选民已经表达了意愿，他们给民主党的不仅仅是一次胜利，而是一个难得的机会，让该党再次证明政府的价值。现在的问题是，民主党能否抓住这个机会，能否向一个持怀疑态度的国家展示，其立法者依然能够减轻负担、打开大门、改善生活。
Democrats Can’t Whiff This. The Stakes Are Too High. The voters have spoken, and they have handed the Democratic Party something rarer than a victory: They have offered the party a chance to prove government’s worth again. The questions now are whether Democrats will seize it and whether they can show a doubting nation that its lawmakers can still lift burdens, open doors and make lives better.
前面的任务不会轻松。美国人眼睁睁看着体制失灵、承诺落空，许多人已不再对华盛顿抱太大期望。然而，这种疲惫之下依然藏着希望。家庭每次采购食品、配药、加油或梦想拥有一套自己的房子时，都能感受到物价上涨的挤压。他们对失败的战争、不断膨胀的债务和猖獗的腐败感到沮丧。他们看着人工智能飞速发展，担心这对他们的工作、子女、社区和未来意味着什么。他们渴望变革，渴望有人兑现变革。
The task ahead won’t be easy. Americans have watched institutions falter and promises fade, and many have stopped expecting much from Washington. Yet beneath that weariness is still hope. Families feel the squeeze of rising prices every time they shop for groceries, fill a prescription or a gas tank or dream of a home of their own. They are frustrated by failed wars, growing debt and flagrant corruption. They watch artificial intelligence advance and ask what it will mean for their jobs, their children, their communities and their future. They want change, and they want someone to deliver it.
民主党应当记住，他们赢得这场选举主要是因为特朗普总统不受欢迎，而该党自身的支持率远低于 50%。他们也在没有告诉国家打算把国家领向何方的情况下赢得了选举。根据哥伦比亚广播公司/优戈民调机构上个月的一项民调，大多数选民——57%——表示民主党没有明确的执政计划。选民之所以选择民主党，是因为他们对特朗普混乱不堪的共和党感到反感。但要保住这些支持，民主党必须给美国人一些值得相信的东西。他们必须展示出自己在不懈地努力争取成果。
Democrats should remember that they won this election mostly because of President Trump’s unpopularity and that their party’s approval rating is well below 50 percent. They also won this election without telling the country where they intended to lead it. Most voters — 57 percent in a CBS News/YouGov poll last month — said the party had no clear plan for governing. Voters chose Democrats anyway, recoiling from Mr. Trump’s shambolic Republican Party. But to keep their support, Democrats must give Americans something to believe in. They must show that they are relentlessly working to get results.
这一愿景无需在未来两年内成为法律才显得重要。特朗普可能会否决法案，参议院共和党人可能会利用阻挠议事筑起一道墙。让他们去吧。民主党依然可以宣示政府应当为其服务的人民做些什么。该党可以倡导美国民众早已拥护的理念，例如更负担得起的医疗保健和住房，并邀请共和党人加入。如果共和党人不加入，这将为2028年的竞选奠定基础，届时摆在国家面前的选择将一目了然。
That vision need not become law in the next two years in order to matter. Mr. Trump may veto bills, and Senate Republicans may use the filibuster as a wall. Let them. Democrats can still declare what government should do for the people it serves. The party can champion ideas that Americans already embrace, like more affordable health care and housing, and invite Republicans to join them. If Republicans do not, it will set the stage for a 2028 campaign in which the choice before the nation is clear.
半个世纪以来，民主党向美国选民提供旨在改善其生活的技术官僚式政策，如税收抵免和法规。其中许多确实带来了实实在在的好处。尽管如此，对政府的信任始终处于低位，劳动阶层美国人逐渐疏远。即使在今年的惨败中，据《纽约时报》估算，民主党仅以微弱优势赢得了没有四年制大学学历的选民。但工薪阶层美国人确实大幅转向民主党，他们的期盼如今由该党来兑现。美国选举史上每一个持久的多数派都站在劳动人民的肩膀上。下一个也必须如此。
For half a century, Democrats offered American voters technocratic policies designed to improve their lives, like tax credits and regulations. Many did real good. Still, trust in government has remained low, and working Americans drifted away. Even in this year’s rout, Democrats only narrowly carried voters without a four-year college degree, according to New York Times estimates. But working-class Americans did move sharply toward Democrats, and their hopes are the party’s now to honor. Every lasting majority in American electoral history has stood on the shoulders of working people. The coming one must, too.
这里蕴含着一个沉痛的教训。民主党过于频繁地默默建设，设计的项目过于隐蔽，以至于受益者从未看到伸出援手的那只手。政治学家苏珊·梅特勒称之为“隐形国家”。扩大儿童税收抵免让数百万家庭受益，却几乎未引起抗议就悄然消失。清洁能源项目遍布全国，住在项目旁边的人们却很少将其与联邦政府联系起来。试着说出你所在州的一个项目，是拜登或奥巴马时期大规模刺激计划使之成为可能的。大多数美国人说不出来，那不是他们的错。
Here lies the hard lesson. Democrats have too often built quietly, crafting programs so subtle that the people they helped never saw the hand that helped them. The political scientist Suzanne Mettler calls this “the submerged state.”The expanded child tax credit lifted millions of families, yet it slipped away with hardly a protest. Clean-energy projects rose across the country, and the people living beside them rarely connected them to the federal government. Try to name a single project in your own state that the vast stimulus efforts of the Biden or Obama years made possible. Most Americans cannot, and that’s not their fault.
复杂性往往加深了伤口。太多美国人不得不在令人困惑的规则、充满行话的表格和无休止的等待中艰难前行，仅仅是为了申领他们本应获得的帮助。他们不禁要问，为什么这个国家要建设新住房、新桥梁和新工厂如此之难。法律学者尼古拉斯·巴格利警告要防范“程序崇拜”，即那种认为官僚严谨能赢得公众信任的信念。事实上，每一份令人困惑的表格都在一点点侵蚀这种信任。每一次漫长的等待都在教导公民降低期待。
Complexity has often deepened the wound. Too many Americans have had to fight their way through confusing rules, jargon-filled forms and endless waits simply to claim help they were promised. They have wondered why the country finds it so hard to build new homes, bridges and factories. Nicholas Bagley, a legal scholar, warns against “the procedure fetish,” the conviction that bureaucratic rigor earns public trust. In truth, every confusing form erodes that trust a little more. Every hour on hold teaches a citizen to expect less.
幸运的是，历史可以为通往更美好社会的道路指明方向。美国人对《平价医疗法案》（即“奥巴马医改”）最初也是持怀疑态度的。它花了数年时间才变得受欢迎。它至今仍不完美。但随着时间的推移，人们逐渐依赖它，继而捍卫它。当共和党试图废除它时，公众阻止了他们，正如美国人曾在1960年代主张小政府的共和党试图扼杀“联邦医疗保险”时挺身而出一样。
Fortunately, history can light the way to a better society. Americans greeted the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, with skepticism, too. It took years to become popular. It still isn’t perfect. Over time, though, people came to rely on it, and then to defend it. When Republicans tried to repeal it, the public stopped them, just as Americans once rallied behind Medicare when small-government Republicans tried to quash it in the 1960s.
如今，医疗保健已成为民主党最强有力的议题，很大程度上是因为“奥巴马医改”——其昵称也有帮助——以人们切实可感的方式触及他们的生活。这其中也包括已经拥有医疗保险的人，得益于（除其他条款外）允许成年子女留在父母保险计划中直到26岁的规定。他们注意到了该计划何时帮助了他们，也注意到了特朗普何时削减了其补贴。在所有七个将“奥巴马医改”扩展（通过“医疗补助”）提交全民公投的州，民众都投了赞成票。这七个州中有六个是深红州。
Today, health care stands as the Democrats’ strongest issue, in large part because Obamacare — and its nickname helps — touches people’s lives in ways they can feel. That includes people who already have health insurance, thanks to, among other things, its provision that lets adult children remain on a parent’s plan until age 26. They noticed when the program helped them, and they noticed when Mr. Trump cut its subsidies. In all seven states that have put an Obamacare expansion (through Medicaid) to a popular vote, the people said yes. Six of those seven states are deep red.
这种精明、大胆且显著的政府传统，是民主党必须重新夺回的。社会保障让老年生活有了尊严。《退伍军人权利法案》送了一代人上大学，让他们拥有了自己的房子。农村电气化把电灯带进了此前只知烛光的农舍。将劳工权利写入联邦法律，赋予了工人争取改善境遇的力量。公立学校遍布全国，是因为19世纪和20世纪初普通公民提出了要求。
This tradition, of smart, bold and salient government, is one that Democrats must reclaim. Social Security brought dignity to old age. The G.I. Bill sent a generation to college and into homes of their own. Rural electrification carried light into farmhouses that previously had known only candlelight. Enshrining labor rights in federal law empowered workers to fight to better their lot. Public schools spread across the country because ordinary citizens demanded them in the 1800s and early 1900s.
在我们这个时代，红州和蓝州的选民都用选票提高了最低工资，保护了生殖权利。而风格迥异的领导人——纽约市长佐赫兰·马姆达尼和宾夕法尼亚州州长乔什·夏皮罗——都展示了如何推动实实在在的变革，并以清晰坚定的方式讲述其故事。
In our own time, voters in red states and blue have raised the minimum wage and protected reproductive rights with their ballots. And leaders as different as Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania have shown how to make concrete change and then tell its story with clarity and conviction.
让民主的回应看得见、摸得着，不仅是好的政治，更是共和国维持公众信任的方式。民主党现在必须做到这一点，不仅为了本党，更为了国家。
Making democracy visibly responsive is not just good politics, but how a republic keeps the public’s faith. Democrats must now do that, not just for their party’s sake but for the country’s.
凭借赢得的权力，民主党将需要追究特朗普的责任。他们可以点明他的腐败本质，即把公共权力据为私利。他们可以揭露那些让美国人生活更艰难的政策，比如他漫无章法的关税、残酷的预算削减，以及他在伊朗鲁莽战争中不断攀升的成本。
With the power they have won, Democrats will need to hold Mr. Trump to account. They can name his corruption as the capture of public power for private gain. They can expose the policies that make American life harder, like his scattershot tariffs, his cruel budget cuts and the mounting costs of his reckless war in Iran.
然而，更艰巨的任务远在特朗普之外。民主党需要勾勒出一个后特朗普时代美国的轮廓，一个让人们能看得见、感受得到政府为他们做了什么的国家。
The greater work, though, lies far beyond Mr. Trump. Democrats need to sketch the outlines of a post-Trump America, a country where people can see and feel what their government does for them.
现代国家议程从何处起步？试想一位家长，能在毫无顾虑的情况下负担得起孩子的药费。试想家庭们，能在不被高昂费用淹没的情况下抚养年幼的孩子。试想一代人，能再次拥有自己的住房。试想一种经济，其中获益最多的人——包括人工智能巨头——帮助为其他所有人构建一个富足的未来。民主党推进的每一个主张都应经受三个简单的检验：它行得通吗？它能惠及尽可能多的美国人吗？人们能切身感受到吗？
Where can a modern national agenda begin? Picture a parent who can afford a child’s medicine without dread. Picture families who can raise young children without drowning in costs. Picture a generation that can once again own a home. Picture an economy in which those who have prospered most, including the titans of artificial intelligence, help build a bountiful future for everyone else. Every idea Democrats advance should pass three simple tests: Will it work? Will it reach as many Americans as possible? Will people feel it?
对话已经开始。作家和专家在“观点”版面提出构想，几位民主党官员——从左翼的加利福尼亚州众议员罗·卡纳，到中间派的前芝加哥市长拉姆·伊曼纽尔——也已拿出自己的方案。党内其余成员必须迅速加入他们。二十年前，在2006年中期选举后，民主党带着比今天更大胆、更成熟的议程进入下一场总统竞选。那个议程为国家带来了“奥巴马医改”。
The conversation has already begun. Writers and experts are offering ideas in Opinion’s pages, and a few Democratic officials — from Representative Ro Khanna of California on the left to the former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel in the center — have stepped forward with plans of their own. The rest of the party must join them, and quickly. Twenty years ago, after the 2006 midterms, Democrats carried a bolder and more developed agenda into the next presidential campaign than they carry today. That agenda gave the country Obamacare.
本周民主党有理由庆祝。他们的胜利超出了许多预期，他们即将以舒适的优势掌控国会。但也请他们记住2006年和2018年，那些曾许诺长期多数地位的胜利，在短短几年内便溜走了。
This week Democrats have earned the right to celebrate. Their victory surpassed many of their hopes, and they will soon govern Congress with comfortable margins. Let them also remember 2006 and 2018, triumphs that promised a lasting majority and then slipped away within a few short years.
共和党的不受欢迎只能帮民主党走这么远。该党必须证明，政府的巨大力量能够减轻美国家庭的负担，帮助他们描绘更光明的未来。让他们大胆且显眼地建设，让美国人能在日常生活中切实感受到区别。如果民主党能应对这一时刻，就能将一夜胜利转化为新的美国承诺。
Republican unpopularity will carry Democrats only so far. The party must prove that the immense power of government can ease the burdens of American families and help them imagine a brighter future. Let them build so boldly and visibly that Americans can feel the difference in their daily lives. If Democrats rise to this moment, they can turn a single night’s victory into a new American promise.
如果你生活或投票在一个刚刚选出民主党人的传统红州或红区，你对新领导层有何期待？
If you live or vote in a traditionally red state or district that just elected Democrats, what are your expectations for your new leadership?
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