Democracy on the Brink
A little less than a year from now, Democrats are going to do one of two things: they are going to make some historic changes and pull off a political miracle, OR they are going to get massacred in the mid-term elections and they will watch America’s democracy disintegrate while they controlled the House, the Senate and the Presidency.
Two Democrats deserve a lot of the blame. But they can be neutralized. Average voters can do it. It’s easier than you think.
Democrats won the 2020 election with big promises that they would lead, they would get things done.
They’ve been big on promises but weak on delivery
After former governor Terry McCauliffe lost re-election in November in Virginia, a blue state, President Biden acknowledged the Democrats have a problem:
Biden: “I do know people want us to get things done…People are upset and uncertain about a lot of things.”
Chris Cilizza, a CNN commentator, says the voters have noticed.
“In voters’ minds, they handed Democrats the keys to the kingdom, and they haven’t been terribly happy with the results.”
Same Old, Same Old
Under Donald Trump most voters concluded Washington was in chaos, with Congressional gridlock.
Under Joe Biden, polls show they’ve concluded it’s more of the same-old, same-old.
In the old days, when Democrats enjoyed massive majorities, the party focused on so-called bread and butter issues for the average American. Maintaining middle-class economic status for the little guy was the bedrock of the Democratic Party.
Not anymore.
Democrats are widely perceived as ignoring the financial struggles of the lunch bucket crowd to focus on issues like transgender restrooms. But the problem is deeper than narrow minority issues.
Internal bickering is the biggest cause of the Democrats’ poor performance. Anyone who pays just a little bit of attention to politics knows Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have been giving headaches and nightmares to the Democratic Party.
The Democrats hold a razor-thin margin of 50 votes in the 100-member U.S. Senate. Their margin is only slightly better in the House of Representatives. On any vote, they can’t afford any defections from the party line. Manchin and Sinema are using the math of the Democrats’ razor-thin Senate margin to engage in a democracy-destroying power trip. They’ve been persuaded to do this by MONEY.
Bought Off
Manchin has made millions from the coal and fossil fuel industries. The New Republic notes Manchin’s son’s coal company paid him about three times his Congressional salary of 174-thousand dollars.
Sinema has been bought off by Big Pharma to ensure drug price reform doesn’t become law.
By Washington standards, Manchin and Sinema are honest politicians—when special interests buy them, they stay bought.
Together they have tied the Biden agenda in knots, left their political party struggling to get things done and increased the risk the Democrats’ majorities in Congress will vanish in the mid-term elections.
There’s a growing fear among liberals and independents that Joe Biden may be seeing Jimmy Carter in the mirror. Carter was a one-term Democratic president widely perceived as ineffectual and unable to get things done.
Meanwhile, Jabba the Trump, as New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd calls him, is relentless in repeating his Big Lie that the presidential stolen election rigged. It’s part of a plan to create doubt about the election system and destroy America’s democracy. Trump started the Big Lie months before the 2020 election Here’s a comment he made in August, 2020 about the election coming in November:
Trump: “The only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged. Remember that.”
Trump has been repeating that lie incessantly since he lost the election. Like Hitler, Trump understands if you tell a big lie often enough, people will begin to believe it.
And like Hitler he seems to harbor dreams of becoming America’s first dictator. Trump’s followers are gung ho.
Discovering they hate Democracy
Trump’s vast cult and the White Supremacists have decided they don’t like living in a nation where all men are created equal. They passionately believe whites are more equal than others.
The radical White Right wallows in the politics of resentment of equality. They seldom talk about problem-solving or the future, because they are mired in the past. They are fact-free and ignorant, but they are cunning and relentless.
For millions of American white haters, this is war. The neo-fascists are armed to the teeth and increasingly violent. The so-called liberals and progressives keep bringing silk handkerchiefs to this gun fight. They foolishly believe they can reason with the foaming-at-the-mouth Nazi-wannabes.
Imagine our form of government as a mighty tree. Roots give a tree life. Republicans are working hard to elect neo-fascist white supremacists at all levels of government, to become the roots. They intend to change local laws and regulations to ensure the destruction of democracy.
Tilting the Playing Field
Trump is working to ensure he has loyalists in critical elected positions across the nation. His candidate endorsements are up and down the ballot.
He’s made endorsements in eight Governor races, 14 Senate campaigns, 17 House campaigns and 10 state office races. There will be more—a lot more—in the 2022 election year. This is why it’s critical that non-Trumpers vote for so-called down-ballot offices.
Our nation’s democracy depends on fumigating the neo-fascists out of our city halls and our state capitols in 2002.
If you don’t want to put the time into researching each candidate, just vote a straight ticket. That used to be a standard practice for millions of Americans.
If enough people vote for Democrats, particularly in the House and Senate races, the party’s majority margins in Congress will increase.
Manchin and Sinema will no longer have the power they have now to block the Biden agenda. It’s simple math. It’s the path for Biden to get things done.
Many of you tell pollsters America is on the wrong track. The evidence suggests you’re right. But you CAN do something about it. Plan to vote in the 2022 election.
Find out who the anti-democracy fascists are—and vote for their opponent. It’s as easy as marking a ballot.
Hey, Vince!
My husband and I couldn’t agree with you more. We appreciate your strong efforts and creative ideas here for possible ways to stop what might just be the beginning of the end of America as we know it. Sure seems like every week there are new, alarming signs to indicate that the Party of Trump is going to not only succeed in its mission to take back control of both sides of Congress in 2022 but also put the Orange Menace back into the White House in 2024 by way of tactics that ensure new voting laws — with state officials in place and ready to go — in order to succeed where they failed in 2020. Shockingly, too many Republican politicians in Washington who like us, ALSO see the dangers of their much changed party, stay silent due to their fear of being voted out of office if they get on the wrong side of Jabba the Trump or their gullible constituents who fall for the nonstop misinformation and disinformation being fed to them by cable and radio pundits looking for big ratings and paychecks.
For those of us watching this horror show play out, it’s time to stop sitting back and wringing our hands, considering the very dangerous and destructive ending that may be coming all too soon. We need to take meaningful, constructive actions now. That means all hands on deck to interrupt it at every twist and turn. So please keep keep the ideas coming, while reminding us all of what’s at stake if we do nothing…. meaning allow it! We just can’t let it.
Signed,
Two Former but now Horribly Disgusted Republican Voters