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What For? [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-20
What did the American people elect Republicans for?
So far, Republicans have accomplished exactly nothing since taking office. They’ve destroyed a lot of things, but that’s not an accomplishment.
This is a huge opportunity cost.
We Could Have Had Harris
Kamala Harris ran on things last year. As detailed by CBS News:
Tax Relief. 95% of Americans would have seen lower taxes. She also suggested increasing the startup deduction for small businesses from $5K to $50K.
Child Tax Credit. $6,000 for parents of newborns and $3,600 for young children.
Housing. 3 million affordable new homes and rentals, with tax breaks to home builders that sell to first-time home buyers. Plus a fund for local governments to help with housing.
Inflation. Reduce price gouging and lower prescription drug costs.
Immigration. Revive the bipartisan border deal. Have permanent restrictions on asylum. Expand legal immigration.
Abortion. Pledged to sign legislation that would restore a federal right to abortion.
IVF. Supports the right of women to make their own decisions about their bodies and family-planning
Climate. Continue goals in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The Democratic Party platform has protections against drilling and mining in the Arctic.
Guns. Supports red flag laws.
Education. Supports tuition-free college for most families.
Israel and Gaza. No change in policy, but condemned the bloodshed in Gaza. Backs a two-state solution.
Ukraine. Stand strong with Ukraine and NATO allies. Condemned Russia for crimes against humanity.
China. Continuation of President Biden’s policies. Condemns China aggression in the South China Sea. Supports Taiwan. Supports human rights.
Iran. Wants to revive the Iran nuclear deal.
(Check the article for details on each of these points.)
We Could Have Had Democracy
That’s just what Harris ran on. The Democratic Party had its own platform. It says, in part:
Democrats will fix the tax system so everyone has a fair shot. We will restore the right to choose. We will continue to bring down costs for families. We will continue to reject political violence of all forms and give hate no safe harbor. [Democrats are running to] grow our economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. To reward work, not wealth. To lower costs. To tackle the climate crisis, lower energy costs, and secure energy independence. To protect communities and tackle the scourge of gun violence. To secure the border and fix the broken immigration system. To advance the President’s Unity Agenda. To strengthen American leadership worldwide. History has shown that nothing about democracy is guaranteed. Every generation has to protect it, preserve it, choose it. We must stand together to choose what we want America to be.
The Democratic Party would be helping the entire country—and the world. Planks:
Growing Our Economy from the Bottom Up & Middle Out
Rewarding Work, Not Wealth
Lowering Costs
Tackling the Climate Crisis, Lowering Energy Costs, & Securing Energy Independence
Protecting Communities & Tackling the Scourge of Gun Violence
Strengthening Democracy, Protecting Freedoms, & Advancing Equity
Securing our Border & Fixing the Broken Immigration System
Advancing the President’s Unity Agenda
Strengthening American Leadership Worldwide
What’s the Difference?
If you consider the difference between what we expected under President Harris and what we’re getting under Criminal Trump, a few items jump out.
Harris would have been vastly better on tax policy. With Criminal Trump, we are looking at a continuation and expansion of tax cuts for the rich, while we are seeing huge tax increases for the poor and middle class in the form of tariffs.
It’s not just that this is grossly unfair to most Americans. The economy depends on poor people and the middle class having money. I call this the “working part” of the economy, because it is where most of the money flows, keeping the economy working. Money flowing to the upper echelons mostly goes into investments. While this can help the economy in the long term, most of that money is just parked somewhere, instead of flowing. The health of the economy depends on two things: the amount of money and how fast it is flowing. The tax situation, should the Republicans get everything they dream of, doesn’t create a flow; it creates a stop.
We would have had better handling of inflation, as well. Tariffs just gave a massive jolt to prices. Even if our would-be dictator backs off all tariffs, that jolt will continue through the economy. Consumer confidence is gone.
And the tariffs have resulted in real changes to what companies expect to get and sell, as you can see in Marko’s article, Another week, another batch of MAGA faithful finding out the hard way:
It is also not surprising that Mack Trucks is laying off about 20% of its workforce in response to the economic havoc Trump’s tariffs are generating. And if you follow that link, you’ll see plenty more terrible news for the trucking industry.
Obviously, women would have been much better treated under Harris. The current White House denizen has shown no love for women.
And his position on Ukraine is that of a war criminal. By siding with Vladimir Putin, he’s literally enabling a war criminal.
Realistically, we would have been better off on just about every issue if Harris had won.
So, what we see is someone actively destroying the country, when we could have had significant gains in several areas.
What More Do You Want?
The Democratic Party has good values. We could improve things with better priorities. So, here is where I think we should put our priorities.
Everyone has an opinion, and you might look at this as just one person’s opinion. But there’s more to this than my personal opinion. I’m stating what I believe will be best for the country and the world, so if you think something else is better, present your argument why.
And beyond that, these are the things that would result in the best chances of winning elections. I’ll tell you why, and you can argue for your priorities.
But I’m not stating these because I like them. I think these represent the right values to put first and the initiatives that have the greatest chance of winning us elections.
Prioritize Ending Climate Change
Addressing climate change must be a top priority. It might not be number one, but it should be in the top two or three.
This is a winning issue. Climate change is relentless and worsening. There’s nothing the Republicans can do to reduce its political impact because they picked the wrong side in the battle and are hopelessly mired in their position.
Not only is this bad for them, but it will get worse over the next four years, making it an even more powerful weapon for Democrats to use in the 2028 election.
The Democratic Party erred in not making this a top issue in the last two presidential elections. Democrats were relatively quiet about the issue, just trying to duck it when Republicans brought it up. This weakened our party and may have been a deciding factor in many races, including the presidential races. This was a serious mistake.
When your opponent picks bad strategy, pounce. Step forward and cut them down with one blow.
Our party should publicize this issue and reinforce scientific evidence that supports public knowledge about the problem. All Democratic politicians should have a short statement that crushes any person who doubts climate change in public.
Climate change is real and worsening. The science is completely irrefutable. Humans are causing climate change. It threatens to kill off the human species and all the species we care about. Republicans have nothing, and most of them are in willful denial. This is an example of Republican selfishness, how they want everything they can get for themselves regardless of harm to future generations.
You know. Like that. Come down on them like a ton of bricks. Be winners.
Raise Incomes
The typical living wage in this country is around $38 an hour. This is my conclusion from evaluating wages in the MIT Living Wage Calculator.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25/hour. Minimum wages in some states or localities are higher, but to my knowledge, none of them even vaguely approach a living wage. And it is unbelievable in expensive areas. The living wage in San Francisco County is $61.37/hour for an adult with a child.
Do you make over $61 an hour? We are talking around $135,000 a year.
Okay, the well-to-do denizens of Daily Kos with advanced degrees probably do. But let’s say the bottom dropped out and you were a janitor in some high-rise office building in SOMA. Do you even have enough income to pay CalTrain to get to your job?
It’s time for the Democratic Party to really dig into this issue. Could we get a hike in the minimum wage through Congress?
Not if you play by the Republican rules. They would filibuster until they keeled over on the Senate floor.
But we could increase wages through reconciliation, as I pointed out in Minimum Income Is Within Our Reach.
You don’t like it? Tough. Come forward with a better plan, then.
This is totally a winning issue for Democrats. Easily half the people in the U.S. are hardly making ends meet. The entire message from the populace in the last election can be summed up thusly: “WE CAN’T AFFORD EGGS!”
You’d think one of our major parties would run on making it possible for people to live on the income they get.
Yeah, right, the Republicans did run on this, but their offer was just nutzoid. They said they’d bring down prices. In what universe? Were they really going to go back to their corporate overlords after the election and beg, “Please, sir, could you reduce prices for people? Just a tiny bit. People are starving.”
You know the response: “Oh, silly Republican. You never thought we’d do that, did you? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Go back and sell them the next pile of dung.”
Prices are not too high. Incomes are too low. Fix incomes, you blithering idiots!
And, really, fix taxes. The idea that Kamala Harris had for taxes was correct. But you have to fight for it. When Republicans complain about taxes, tell them what I do:
Taxes are not too high. Incomes are too low. If you’re having problems paying your taxes, you need more money. You need a raise. Maybe you even need a union.
Stop cowering to Republicans. For too long, Democrats have been pre-defeated on these issues. We get the standard old right-wing tropes in each election.
Trope chop. Cut the pillars out from under right-wing talking points. Put a little fight in your step, Democrats.
Federal minimum wage, presuming you can work full time (2,200 hours a year) is $15,950. You can’t even afford a latte on Columbus Avenue on those wages.
Support Human Rights
The Democratic Party should be on the attack on foreign policy, especially on the war in Ukraine. This is a huge winning issue.
According to Civiqs, Russia is no friend. The latest poll showed that 71% of Americans view Russia as a foe. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's approval rating (per Reuters) was 67% in March. The Economist pegged Criminal Trump’s approval at 52% disapprove.
The Democratic Party should be on an all-out campaign in support of Ukraine. Ukraine and Zelenskyy both have high approval, and Russia’s approval rating is around 12%. The more we campaign for Ukraine, the more we drive down Republican approval ratings.
A Democratic Senator should talk endlessly about Ukraine on the Senate floor, and Democrats should put forward bills in both houses to provide about $50 billion in military aid for Ukraine.
This is a high enough amount to break through the media blockade on Democratic messaging, especially if combined with another Democrat blocking Senate business to talk about Ukraine.
I bring this up under “human rights” because that’s how Democrats should frame this. Highlight the war crimes Russians have been committing for three years in Ukraine. Talk about the attacks on civilians, the rapes, the kidnappings, the brutal use of cluster munitions and land mines, and all the other things that the Russians have been doing in this war. Bring the war home to Americans.
We could also put forward our own initiatives on Gaza. The human rights abuses there are horrific, too.
But I believe the key to ending hostilities is for the Palestinians there to adopt a new purpose in life. As long as their purpose in life is the destruction of Israel, this will continue to spiral down.
The Trump people want to destroy the Palestinians. That’s their “solution” to the problem. This is where Democrats can differentiate our party. We are on the side of human rights.
This battle could end very quickly if Palestinians had a real future to work for. That future has to have a different goal. Once they choose a suitable goal, whatever that is for them, then the world can come on board and support that goal.
That’s where the Democratic Party can make a difference.
By framing all this in terms of human rights, we can build a foreign policy that works everywhere in the world. The U.S. is still head of the great American empire. It is our responsibility to rule that empire wisely, helping everyone achieve democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.
We just need to stick to our values.
Support Civil Rights
The other great battle over rights is first of all here at home. The fascists in the Republicans Party are dedicated to taking away civil rights.
This is where the crime of deportation comes in. Deportation should be done according to the law, and when it isn’t, that’s a crime.
The current “administration” criminally deported people.
But this isn’t the only way the Trump people have been violating the law. Removing DEI from the government is another crime. We have laws that protect civil rights. Cutting DEI programs is a violation of those civil rights because it has the direct effect of denying proper access to certain classes of people.
The Republican Party has suppressed the votes of qualified voters for years. This is an attack on civil rights.
And the Executive Branch is supposed to be run according to the law. The law specifies which agencies there are and how much is to be spent for them. Doing things wildly at variance to what Congress specified is breaking the law. What the Trump people have done by firing people with no regard for employment law and government obligation to employees is a crime. Call it out for what it is.
Democrats need to go fight this battle. We should have a Senator on the floor of the Senate (when it’s in session) talking about the criminal acts of the Trump people. They should be demanding an end to voter suppression.
I want to see a law passed that gives government certified identification to every person who has ever voted in a federal election that states must accept as proof of eligibility to vote in federal elections. Essentially, I want all voters grandfathered in.
And then the federal government should issue ID to people who become citizens and everyone born here, so that when they turn 18 they are eligible and they have proof.
We are going to control the federal government after the next couple elections. At that point, we need to totally fix this problem.
The Ask
The Democratic Party has a lot to offer. The Republicans talked a big game before the election, but so far, they haven’t helped the country or the world at all. In fact, they’ve destroyed or tried to destroy a lot of the achievements of our society.
This just leads me to ask…
Trump
Oh oh oh oh
What is he good for?
(Absolutely nothing)
Say it again!
Democrats should be out there promoting what we could be doing right now. This country could have a stronger economy and more freedom. And we could be doing the right thing in foreign policy, instead of the wrong thing. We could have had democracy and the rule of law, instead of a corrupt government wrecking the economy.
It’s a lesson for future elections.
So, get out there an teach, Democrats!
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