I wonder what the Hillary haters on the progressive-left end of the political spectrum are thinking today? Any regrets? I doubt it. That would be too much to ask. They were convinced of their wisdom in 2016 and likely think the same today, notwithstanding this week’s decision of the Supreme Court and its makeup. As we know, sectarian and dogmatic thinking is a stubborn thing! It’s reality resistant.
The failure of the coalition that elected Biden to take ownership – by which I mean organizing practical actions on various levels – in support of the democratic and progressive aspects of Biden’s agenda – Build Back Better in the first place – has weakened its hand politically and ideologically in present circumstances. No doubt Democratic candidates at every level will have a much steeper climb when voters go to the polls this fall because of this failure.One would think that progressive minded leaders would have realized this danger and taken counter measures to turn the coalition that elected Biden into a powerful and active legislative force. But they didn’t.
This diverse coalition never became, to use the words of Frederick Douglass, “The Power behind the Throne” in the period following the election. As a result, BBB – a bill that would not only have made a tangible difference in the lives of tens of millions, but it would also have given Congressional Democrats a major accomplishment to run on – never received the the practical attention that it deserved. It was an object of conversation, instead of subject of struggle in the coalition that elected Biden. That’s not to say that everybody was sitting on their hands. They weren’t.
Their energies, however, were directed elsewhere. That’s understandable but only up to a point. Beyond that point such a posture turns into a self inflicted wound as voters register their displeasure at the failure of the Democrats in Washington to make a material difference in the day to day life of voters across the country. Let’s hope that the price paid for this mistake isn’t too high this fall for the stakes in this election have spiked in recent weeks, thanks to the immense damage done and decisions made by the Supreme Court, dominated, as it is, by a right wing authoritarian majority.
Went to an early morning spin class at Y today. First song in the spin set list was the National Anthem. It was outside and everyone, other than two of us, turned to the flag next to the Y’s entrance and placed their hand to their heart as the anthem played on a speaker. I decided to take a knee and not to participate in the national ritual. I’m a patriot, always have been, but “the land of the free and the home of the brave” rings hollow for me on this July 4th. Too much is going on that is unseemly, dirty, and “unpatriotic.”I later learned that the woman in the class who simply stood next to her bike had told the spin leader that the repeal of Roe v Wade was a bridge too far for her. .
Trump, we should remind people, isn’t an outlier. He’s what Republicanism is these days. He’s the prodigal son of the evolutionary transformation of the GOP – a transformation that goes back a half century. Goldwater then Nixon got the ball rolling. Reagan upped the ante and spread the word. Gingrich took it to a new stage. The Tea Party and a handful of billionaires catapulted it into new territory. And Trump continued this process, while adding some new wrinkles, with only the most tepid internal resistance, to the GOP’s evolution into a full blown authoritarian party – at once white nationalist, mysogynist and patriarchal, plutocratic, christian fundamentalist, homo and trans phobic, xenophobic, labor hating and more.His capture of the presidential nomination in 2016 wasn’t a fluke. More than any other presidential hopeful in the GOP primary, he gave voice to the new music and beat of a significant section of the party – base voters and financial backers alike.
In short, he adapted to as well as accelerated the transformation of the modern day Republlcan Party into an existential and immediate danger to democracy and social progress, something worth reminding voters of now and this fall.
The gang of 6 on the Supreme Court has revealed in its recent decisions its authoritarian pedigree – racist, misogynist, christian fundamentalist, labor hating, plutocratic, corporate, and more. It’s zealously giving legal cover to a wider and coordinated effort to undo the entire democratic and social scaffolding of rights and progress, achieved by dint of struggle across generations and time.
