Here’s the Deal

Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the end-dream of the far-right move to control the courts.

Here’s the deal, as Joe Biden would say. The moderates in the Democratic Party constantly complain that the progressive wing won’t support them, won’t turn out for elections featuring moderate candidates, and complain that the moderate policies they push are, well, too moderate.

The progressive wing says that they have no seat at the table, that their ideas are consistently ignored, even ridiculed, and their support, when granted, is rarely rewarded. Why bother when they’re not listened too, are given no power in return for your support, and left out of major policy decisions?

In the past, campaigns have been won using the progressive’s ideals and style: Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign was a progressive (for its time) campaign, and Obama’s 2008, and especially his 2012 campaigns were as well. And then they turn into moderates. It’s almost a bait-and-switch. What happened?

Clinton ran hard into a wall GOP hate, constant bogus investigations, and he quickly tacked right. Obama was always more moderate than he campaigned, and was only too happy to run a center left administration. He also faced strong GOP opposition, taking too long to take their threats seriously, not believing the Republicans when they said they wanted to destroy him.

The deal is? The Republicans DO want to destroy you! Believe them when they say this, they’re serious. And they have been working towards this for decades. Denying Obama more than a hundred judicial nominees, and a SCOTUS seat, to pack the courts with far right (and unqualified) judges. It was a major, long awaited play for them and now this last rush to pack the Supreme Court is endgame, probably checkmate.

How does our moderate Democratic candidate want to address this? With a plan to take back the stolen courts with a legal expansion, to protect rights and laws that have been passed?

No.

He wants a blue-ribbon, bi-partisan committee.

Joe.

Pal…

No.  

Buddy, you’re a nice guy, I like you, already voted for you. But this is not the way to handle what the Republicans have been up to. This is pretty much what they (barring killing it altogether) want you to do. It’s like this; you know when you would ask your parents “can we go the movies” or “have pizza tonight” and they would say ‘We’ll see.” “We’ll see” was always “No.”

Always.

It’s a parent’s way of saying ‘no’ without have to disappoint expectant, hopeful faces by slapping them with a blunt declaration.

A ‘committee’ is the “We’ll see” of government.

This is just a way to get the subject off the table and kill momentum. This is exactly why the left has had it with the moderates and why the Democrats have gotten steamrolled by the right time after time. The moderates seem to think they're dealing with a reasonable, functioning GOP, and no amount of evidence will convince that they face a party of radicals, intent on destroying them and repealing the 20th Century. Haven't they been paying attention to the hearings going on right now?!

The moderates will dither, think, investigate and when they finally decided to act, it'll be a year too late. The right has no compunction to follow rules and will be throwing case after case at the now far-right SCOTUS to kill voting rights, healthcare, kill gun restrictions, and destroy protections for the LGBTQ community. They’re achieved their dream, and they’re giddy with power. They will move as fast as they can, while a bi-partisan, blue-ribbon panel meets, drinks coffee and snags Costco poppy seed muffins from the muffin basket. And talks and talks…

The GOP is seeing their electoral power shrink as the country changes and diversifies, and instead of trying to appeal to a larger majority, they doubled down on what they have, and threw themselves into a decades long quest to install their minority power in such a way that they can still control the country without being elected by a majority. Packing the courts (as McConnell himself called it) would do just that.

If the GOP insists on going forward and voting in this last attempt to killing the Living Constitution, the Democrats must take steps to reign them in, using every tool at their disposal. We have to hit the ground running, prepared to contain and repair the damage done by righting the system and restoring some fairness to institutions that have been deliberately broken.

We don’t have time to stop and think too much about it, and I doubt that are any sane Republicans who would participate in such a committee (the party would never forgive them).

It’s up to us, Joe, don’t tie our hands when we need them to fight.