If Democrats are ever to win again in Texas, the party must do these things.

Our country is broken. Our state is broken. And, sadly, at a time when our leadership is desperately needed, the Democratic Party is broken. This did not just happen recently; it has been years in the making. When Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, we had a tremendous opportunity and we squandered it. There were countless Republicans who could not believe the direction their party had taken and were looking for a new home. But instead of moving to the middle and moderating our stance on issues, a loud minority within the Democratic Party opted to push further left, leaving disgruntled Republicans with no place to go.

Even before then, Democrats had begun making many in their own party feel unwelcome. They had decided identity politics was the way to go and if you weren’t a minority, female, or gay, you need not apply. Young people decided that since they had access to more information on the internet, they had all the answers, and experience shouldn’t really count for anything. Older white men were demonized, even those of us who had worked to create a more just and diverse society.

While running for the U.S. Senate in 2020, I could not believe how many people would question why I was running when there were younger minority and female candidates in the Democratic field. When trying to explain that the field represented the sort of diversity for which I had worked and had always championed, it would fall on deaf ears. One woman listened to what I was proposing and then said, “I really like what I’m hearing but you’re a white man and I believe white men are responsible for everything that’s wrong.” Am I going to seriously argue that white men should face no blame whatsoever? Of course not, but it takes a very broad brush to paint us all into that category.

If the Democratic Party is ever going to win again in Texas, we are going to have to learn to live and work together. We don’t have to agree on everything, and, in fact, we should be more open about our differences. Now, everyone is so frightened by political correctness that nothing can be discussed. No one wishes to be called racist or sexist so it’s easier to just remain silent and ill informed. That makes no sense whatsoever. Talking is healthy and folks shouldn’t feel as if they’re walking on eggshells whenever they do so with a person of a different race or sex.

Texas Democrats are also going to have to accept that the national Democratic agenda is not going to carry the day back home. We must carve out positions that fit our state. When Democrats talk about eradicating all fossil fuels, many Texans see a decimated economy and high unemployment. When there’s talk about taking guns away, they see an infringement on personal freedom, something Texans take very seriously. And there are ways to make progress on these types of controversial issues without glomming onto the most extreme positions.

And, for crying out loud, stop willingly accepting the moniker of “the tax and spend Party.” No one wants higher taxes. Period. And that’s not part of the Democratic heritage. John F. Kennedy’s number one legislative goal as president (which was later passed by Lyndon Johnson after the assassination) was lower taxes. It’s where the phrase “a rising tide lifts all boats” comes from. To fund “the New Frontier“ agenda, Kennedy believed lower taxes were needed to stimulate the economy and bring more money into the government.

Actually, if we wish to win, it would be smart for Democrats to take a close look at the New Frontier. According to the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, “Kennedy took office in the depths of the fourth major recession since World War II. Business bankruptcies had reached their highest level since the 1930s, farm incomes had decreased 25 percent since 1951, and 5.5 million Americans were looking for work. To stimulate the economy, Kennedy pursued legislation to lower taxes, protect the unemployed, increase the minimum wage, and energize the business and housing sectors. Kennedy believed these measures would launch an economic boom that would last until the late 1960s.”

With some fine tuning and additions, that’s an agenda that would sell in Texas and could fix a lot of what ails us. If we just stay on the path we’re on, we should expect to keep losing. And that would be terrible for both our state and our country

Bell is a lawyer, former U.S. congressman and Houston City Council member, and the host of iHeart Radio’s “Reasonable Minds.” This commentary appears exclusively in the American-Statesman.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: If Texas Dems are ever to win again, they must face these hard truths