Even the Liberal The New Republic………

Understands that the consultants tied to the Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment) are an impediment to the success of the Party.

To paraphrase Matt Taibbi before he went insane, the Democratic Party consultant class is a  is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of the its base, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.

Only about 27¢ out of every dollar makes it past the consultants when you donate in response to those frantic emails.

Your phone buzzes with a frantic text message. “DEMOCRACY IS ON THE LINE.” It’s not the first time you’ve gotten a fundraising text like this from the Democratic Party and its candidates. Nor the first time you’ve rolled your eyes. But the ask makes sense. Democracy really is on the line. You have asked yourself what you would have done if you had lived under the authoritarian regimes of the past, and volunteering some time and money seems like the least you could do. You click the ActBlue link and donate $100. The country must be saved, after all.

………

We’re here to tell you that this view is wrong. The Democratic Party is being devoured by an ecosystem of consultants. Mostly out of view of the party’s voters and activists, political consultants are paid to raise the money, place the ads, and set the strategy. And they’re paid regardless of whether the party wins or loses.

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A political party is a vehicle for groups in society—voters, activists, and politicians—to come together to elect representatives who will change the world through public policy and governance. It’s a collective enterprise in which different groups debate and negotiate the direction of the party in primary elections and then come together to take control of government and implement that negotiated agenda. The problem is that the incentives of the Democratic consultant class are not aligned with these goals.

This class—and we use the word “class” intentionally to mean the firms, consultants, and strategists paid millions of dollars by Democratic campaigns to raise money, place ads, and set strategy—is extractive, and this extraction is central to many of the party’s pathologies. Just as a private equity firm buys out a corporation and strips it for parts, the consultant class installs friendly operatives, charges fees, raids the party’s long-term assets, and gives strategic advice that ultimately serves itself over the long-term health of the party.

Our thesis is a simple one: Campaign consultants are businesses that act to maximize profits, and this profit-seeking is often at odds with what’s best to defeat American authoritarianism.

Nice to see someone at an establishment media outlet has finally noticed the obvious.