few trans women in academic/school sports are considered a national political issue, while few politicians are seriously addressing the decline in the academic achievements of students? Except to bewail it, or act as though money alone will solve the problem.

And, then there’s the federal deficit. The Republicans have capitalized on the “waste and fraud” issue, citing comparatively minor – and highly unpopular — federal programs. All governments have programs that partisans can claim as waste and/or fraud, but truly wasteful programs don’t constitute a significant fraction of federal spending.

But by claiming massive fraud and indiscriminately cutting federal employees in all agencies while also cutting programs unpopular with the far tight, Republicans have shifted attention from the basic question of what programs are truly unnecessary and how to fund government responsibly. Fundamental questions are largely, if not totally, avoided, particularly why corporations and massively wealthy individuals get away with paying minimal or no taxes to support the governmental structure that allows them to amass their billions.

According to a study by Pro Publica, American billionaires, on average, pay between one and four percent on their actual income in taxes. Some have paid less than one percent for years. In addition, the bulk of their actual income is hidden and/or deferred.

The average middle-class family pays 14% of their income in federal taxes and five percent in state income taxes (except in a handful of states with no income tax).

The Republican/billionaire strategy is effectively based on blaming the federal deficit and increasing federal debt on Democrats (despite the fact that much of it was incurred in GOP administrations) and upon “wasteful” programs. The Republicans have also successfully cut funding to the Internal Revenue Service so that the agency has been unable to pursuit wealthy tax cheats and avoiders.

The basic issues are simple. What federal programs do we need to assure better lives for all Americans? How do we fix immigration so that we get the best of the would-be immigrants?
How do we ensure internal and external security? What is the most effective, fair, and practical way to pay for those programs?

Right now, the Republicans are defining the issues to suit the ultra-rich, while blaming all the financial woes on admittedly liberal excesses, but not bothering to mention that those excesses comprise a tiny fraction of total spending.

The Democrats continue to spread themselves too thin, especially on issues irrelevant or distasteful to the majority of Americans, while failing to come up with a strategy to address basic concerns.

And most of the United States is suffering from the failings of both parties, failings that will continue unless and until the Democrats come up with leadership that addresses the real problems and effectively calls out the billionaires’ game plan – because the Republicans will continue what they’re doing until stopped.