Barney Frank’s last shot across the bow misses the whole boat

I finished reading Barney Frank’s book The Hard Path To Unity the day he died at 86. He was always a favorite of mine because he was knowledgeable, thorough, effective, realistic and quick-witted. This last book was meant to be his legacy to future lawmakers. But it is flawed.

The basic proposition Frank puts forward is that the American political Left is made up of two wings, and one or both are often too strident, stubborn and extreme to get anywhere. They need to be more adaptable and open to compromise. He says “the leftward-most strategy deepens the fault lines” between those hurting economically and those hurting for social justice. That’s the premise he expands on throughout.

It’s been said before, almost daily it seems. People are forever pushing Democrats towards the mushy middle of the road, having a wishy-washy view on everything. But clearly in 2026, that’s not what the country needs or wants. And it is odd coming from Barney Frank, of all people.

At the same time, Frank says history shows a pendulum swing from liberal democracy to populism and back. The populist comes out in voters when they think their finances have been damaged. They are much more receptive to liberal democracy’s projects when things are going well for them.

So populism rose during the Great Depression, and liberal democracy rose during the Great Society years in the 60s and 70s, for example. I don’t think that’s news to many. There’s a time for a chicken in every pot and a time for the Voter Rights Act, and they are clearly spawn of their time and not interchangeable.

As the consummate insider, Frank knew the workings of politics and how hard it is get anything done at all. Compromise is required by all participants, and there used to be a level of co-operation among the parties when he was in Washington. “Across the aisle” was not like crossing the Rubicon, like it is today. It is a little dishonest to hang the current dysfunction of congress on left-leaning Democrats (of which he was a poster child). It is odd that his summation of the 21st century so far is “The Left’s tolerance of increasing economic unfairness, and our identification with excessive disruption of the social order, together explain the reversal of fortunes suffered by liberal democracy in the century.”

My problem with all this is that it is totally misguided. Frank was looking at this way too hard.

A man from the 1980s is trying to tell us how to run a government in the 2020s. He never acknowledges that the two party system is why we are the way we are today. As the years go by, American political parties have become more and more strident, strict and sealed off from each other. Loyalty to the party is paramount (until Donald Trump switched parties). Lawmakers vote the way the party says to. The founders knew this would happen, and tried to keep political parties out of it.

To the end, Frank still lived the fiction that the primary driver of his own voting is what his constituents wanted. Say this in the streets of America and people will laugh at you. Both parties only ever seem to vote for what suits their party’s purposes and the voters be damned — except at election time, when candidates have to acknowledge their existence. But just for a bit, and then back to party politics.

This book is aimed at the current Congress, and Donald Trump in particular, yet Frank never includes what is plain to everyone in the country (if not the world): Donald Trump is a charismatic reality tv star. There is nothing lawmaker, dealmaker or presidential about him. He does not compromise on anything or to anyone. He never apologizes; he only ever doubles down. Americans did not vote for him because he was a great orator, or president or Republican. They saw him as a savior — only Trump can save this country. Make America Great Again.

It is terribly naïve to say the Democratic Left is too hardnosed about inequality or housing or healthcare (Frank’s favorite issues). Republicans have no policies on those issues at all. Everything is Donald Trump.

So I’m sorry, but The Hard Path To Unity, though it exhibits Frank’s own part both as participant and witness to history’s waves, has entirely missed what the USA is today. Unity is not even discussed. And the Left is not even a factor.

David Wineberg

(The Hard Path To Unity, Barney Frank, September 2026)

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