This democratic squabbling over Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ plan and the bipartisan infrastructure plan has far greater consequences than whatever ends up in the bill, if, in fact, they are even able to pass the bill. The ‘progressives’ and the ‘moderates’ are locked into a battle that could ultimately sink the whole mess and we end up with nothing. There would be no greater way to ensure that the Republicans regain both the House and the Senate than to end up being unable to pass anything.
The Republicans will have a heyday talking up the fact that the Democrats were in charge of both houses of Congress and the presidency and were unable to get anything done. If the democrats cannot see past their short term ‘must haves’, they might as well just hand the keys to Congress and the White House over to Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarty and Donald Trump. Midterm elections usually favor the party that is not in power so it is going to be an uphill battle in any case to win the elections. What the democrats are engaged in now is just going to make it even harder.
Most of us in the country just want to see a functioning government. A government that can get things done – at least something done! Most Americans got worn out and tired because of all of the chaos in the previous administration. Yes, it would be nice to have free community college. Yes, it would be nice to vigorously tackle climate change. Yes, it would be nice to get everything on my Christmas wish list too! But right now, most of us just want to see the government get something done that will benefit some segment of the population that does not have an eight figure and higher net worth. American billionaires saw their collective fortunes rise by 70% during the pandemic.1 This is a group of about 700 people and when the Democrats wanted to tax them to help pay for these programs, a group of moderate Democrats resisted.
What the hell is wrong with this picture? I would expect Republicans to resist taxing the wealthy. They’re the ones who pushed through the tax cuts that primarily benefitted the wealthy. But now we have ‘moderate’ Democrats like Joe Manchin, bought and paid for by the fossil fuel industry, resisting these taxes on the wealthy. You think Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos can’t afford a little more tax? I’m not sure how many billions someone needs to live comfortably but my guess is not very many. I’m doing OK and don’t have anywhere near even one billion dollars in my bank account.
I keep hoping that the word ‘compromise’ will re-enter the political dialogue one of these days but sometimes it seems as if the word has been purged from the English language – at least American English. Whereas most people once revered statesmen (and women) who could reach across the aisle and work within their own parties to actually accomplish things, many now seem to rally behind people whose strongest traits are loud voices, intransigence and the ability to generate sound bites for TV.
The unfortunate thing is, that while many of our politicians are acting like spoiled children in a sand box, the rest of the world is moving forward. China is making strides by leaps and bounds not only in their military capabilities but in space, transportation infrastructure, and world reach.2 In many respects, the United States has become so internally focused, that we are losing sight of the big, global picture.
The Democrats need to understand that their very first priority is to prevent the Republicans from taking back the House and Senate in 2022 and to prevent Trump (or a clone) from taking back the White House in 2024. That’s it! Every other discussion and accomplishment will be rendered moot if that happens. The best way to make sure that doesn’t happen is to get something done that will begin to benefit a wide spectrum of Americans by the time the 2022 elections roll around.
I’m sure there are some Democrats currently engaged in this game of political brinksmanship who are thinking that ‘this is our one and only chance to get this done so we absolutely have to have this now.’ That mindset is kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy for failure. Unfortunately, if some Democrats are thinking they are only going to be in power for the first two years of the Biden administration, that means they’ve pretty much already thrown in the towel. That does not bode well for the rest of us.
It seems to me the strategic thing to do would be to focus on getting something – anything – done now, in hopes of showing the voting public that there is a functioning government in Washington. Success breeds success so once the Democrats are able to demonstrate that they can get things done, even in small steps, it will likely increase voter support and thereby increase the chances that they can retain control over both houses of Congress. If they are able to retain control of Congress, then they can keep chipping away at the ‘want to have’ list.
Unfortunately, the short term, ‘all or nothing’, mentality that seems to be an epidemic in Congress these days will virtually guarantee that Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy will regain their gavels and the country will descend further into the pit of hyper wealth disparity, polarization and authoritarianism.