I'm in Maryland, on the east coast of the United States, so it's only a few hours before the start of 2019. Since this is generally a time for reflections, I'm going to reflect, while at the same time commented on several recent events.
I can't quite escape the feeling that I should be happier than I feel at the moment. After all, the country has just experienced a national election in which the Democratic Party took control of the House of Representatives by a wide margin, and made other gains in state and local elections. In addition, a large number of progressive ballot initiatives were passed as well. Even in the Senate, where the electoral map was heavily stacked against Democrats, the party's net loss of seats was a relatively small one.
All of this opens up the possibility of a full-scale investigation of D***** T**** and the shenanigans in which he, his family, and his appointees have engaged over the past two years. It opens up the possibility of making progress on progressive issues at the state, if not the national level. It suggests that the possibility of removing T**** from office in the next two years, either by impeachment, resignation, or defeat at the polls.
So why is my face long tonight as I contemplate the new year?
Because even though the Democrats made huge gains, that fact doesn't seem to be translating into a resurgence of democracy in America.
Let's start with the fact that, as of the moment, the federal government has been partially shut down by T****, in a last-ditch effort to get the federal government to fund his frequently-promised wall along the southern border. You know, the one for which Mexico was going to pay.
This is obviously an act of pure desperation by T****, who has nothing else going for him at this point. The stock market is in a slow-motion collapse, the budget deficit is blowing up, our allies are deserting us, and the legal walls are closing in on the Administration (especially on T**** himself). But it is also a naked attempt at political blackmail, one which Democrats have no choice but to reject if they are to have any credibility as a political force and any chance of keeping their supporters with them. There is no political case for the wall; were it otherwise, it would have started to become reality during the past two years of all-GOP control of Washington.
So what's the endgame? Is there an endgame?
If you rely on the MSM for answers to those questions, all you get is the who''s-up-who's down sports-style of reporting that the work-the-refs approach to the press by conservatives has produced. You would end up concluding that, sooner or later, someone will blink, and life will go on.
But there's another alternative. It's probably the alternative only a madman would pursue. On the other hand, remember: T****. If he's not a madman, who is?
That alternative is to use the powers granted by Congress to the executive branch to declare a state of national emergency, which in turn would give him the opportunity to transform himself from a would-be dictator to being an actual one. Frankly, I was not aware that this potential power existed, until I saw this Daily Kos piece. If you have not read it yet, please feel free to step away from my blog for a few minutes and read it. You will discover that, by constitutional means, we have effectively granted the executive branch the power to subvert our constitutional order.
Now that you've had a chance to read it and come back, do you have any doubt that we may be in a position where elections have no consequences for T****?
To say nothing of his party?
Look at what has been going on in Wisconsin and Michigan, where Republican legislatures are determined to make sure that elections replacing Republican governors have no consequences.
In the case of Michigan, look at what the Republican legislature has done to ensure that a minimum wage increase and a sick leave proposal that the voters wanted will not happen. That's right: they're deliberately picking the pockets of the people they are sworn to serve, so that they can line their own pockets with even more campaign contributions.
Now, let's leave the Midwest and go back to Washington, where, I'm sorry to say, it gets even worse. We find a Republican senator who is actually willing to use the loaded words "civil war" when it comes to stopping the newly-elected House Democratic majority from doing its duty to hold T**** accountable. Query: how many of his colleagues feel the same way? Will the investigations that are about to begin actually lead to shots being fired? We may find out shortly, because there will be investigations, whether Mike Lee likes it or not.
And finally, let's stay in Washington, and take a very short trip from Capitol Hill to Maryland Avenue, where we find the Supreme Court, and its newest Justice, Brett Kavanaugh, who despite being the object of more than 80 complaints about his ethics, is essentially bullet-proof because the Court and its Justices apparently answer to no one when it comes to ethics. You can read all about this in painful detail here, while contemplating the fact that Kavanaugh will be on the Court for life, which, given his relative youth and barring some form of divine intervention, could very well be for a mighty long time. (For more background on the social cesspool that gave us Kavanaugh in the first place, take a look at this.)
So, here's where we are. No hope from the Supreme Court, or the Senate. Certainly no hope from a White House that is, to put it politely, a national embarrassment and a disgrace. No hope even where Democrats have taken governorships but still have to worry about state Republican legislators. If there's any hope at all, it rests, seemingly, solely on the shoulders of Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic members in the House.
Is it going to be enough?
I wish that I could give that question an unqualified "Yes." The history of the country itself gives me some reason to think that it will be. But nothing is guaranteed by our institutions.
The only guaranty that it will be enough--that we will get our democracy back, and continue to build upon the accomplishments of the past--is all of us. All of you.
We can only make this a Happy New Year if we become, in Barack Obama's words, the change we want to see. No one will save us but ourselves.
Stay alert. Keep in touch. Organize. Raise money. Vote. And never, ever, give in, despite the odds. It isn't about the odds. It's about how much you care.
And be assured, I will continue to do exactly that, here, and elsewhere.
Happy New Year.
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