My Fellow Democrats

A Year of Hope

It is the year 2021, a year full of hope for the Democratic (not the Republican pejorative “Democrat”) Party.  We have a President, Joe Biden.  He won the nomination by appealing to the middle of the Party, not the Progressive wing of Sanders and Warren and Jayapal.  It doesn’t mean the Progressives aren’t important, they make up a big portion of the Party, and some of its best ideas.  But Biden was a man of moderation, and we knew it coming in.  So did the American people that elected him with the biggest vote total in history.

We have a slim majority in the House of Representatives, and the narrowest of margins in the Senate.  It takes all of us Democrats, working as a unit, to get anything done.

And America expects we will get “stuff done”.  

We may do it in the typical Democratic fashion, with pulling and pushing and complaining in every direction, and with disappointment in not achieving everything we hoped for.  But we MUST get “stuff done”, however the “sausage is made” to get there. 

Hope for Failure

The Republican Party (I wish there was a similar pejorative – the “Repubs”?) has thrown down a gauntlet.  They are refusing to participate in governing the nation.  They have abrogated their responsibility, the duty created by winning elections. The Repubs have simply said:  you have the majority – so you govern.  We will sit on the sidelines and hope for your failure.

What a terrible position to take.  What an Un-American way to be – we didn’t win so we will take “our ball” and go home.  It’s the kids on the playground you didn’t like, the guys on the sidelines who, instead of contributing to the team, undercut every advance.  But we can’t control what they do.

What the Democratic Party can do, in its ugly, multi-directional fashion, is determine what needs to get done and do it. And these next two weeks are the crisis, the crux of whether we can govern or not.

Fake Crisis

There’s the debt ceiling, an artificial issue created just so that everyone could go and campaign about it.  The laws are already passed, and the money already allocated.  Now, we have to pass a law saying that the actions we have already taken are OK.  Let’s think about that:  I have a credit card with a $30,000 limit.  I spend $35,000.  My credit card company would have stopped me at $30,000, but instead, just asks if I want to raise my limit.  If I say yes, I get the $35,000 that I’ve ALREADY SPENT.   If I say no, then whoever I spent the last $5000 with doesn’t get paid.  That wrecks my credit rating.

The decision was made when the money was spent in the first place.  There is no decision about raising the debt ceiling now – it’s ALREADY SPENT.  So the only argument is, do we want to wreck our credit rating, or not.  And if that’s an issue for us Democrats – then we really don’t deserve to govern.

But it is for the Repubs – they are willing to sit on their hands – no, worse – they are willing to vote NO and wreck the US credit rating for political gain.  That says a lot about who they are.  Meanwhile, it’s our government to run – and we’d better run it.

Make the Sausage

Then there’s the infra-structure plan.  Everyone’s already agreed to the first $1 Trillion.  Now we are arguing about how much more to spend – somewhere between none and $3.5 Trillion.  I know we Democrats want to get a lot done, for people, for America, and most importantly, for all of those Americans who have been left behind in the last three decades of prosperity.  

This is the core of the Progressive agenda.  This is what they ran for office to do.  And those Progressives feel that they have a mandate from the 2020 election to get this done. 

But no one is going to get “the whole pie”.  The moderate Democrats aren’t willing to go as far, spend as much.  That’s partly because they don’t think they can get re-elected if they do, and partly because they really don’t believe it’s the right thing to do.  So there’s a negotiation to be had.  It’s between Sanders and Manchin, Jayapal and Gottheimer; to reach a “deal” that no one will be happy with – but everyone can live with.

And finally, there’s the most critical issue of all – the voting rights acts. We Democrats – all of us – agree on big portions of it. And the Repubs will stand as a block against all of it. So again, we must deal, agree to disagree, and put forth a plan to protect the voting rights of all Americans. It is not only in the best interest of the Democratic Party – it is in the best traditions of our Democracy.

And if we Democrats can’t do that – then I guess the Repubs are right – we don’t deserve to govern.  So, my fellow Democrats, get talking, get negotiating, and get this show on the road.