Preparation For A Miracle

I fully expected August to be a cruel month, politically speaking.  I have to admit, however, that I did not expect to be tough on Republicans.  The media drumbeat in their favor has been going on now for months.  Midterm elections are coming up.  The party out of power has, historically speaking, always done well in the midterms (or almost always).  President Biden has had his early popularity largely destroyed by a series of events not completely within his control, from the Afghanistan exodus to the rising cost of living to the unwillingness of too many people to respect pandemic science for the sake of a highly narcissistic and, quite frankly, unpatriotic interpretation of the word "freedom."  Democrats, seemingly always looking for a way to justify the meme about their being in "disarray," started talking about alternative presidential candidates for 2024.  And, hovering over all of this is the specter of Donald Trump, unwilling to accept defeat, but utterly willing to destroy the Republican Party and perhaps the Republic itself in order to "prove" that he is not what he always will be:  a loser.

And then, August happened.  And, suddenly, the seemingly pre-ordained public narrative flipped, at least to some extent.

Largely led by the price at the pump, the cost of living began to ease up.  The post-Dobbs effect on the generic ballot has almost entirely been in the favor of Democrats, with the rejection of the anti-abortion referendum in the reddest of states, Kansas, illustrating that effect on a granular level.  The Senate may very well remain blue, and even become bluer, while any control the Republicans gain in the House of Representatives will be small enough to stop them from doing much more than wasting time and other resources by conducting investigations against their opponents that are destined to go nowhere.  The pandemic, which has not ended, has become easier to manage as more people are slowly but surely getting vaccinated and normalizing health protocols in their day-to day lives.

But, perhaps most amazingly of all, and despite the pressures to behave to the contrary, the Democrats found the discipline and, perhaps, the courage in the face of the Trump menace to find themselves suddenly in array.  So much so, in fact, that Biden and Congress managed to get together and produce a series of bills, in a remarkable short time span, that address a number of urgent problems facing the nation, almost as Presidents and Congresses used to routinely do.

The first step in decades to regulate the sales of firearms.  Urgently needed health care for veterans.  The repatriation of the computer chip industry.  And, finally, a reconciliation bill that launches a green economy, strengthens the ACA, and stops corporations (for the most part) from living tax-free.  On top of all that, more recently, Biden's honoring of his promise to reduce student loan debt.

But, as Lord Kenneth Clark once pointed out, find words butter no parsnips.  There is a lot that has been left undone.  As passed, the reconciliation bill left out major portions of Biden's Build Back Better agenda:  child care, affordable housing, paid family leave, and free community college.  Moreover, the continued legislative pestilence of the filibuster rule prevented Democrats from making any progress on voting rights, or reinstating reproductive rights.

None of these causes will advance at all if Republicans gain control of at least the House.  But, to be a dreamer, what if they don't?

And, even if they do, isn't it just as well to have an agenda ready to go, so that, when the Republicans' inquisition against Democrats grinds to a halt, you're prepared to provide America with an alternative?  I'm not the only one that thinks so.

Democrats' recent legislative successes suggest that they may have finally learned the virtues of "selling the brownie and not the recipe," i.e., focusing on where you want to take the country, and not the details of how to get there.  If (may it be your will, G-d) the next Congress is completely under Democratic control, I have two major suggestions for fashioning an agenda.

First, and in conjunction with reproductive rights legislation, I would take all of the child-friendly provisions of the failed BBB legislation, including and especially the child tax credit and the provisions for paid leave, and bundle it into a Family and Child Care Act that promotes "family unity and strength."  After that, I would take the BBB's housing and education provisions, again in conjunction with the PRO Act, and bundle them into a Worker's Rights Act that "protects the ability of workers to live decently and better their lives."  I would make these two bills the centerpieces of the nation's domestic agenda, and push the living daylights out of their chances to make it across the finish line. 

Preparation for a miracle?  Perhaps.  But, as this August has already shown, miracles are not beyond the realm of possibility just yet.  And, given the dangers still lurking around the corners, there may be advantages in preparing for one.