Having received a drubbing in the 2024 election—and with an approval rating hovering around 20%—the Democratic National Committee (DNC) made the inexplicable decision to elevate a professional gun-control rabble-rouser to lead its party’s outreach efforts.
In February of this year, the Democratic Party elected David Hogg to the position of vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, as they were apparently impressed by his vow to help win back young voters.
The political positions Hogg has taken over the years include his contention that advocates of the Second Amendment are to blame for crime, that all semi-automatic firearms in America should be banned and that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right.
The tactics that Hogg has endorsed over the years include the staging of “die-ins” in supermarkets in Florida, the loud interruption of hearings in the U.S. Senate and the open attempt to cancel television personalities who have criticized his views.
Hogg has also contended that the right to keep and bear arms is a “ridiculous fraud;” he has demanded that anyone who does not support banning the most-popular rifle in America “leave the Democratic Party;” and he has averred—disgracefully—that mass killings are the fault of the NRA.
His position at the DNC did not last long.
After Hogg attacked many in his party, including by threatening incumbents with primary challenges, the DNC in June voided Hogg’s election to vice chair on the grounds that the electoral process had violated the party’s arcane “gender-diversity” rules—Hogg appears to be Caucasian and is presumably a man.
It is hard to know where to start with all this.
The Second Amendment is a right for all Americans, irrespective of their race, sex, height, weight, religious affiliation or political preferences. That the DNC elevated a figure who effectively believes that the Second Amendment does not exist to vice chair, even for a short time, shows that many in the leadership of the Democratic Party would still like to slice the Second Amendment right out of the U.S. Bill of Rights. That the Democrats elevated a figure who is so zealous with his hatred for this fundamental right that he wishes to chase everyday gun-owners right out of his own party is so bizarre that it defies belief.
Clearly, the Democratic Party needs to come to terms with its own voters—even Gallup says that about 20% of Democrats say they are gun owners. The Democratic Party will not have much of a chance with working-class voters if they continue to attempt to nullify the right to keep and bear arms, or for that matter, if they continue to exclude gun owners from their coalition.
By choosing Hogg as one of their most-prominent faces, Democrat leadership showed that they have not yet internalized that lesson. They did push him out, but not because of his gun-control politics. The party elites turned on Hogg because he was not controllable.
There are many reasons for President Donald Trump’s (R) victory last November, but his opponent’s decision to back radical, anti-freedom policies was certainly one. Had the Democrats jettisoned Hogg as part of an attempt to understand their mistakes and reverse course on the U.S. Bill of Rights, they would deserve praise for their apprehension and purpose. But, alas, they did not make their decision on those grounds—and neither did they make their decision out of respect for the right to keep and bear arms and the hundred- plus-million Americans who exercise this right. Rather, the Democratic leadership acted on the most ludicrous of presuppositions: That what matters most about a person is not his character or his conduct or his opinions, but his immutable characteristics.
The bad news for the DNC is that this gets them nowhere good fast. The good news is that, if or when they eventually come to their senses, the honest approach toward the Second Amendment will still be clear.
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