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U.S. Needs a Progressive Agenda [1]

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Date: 2022-11-09

The "Red Heartland" and Republican stronghold where fear of "crime" (a/a/a Blacks, Latinos, and immigrants) and "elites" (a/k/a Jews) is used to sway elections.

Stymied by Republicans in the House and Senate, DINOS (Democrats in Name Only) like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, and weak leaders like Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Party failed to deliver on its promises to the American people. Instead of aggressively pursuing programs that the nation needs and would appeal to voters, the party and its leadership compromised away the 2022 mid-term election. If it weren’t for the skill and strength of Nancy Pelosi and push from the small group of progressive Congressional Representatives who make up the “Squad,” it is likely little worthwhile would have been passed in the first two years of the Biden administration. I hope Nancy remains in the Democratic Party’s Congressional leadership.

Some of the Republican gains in the House were predictable from past mid-term election swings and the Democrats still have a chance to hold onto the Senate. Not as bad as it could have been is no reason to celebrate. I anticipate two years of nasty unfounded rightwing Congressional investigations by House Republicans and a stalemated government heading into the 2024 Presidential election. The Democrats, as incumbents, are going to be blamed for the failure to solve pressing national problems. Think of the way George Bush lost his reelection bid in 1992 to Bill Clinton because of the economy.

In New York State, Democrat Kathy Hochul was elected Governor with approximately 53% of the vote. But surprisingly strong metropolitan area suburban support for her Republican opponent Lee Zeldin helped Republican candidates sweep four congressional districts on Long Island, win a contested seat on Staten Island, and a district just north of the city is leaning Republican in a race that remains to close to call.

Charles Schumer, who won reelection to the Senate, did not help New York’s Congressional Democratic campaigns. He was a non-presence in most of the state and the one campaign ad I saw for him on television was an embarrassment. It showed him sitting in the balcony of a Broadway theater with show business celebrities explaining how he saved theater in New York. Question for Chuck: For how many voters was Broadway theater their top priority? Schumer needs to resign or be replaced as the Democratic Party’s leader in the Senate.

I was glad that Barack Obama finally took to the campaign trail. But Obama is constitutionally barred from running for President or Vice-President. I don’t understand why Kamala Harris didn’t play a major role in the campaign. The Democrats need a younger generation of leaders. Why didn’t we see them highlighted? I can only suppose the Joe Biden did not want to promote a possible replacement. Biden needs to announce he will not seek reelection to open space up for newer Democratic voices.

Cable news talking heads are debating why the election went the way it did. Republican opposition to a woman’s reproductive freedom definitely cost them votes and probably prevented the feared “Red Wave.” Gerrymandering voting districts by Republican controlled state legislatures certainly played a part in Republican House gains. Inflation and other pocketbook issues also benefited Republican candidates. But the big Republican push was accusing the Democrats of being soft on crime and elitism. Crime and elitism are racial and ethnic code words. Crime is used by Republicans to stir up white fear of Blacks, Latinos, and immigrants. The charge of elitism is an attack on educated coastal populations, especially Jews. In the New York Governor’s contest Zeldin who focused his campaign on crime rates scored well in predominately white neighborhoods in New York City on Staten Island and in Queens and in Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn.

But the dismal performance of Democrats had its roots in the party’s inability to deliver on its 2020 campaign promises. The Democrats promised clean water for all Americans. It would have required $111 billion. A Democratic Party controlled Congress approved half of that amount. In an effort to stem global warming, the Democrats promised to promote electric vehicles and others that use clean fuels. The bill that passed Congress authorized 1/4 of what was requested. It also included a third of the money needed to support green manufacturing. Research and Development is desperately needed to find solutions to climate change. Congress authorized one-tenth of the requested funds. No money was allocated for job training, child care, schools, family health, pre-k, home care for aged and disabled, free community college, and k-12 education. Meanwhile tax credits and breaks for working people were allowed to expire and taxes on the wealthy and corporations remained at unconscionable low levels.

In New York State, labor unions helped Kathy Hochul pull out a victory in the end. But regionally and nationally the union movement that bridged racial and ethnic divides and was the backbone of Democratic majorities for almost 100 years is now almost defunct. Unless the labor movement can be revitalized, the political status quo will be white working-class voters keeping an anti-labor Republican Party either in power or with a veto over progressive legislation.

I am glad Hochul and Fetterman were elected and I hope a Warnock victory in a possible Georgia run-off will at least allow the Democrats to remain in control of the Senate. But not as bad as it could have been is no reason to celebrate. The United States and the Democratic Party desperately need a union movement and a progressive agenda.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/9/2134939/-U-S-Needs-a-Progressive-Agenda

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