The Republicans have not just laid down markers that make it clear that they want to do away with democracy as we know it; they are also taking committed actions to accomplish it. They are moving actively to impose their bankrupt values on the rest of us and are succeeding at it.
Witness the recent Supreme Court wink and nod to allow the gutting of Roe vs Wade; nearly 400 state and local bills to limit voting rights, and having already changed the filibuster rule to allow Donald to stack the courts, putting the very three conservative justices on the Supreme Court specifically now being used to overturn Roe vs Wade.
While the Democrats do not seem to know what they want.
But whatever it is, they are not willing to fight the republicans toe-to-toe to achieve it. Undoing the filibuster rule as the Republicans did when Donald was in power would seem to me the minimum action for them. But they remain in a catatonic state of inaction. They talk a lot and do nothing.
So far, they have willfully buried their heads in the sands and continued the politically expedient duopoly condominium business as usual, pretending to hold out hope, just as BHO did or eight years. Hoping, for a spirit of bipartisanism to break out?
Even though BHO put the democratic agenda on ice for eight years, we Democrats who voted for him, are still waiting for that bipartisanism to break out. It has yet to materialize.
Hope of bipartisanship is not a plan. In fact it is an anti-plan. It is a willful and cowardly way of abdicating their responsibility to their voters; effectively handing.over the power of 80 million voters to Joe Manchin and Kristin Semena, who do believe in bipartisanship, but the same kind the Republicans believe in, one devoid of any democratic values.
According to the author, this is exactly what we have done throughout our history: We appeal to bipartisanship, but always tilting it in the more fascist-leaning right wing racist way. Throughout our history, we have compromised our democratic values on the altar of the bankrupt racist values of the opposing party.
Then as now, the party defending democratic values, always lacks the political will to do the right thing in the face of vile existential threats to our democracy and to our democratic principles and values.
The same is happening right now.
Liz Chaney is being drummed out of the Republican Party for doing just that: standing up for democratic values.
Just watching this mini-saga re-traumatizes me.
The Democrats could have taken a "do or die" stand against Donald's insurrection. But instead, they are now busy dotting every "I" and crossing every "T" before making a move. Which, if history is any guide, is the longest possible route to eventually doing nothing. I call it the Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer way: Give flowery speeches and then do nothing.
As the author points out, at the least, by instigating a resurrection, Donald has disqualified himself from ever holding office again. That is written into the very Constitution he spent four years trying to trash. But the Democrats lack the power to even hold him accountable to this the lowest of possible standards of the law in a functioning self-respecting democracy.
What are the Democrats doing? As usual, trolling for Republican votes on the margins of Donald's base. And instead of using the US Constitution to disqualify him, they are in a desperate search to find enough votes to defeat him in 2024?
With Democrats in power, we have a government that cannot even expel known traitors from the Congress. Nor, can they pass a bill to avoid the other side cheating to win future elections. They cannot even protect their own voter base, so how are they going to get re-elected? Who is going to be there to vote for them?
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