What Democrats Shouldn’t Be Talking About
There are three major “plot lines” in Democratic politics today. The first, and what should be the most important; is what can a Democratic House of Representatives get accomplished in the next year and a half. What proposals can they put forth to the American people; ideas that, if they could get a Democratic Senate and/or Presidency, would make America a better place. Ideas like extending health care to more Americans, making major improvements to protect the environment, and working towards a higher minimum wage; all are things that Democrats should be talking about.
The second is the behavior of the President of the United States. It is the legitimate authority of the House of Representatives to oversee the actions of the Executive Branch. There are many, many questions about the actions of the President; his unusual affinity for dictators and potentates, his personal financial gains in the Presidency, the behavior of his appointees from the Department of the Interior to the Environmental Protection Agency.
If there is a swamp in Washington, it’s the one appointed by Donald Trump. There’s a lot to investigate, beyond the actual questions about the President himself.
And the third “plot line” is the 2020 election, the excruciatingly long campaign for the Democratic nomination for President. Eighteen have officially declared so far, with several, most importantly Joe Biden, still waiting in the wings. They are barnstorming the nation, talking about almost everything, and trying to find a way to rise above the crowd.
In trying to gain some of that visibility, there should be some topics that simply aren’t given much discussion, because they are distracting from critical issues, and give ammunition to whomever the future Republican candidate might be (if not the President.)
The Electoral College should be off of the table. Yes, it’s an anachronism, with hints of the same kind of compromises that made slaves 3/5’s of a person. It gives more power to smaller states, though in the end a large enough popular vote offsets the effect. And, from the Democrats side, it has resulted in winning the popular vote in two elections in the past sixteen years, but losing the Presidency. It’s easy to envision a much-altered history with Al Gore instead of George Bush, or Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.
But it doesn’t matter. There is no conceivable way that Article II and Amendment XII of the Constitution of the United States are going to be modified. Even if two-thirds of the Congress were willing to make the change, there wouldn’t be the three-fourths of the states to vote for an amendment that many would consider against their own interests.
So it’s a non-starter, and fodder for the alt-right media and politicians who will use the discussions to energize their base. There is little to gain from discussing it, and lots to lose. Candidates need to say exactly that; and move onto more important issues. So should “bloggers” (like me) who get sucked into theoretical Constitutional discussions. It ain’t gonna change, so get over it, and gain enough popular votes, including the 77,744 votes that would have changed the electoral votes of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to “blue” in 2016.
“Socialism” has been a Republican “bête noire” since the New Deal era of Franklin Roosevelt. Democratic candidates for President shouldn’t get trapped on the flypaper of “are you a socialist” questions. The United States has a capitalist economic system, and that’s not going to change. Even the most “left” Democratic candidates recognize that, and see their role in government as regulating capitalism so that it doesn’t take advantage of the people, and to secure basic human rights like housing, food, healthcare, environmental protection and individual opportunity.
So unless Eugene Debs is running for the Democratic candidacy (founder of the Social Democratic Party in 1898 and five time Socialist Party candidate) everyone else should acknowledge that we’ve got a lot of work to do to improve our capitalist country, but capitalist is what we are. There is no reason not to be ready for the question, and even the extreme left supporters of Sanders and Warren would recognize the reasoning.
And finally, Presidential candidates shouldn’t be talking about impeaching the current President. Impeachment discussions, while they might be warranted, are premature. Americans view impeachment as a quasi-judicial action by the Congress; they don’t like their judges and jurors deciding a case before the trial, and we don’t want the Congressmen and Senators running for President to pre-judge the case either.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has it right. The committee chairman, Nadler, Schiff, Cummings and Neal; will make sure that the investigations are carried out properly. They will provide the evidence and if impeachment is warranted that evidence will trigger the issue. There’s no need to continue discussion until it is presented, and that’s a matter of time.
In the meantime, the Democratic candidates should be telling voters how they will make our nation better, heal it from the intense divisions we face today, and improve the life of our citizens. That’s what folks are looking for, not the inflammatory rhetoric that serves only to galvanize the opposition without any real chance of success.
