One of the more striking developments in American politics over the past three decades has been the transformation of the Democratic Party from a big-tent movement built around working-class Americans into an elite-driven institution obsessed with diversity, equity, and inclusion.
In Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative, Evan Barker, a former fundraiser for the party, offers readers a behind-the-scenes look at that evolution.
Barker has always been someone at home on the left side of the political spectrum. She suffers from primary ciliary dyskinesia, a rare and life-threatening genetic disorder that made healthcare an issue of paramount personal importance to her. Barker credits Obamacare—specifically, its extension of insurance coverage to Americans with pre-existing conditions—with saving her life, and believed this “would bind [her] to the Democratic Party forever.” She was further heartened by the rise of hard left populists like Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), whose commitment to social democracy inspired her to work for the Democratic party as a fundraiser.
But as her career progressed, Barker was dismayed to see Democrats toss aside the old goal—improving its voters’ material circumstances—in favor of a new focus: identity politics.
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