There may be five stages of grief, but there’s usually just one when it comes to political defeat – pretend to soul-search, then carry on as if nothing happened.

In the wake of Donald Trump’s clearcut victory on November 5, Democrats and their media allies acknowledged mistakes were made, but their mea culpa sounded more like humble brags as they suggested their real problem was a failure to communicate. If only we’d done a better job of describing our wonderful accomplishments and the dangers of fascism. Next time, our commercials will be much more effective.

The stand-pat strategy makes some sense in a two-party system where many elections are akin to a coin flip. Ironically, each side banks the other’s unwillingness to change to provide the opening they need to keep on keeping on.

The Democratic Party may well rise from the canvas in the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential race – but this would likely be more a result of potential Republican overreach than the wisdom of their policies. For the good of the country, however, Democrats should use their recent defeat as an opportunity to rethink and reorient their approach to governance.

It won’t be easy, because a fundamental reason Democrats lost goes to the core of their identity: competence. Polls show a large majority of Americans have lost faith in their ability to govern effectively. The GOP’s campaign slogan homed in on this failure: “Trump Will Fix It.”

Since the rise of the progressive movement more than a century ago, Democrats have argued that an expansive government run by experts can solve the nation’s problems.........

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