Mid-Terms Loom

 

Will Rogers famously said: “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” The Democrats are not like the Republicans in many ways, and that is mostly a good thing. However, sometimes I wonder why they just don’t get their act together and get some important legislation passed for the good of us all. I agree that Senator Manchin gets to have his moment, as does Senator Sinema, but I really believe they should have put their petty grievances aside, found some way to compromise, and pass President Biden’s legislation program and voting rights reforms. Pretty soon it will be too late to effect meaningful change before the November mid-terms if it is not already too late.

The media pundits are already musing about projected Democratic Party losses in the November mid-terms, even as some of the Republican national redistricting moves have been denied by the courts, leaving the trends to be more favorable for the Democrats. At the same time, it appears that few state legislatures will have competitive districts and will continue to pass cultural laws whenever the Republicans are in charge. The voting restrictions, now in place in many Southern states, are expected to deny valid minority voters a ballot in many instances, and compress their voting opportunities in others. 538 reports that President Biden’s popularity continues to hover around 42% in a composite of polls with disapproval rates around 53%.

At this point in their Presidencies, Obama was slightly ahead of Biden’s numbers with a 47.8% showing while DJT was at 40.6%, GW Bush, after the 911 event, demonstrated sky-high numbers around 74.9%. So how can Democrats re-group and re-position their party before the fall elections? Republicans counter Democratic successes with COVID case decreases and a widespread vaccine program, with continued campaigns against masks, vaccines, and the previous losses for in-school education access, ignoring the reality that most school shut-downs occurred before Biden was elected. As Governors in Florida and Texas prohibited mask programs, they undoubtedly prolonged the virus outbreaks in their states. Axios reported that early outbreaks were in Democratic states, but the disease was deadlier in red states, especially after the vaccine was available and those states were slow to adopt the vaccine. So, should the pandemic be an issue in the mid-terms? It certainly was in the election in 2020, but to my way of thinking, it should no longer be the dominant issue in the fall, unless another variant invades our shores.

Democrats can point to several successes, such as the American Rescue Fund (ARF) relief that sent checks to most homes and the earned income tax credit that helped families with children. They assisted businesses with impact aid and small business funding, and unemployed workers with extended periods of unemployment checks. The government provided vaccines to states for distribution and patients received them at no cost. The bi-partisan infrastructure plan is already at work planning to replace bridges, repair failing water and sewage systems, increase broadband access, improve public transit, and modernize airports across the country, to just mention a few of the projects in its’ scope. Democrats should be out there cheering for all of these programs.

The confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson should be another plus for the Democrats and should please an important Democratic constituency-women, especially African American women, who usually favor Democrats in large numbers. The Culture wars stirred up by demagogic Republicans about CRT and Pedophilia were their attempts to bring in the PTA Moms who were moved by issues of school control and curriculum bending brought out by Gov Youngkin when he ran in Virginia last year. The Republican Senators and their racist remarks, thinly veiled, should have been countered by the Democratic Senators more forcefully; I believe that Senator Booker should not have been the only one to make a strong case for Judge Jackson. When the Republicans were ranting and practically foaming at the mouth in their denial of basic civility in their questioning, they should have been called out by the Democrats. Last, disobeying the rules of the Senate, Rand Paul, and Lindsey Graham, in a final sign of disrespect at the confirmation vote, refused to put on ties and meet the Senate dress code, so voted no from the cloakroom door. Once the vote was final, and the Democrats stood and applauded, the Republicans left the room, except for Senator Romney; Senators Collins and Murkowski had joined him in approval votes for Judge Jackson, so they can tally the vote as bi-partisan.

However, two other issues are not yet plusses for the Dems, those are Voting Rights reforms and immigration reform. Progressives expected both of these to be high on the Presidents’ must pass list, but they got pushed aside in favor of the relief bills mentioned above. The social issues in the Build Back Better Law should also have been passed as the party leaders assured Progressives that they would be, but two of their own, Senators Manchin and Sinema, torpedoed these efforts. That is the problem with an evenly divided Senate, the Democrats do not have the luxury of saying okay, to even one senator to avoid supporting a Democratic bill as the Republicans will not step up even though they might well support the issue if their leadership does not allow it.

Most Progressive organizations lobbied heavily for voting rights legislation; the Democrats even dropped their own proposal in favor of one tailored by Manchin, who said he could find ten Republicans to support it and thus beat the filibuster. Didn’t happen, did it, Joe? So, what is next? Maybe they can bring it back again in some watered-down version that might work, but we are again getting short on time. Hispanic voters expected immigration reforms, legislation for a permanent solution for dreamers, and border crossing abuses corrected. Still, we saw the mistreatment of Haitian refugees and the deportation of thousands, and no remedies are yet in sight. And, they say, another “caravan” is on its’ way, just in time to give fodder to the rights wing fear mongers.

QAnon is big on flaming out the child trafficking and molesting issues, so I guess that bunch was happy with the ranting. I do worry that the suburban women who swung heavily for Democrats in the 2018 mid-terms are being swayed by contentious school board meetings about CRT and racism and, as our nation becomes more diverse, by attempts against educators who see us as a nation of many cultures and teach tolerance of those differences. Issues in Florida about “don’t say gay” and in Texas against trans teens are leading our children, who do live in an open society, in the wrong directions, I believe. Although there appear to be fewer than 50 trans teens competing across the country in high school athletic events, the rhetoric on the right would have one believe that every high school student is being challenged by a trans contender. Facts do matter.

Dana Milbank wrote in the Washington Post about issues with the Republican Party objecting to the Democratic Committee Chair Jamie Harrison’s characterization of them as a party built on “fraud, fear, and fascism” after Senator Cotton described Judge Jackson as a Nazi sympathizer. You can read his article here:

This is his concluding paragraph:

Is the GOP “a party built on fraud, fear, and fascism”? Certainly, not all Republicans think this way. But too many others are subverting democracy, cavorting with white nationalists, spreading racist fears, and fantasizing about extrajudicial punishment for political opponents and the media. For them, the jackboot fits.

The Democratic Party needs to develop a positive message about all that is right with this country and find people where they are and say, as President Biden did recently in Poland: “Be not afraid.” Do not allow those who would spread fear and hatred to win; they will lessen our resolve as Americans to be both a good and great country.

Now for a few comments about the War in Ukraine.

Horrors increase with each day. First one city, then another with bodies in basements and churchyards, then the use of cluster bombs against a train station where civilians were gathering in an attempt to flee the fighting. Barbarism is the aim of the invaders who, it seems, are intent on turning a civilized country to rubble, disregarding how many civilians they might kill. A Russian General infamous for his atrocities in Syria has now been placed in charge of the latest onslaught. Some diplomats think Putin wants to finish the war and win by May 9^th, a holiday in Russia that commemorates victory over the Nazis in World War II, so he can link the two (perhaps that is why he keeps characterizing his invasion as fighting Nazis). This also means many authorities believe Putin will not negotiate for a ceasefire or peace talks until his objectives are met.

Zelensky continues to voice his plea for weapons now to parliaments and assemblies across the world, trying to save his beleaguered country before more devastation occurs. Meanwhile, Western nations are rushing in more and stronger weapons. Former nearby Soviet allied nations, some fearing they might be next if Putin succeeds, are increasing their support as well. Meanwhile, Putin sympathizer and former candidate Marie LePen in France has drawn enough votes in the French preliminary election to again meet French President Macron in a run-off in a few weeks. As of now, Macron has 27.4% to LePen’s 24.3% with the other 50% divided among many parties on the right and left. I hope that the French people see the sense of keeping their president as LePen would pull France out of NATO and reduce support for Ukraine.

In Russia, symptoms of Stalinism are infecting the general populace as the authorities increase propaganda about the war and stifle dissent. Lists of those who are seen as dissenters are being shared. Putin has called for ridding the nation of scum and a need for self-purification; some now wonder if urges are to resume? The Washington Post had a frightening article about children recording and reporting their teachers for remarks against the fighting; the authorities fined and fired the teachers. The New York Times also reported on these societal changes.

Just a word to those Republicans who supported Orban and Putin-is this what you want your children to do? It seems in Florida and in Virginia, that is exactly what they want to be done, as parents and students were encouraged to tell the governors about educators who did not follow the state directives on education or teachers who encouraged masks. What is happening in this country? Do none of these horrors bring home the significance of dancing with a dictator? Do some Americans no longer respect our hard-won freedoms and the democracy most of us try to preserve? Let me know what you think.

Guess that does it for tonight. I will have to discuss the Maryland redistricting and Hogan’s veto overrides next week.

“Til next week-hope for peace.