Democratic self-reflection after the startling schools defeat in San Francisco and Glenn Youngkin’s gubernatorial win in Virginia may reflect the natural ebb and flow of American politics. But it isn’t enough.

The progressive problem is deeper than the Democratic Party’s loss of independents. The left achieved a fundamental ideological transformation that has gone unanswered by liberals for years, starting in the universities. Liberal academics who spoke out were censured by administrators and shunned by colleagues.

Then when novel ideas about identity, race and gender—now being criticized as a liability because they alienate non-base voters—marched toward the country’s cultural and corporate institutions, liberals held the doors open. Coercion had become king.

A midcourse November correction won’t change that. Only a resounding midterm defeat will force a necessary revision of these destructive ideas. The Democrats deserve to lose. They’ve earned it.