I am beyond disappointed with the Democratic Party. This party is the best chances for the values I stand for politically, and yet because of its nature, it has made policies I would like to see happen less likely to come into being.
In my lifetime I think there was one Democratic who had the ability to move use this meanstream party to bend the arc of political discourse AND action into the direction I know in my heart would be great for the country.
That was Bobby Kennedy
Instead we have had policies that have moved us into a new-Gilded age and a return to 1920s gaps between the rich and poor. AND at the same time (while stripping away taxes of all kinds on the wealthy) crying about the overwhelming tax burden on the wealthy.
In the meantime the protections for the middle class (low cost health care, low cost college, anything resembling the remnant of a pension, funding for social security, union protections for workers) have been drastically eroded.
We have stripped all elements of the progressive and redistributive nature of our tax system (come on Bernie keep squawking Socialism!) but we fund our social welfare system with a regressive system that taxes Americans on their first dollar of income for SSI and other payroll taxes and maxes out a little after 100K AND there is a less visible matching tax that employers pay that is essentially coming out of your pay.
Two assumptions here.
- Capitalism has been the strongest performing economic model for at least 100 years, so we want to use it.
- It distributed money in a way that consolidates wealth in the upper class, and that is a long term problem—so a progressive/redistributive system is important for a democratic society with a healthy and spending middle class.
Anyhoo, the Democratic Party has consistently failed to declare a bold, clear statement of who they are. And because of this it effectively stands for nothing in practice. Look for a future post when I share an NPR perspective that shows a vibrant progressive wing with a clear message compared with Democratic Party leadership with bland 2016 slogans and no crowd appeal. When Obama was elected president I so hoped he would ask for new leadership in Congress to partner with him during his presidency. Instead he stuck with Reid and Pelosi who lost their majorities, have had almost zero positive influence, and still have their jobs (somehow) while Obama was crippled by Democratic ineptness and targeted obstructionism at all points.
So my brief point is this. Looking at the issues of the filibuster and Supreme Court nominations, the Democratic Party has been so ineffective that its destruction would be better for the American political left than its continued existence.
FIlibuster. Remember when it took 60 Senators to get anything done and the Democrats had 58 so nothing got done. The Republicans have 51, a president who clearly merits obstructionism, AND a barely united party. AND they threaten the nuclear option and use reconciliation and magically it only take 51 votes (50 Senators and the Vice President to get a bill passed. Only the Democrats could let this happen while having it used against them for years. WTF.
Supreme Court. There was a Supreme Court vacancy and the Republican Party simply said we will not allow a nomination until the next election. THe Supreme Court was stolen from the left without a real fight. And when the shoe was on the other foot, Trump’s nomination sailed through. These things along with realigned Congressional districts after the 2010 elections all have the system rigged against the Democratic Party. AND it is the fault of the Democratic Party.
Only a tragically incompetent party can allow the rules of the game to become so one-sided.
Dems, I am done with you guys. More to come.