Division
Our national political obsession is division. The Republican Party divides (unequally) between Trumpers and Never-Trumpers. The Nation (supposedly) splits between Black Lives Matter and “Blue” Lives Matter, and for sure fractures into vaccinators versus anti-vaxxers.
We are rural or urban, north or south, classic rock or country. And of course, there is the “calamitous” division of the Democratic Party, one that the media, particularly the right wing media, constantly dwells on. There are the “leftists”, the Social Democrats, who right wing media claim control the agenda, and the “regular” or “moderate” or even “corporate” (heard that on Morning Joe) Democrats.
But is it really “calamitous”? Is the Democratic Party, my Party, so ruinously divided that 2022 will mark a return for Congressional Republicans to power. Will McConnell and McCarthy triumphantly taking the leading roles?
Short answer for that long question: nope.
Big Tent
We are a “big tent” party. A “big tent” means there’s lots of room for lots of different views, ideas, and beliefs. In the Republican/Trump Party, dissenters are driven out. But since we are Democrats, we all feel very free to voice our views. All of that action and conflict, can lead “outsiders” to believe that the Democratic Party will self-destruct.
And we have managed to do that in the past. In 1968, the critical issues were civil rights and the war in Vietnam. Almost every Democrat was in agreement on continuing Democratic President Lyndon Johnson’s efforts to expand civil rights.
But more than half of the Party was opposed to the war in Vietnam, a war that President Johnson was committed to continuing. That opposition came to a head at the Convention in Chicago. The leadership, committed to Johnson and his Vice President Humphrey, used the Chicago Police to physically put down anti-war opposition. That division ultimately cost Democrats the general election in November.
Establishment Dems
Hakeem Jefferies in the Democratic Congressman from New York, representing part of Brooklyn. Jefferies is also a party leader in the House of Representatives, the chairman of the Democratic Caucus. That makes him an “establishment” Democrat, a supporter of Speaker Pelosi and the “main” Party. But on all of the key issues: minimum wage, health care, student loans, traditional and human infrastructure improvements; Jefferies agrees with the “left” wing of the Party.
In fact, most of the Democratic Party agree on most of those issues. It’s an issue of degree: Joe Manchin’s $11 minimum wage versus Bernie Sanders $15.
And what about President Biden? Biden is definitely from the establishment part of the Party, a career politician who has always been near the center of Democratic political thought. In fact, many of the White House’s current stands are surprising – Biden has taken a more “progressive” stand than expected. Need proof? There’s nothing really moderate about spending $3.5 trillion on “human” infrastructure.
Clocks and Calendars
Doug Collins, the former Congressman from Georgia and now the next in a long line of Trump lawyers, coined a phrase in the first Russia Hearings – “a clock and a calendar”. And that’s what the Biden Administration is up against. The clock is ticking on the 117th Congress. Sure, they will be in office until January of 2023. But the reality of Congressional life is that once February 2022 rolls around, the entire House and a third of the Senate stops worrying about legislating and focus on re-election.
Certain agenda items have to be dealt with: renewing the debt ceiling, budgets and getting Biden appointees into the Federal Court system. But for everything else, it will get increasingly difficult to get anything to a vote as the election grows nearer. The President and Congressional leadership have already established the “order” so far. First it was the COVID relief package, now it’s the bipartisan infrastructure bill, quickly followed by the “big” totally partisan infrastructure bill.
What comes next? Probably the voting rights legislation. And as that will also be a wholly partisan action, it will surely be a compromise proposal designed to the needs of the most moderate Democratic Senators and Congressmen. Expect that the fall of 2021 will be about that. Congressional Majority Leader Jim Clyburn said it best: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”.
One More Chance
And what about environmental concerns, and the minimum wage, and student debt, and all of the other items on the Democratic list? Well that’s where the arguments begin – if there is one item left that might get done before the New Year, which is the most important. All “wings” of the Party are going to loudly advocate for their most important issue.
Expect that “right-wing” media will misinterpret that advocacy into a “Party of self-destruction”. But the vast majority of Democrats are still in our “Big Tent”, and recognize the need to expand our leads in the House and the Senate, instead of consuming the moderates who created those majorities in the first place. In short, if you don’t like where Democrats from West Virginia and Arizona stand – then elect more from Wisconsin or Florida (or North Carolina). Or maybe even elect one from Ohio.
