It’s a Venus and Mars thing. In the past, Democrats spent all their time talking about policy issues and governance. Republicans lied their way into a whirlwind of rage, corruption, disinformation, and bad-faith arguments. The two sides aren’t even speaking the same language. No wonder we have such terrible domestic strife. Democrats reliably confuse policy and power. We can see that Republicans have fallen to brute power politics. And yet, after each deliberate Republican provocation, Dems cave and offer another round of compromises to the Party of the Absolute Leader. This time, they hope, the bully will accept their lunch money and leave them alone.
The New Republican Reality
Republicans don’t want concessions. They want to overthrow our democracy. The GOP stopped supporting our democracy’s day-to-day operations decades ago. They leave it to Democrats to clean, pay the bills, stock the pantry, and sweep up the broken bits from yesterday’s Republican rage.
Not that the GOP isn’t making promises, but they’re lies. The GOP’s actions are reliably corrupt and authoritarian. Reagan only offered disingenuous policy platforms, and the GOP dropped that marginal pretense along with their policy platform in 2020. Biden is right: they don’t stand for any governmental policies. The goal is power: a perpetual Republican rule.
Democratic Dishonesty
The center of the Democratic Party feels hollow. Their search for some imaginary middle ground is just foolish. Republicans will never compromise on voting rights. Voter suppression isn’t a bug; it’s a feature. It’s the same for anti-corruption laws, income equality, fixing the tax code, reducing poverty, and the rest. Each satisfies a Republican donor. The GOP openly acknowledges they are willing and eager to damage the country so long as it prevents the Dems from “a win.”
Democrats: Hapless No More?
To their credit, Democrats have acknowledged the Republican insurrection. That’s only a few months after Trumpists sacked the Capitol. (Sad fact: that’s an improvement.) And yet they’re compromising with Republicans in the investigation. Policy and power politics are very different.
Remember, ahead of the 2016 election? Donald Trump undermined every election he expected to lose. And yet Democrats (and the media) were shocked to see him saying the very same self-serving nonsense in 2020. Party Democrats are not quick or incisive. (I have no similar excuse for the media.)
Democrats, can I have a word with you? The people who abused you last week will hit you again next week. They have not changed. They probably can’t. Besides, they’ve only promised more of the same. When they get frustrated, thuggish violence is their go-to answer. Dems, you can’t change them when they’re happy with what they’ve become.
Will Democrats Appease the Bully Again?
Supreme Court Justice Breyer G. Breyer just announced his retirement at the end of this term. Does anyone want to wager Biden will nominate a moderate centrist? (Thank god Merrick Garland isn’t a black woman.) Republicans just jammed through scores of biased judicial nominees and two super-partisan justices. There is no point in any judicial compromise. But I expect Biden will offer concessions anyway.
How about Biden’s recent nominees to the Fed? They’re both widely praised across what remains of the political spectrum. They’re mainstream centrist candidates. No reasonable person could accuse these of fringe beliefs. And so, of course, that’s precisely what Republicans are saying. Their sin is obvious and unforgivable: neither nominee is a partisan Republican. Loyalty and fielty are all that matter to the modern GOP.
What? Did I hear someone suggest that Sens. Mitt Romney or Susan Collins might be old-school Republicans willing to put the nation above Republican loyalty? No, they both voted for voter suppression. I have no idea why. It’s not like Mitt would lose his next election no matter what he did.
And despite all the protests from the progressive wing – and their high popularity – the old-school Democratic Party Bramins remains hapless. Even Biden was bolder than that.
The Nation is at Risk
Every week reveals a new Trumpian coup plot. And even so, I expect Democrats will still confuse policy and power politics. There is no point in offering concessions when they don’t care. Republicans are calling for your arrest and possibly murder.
