The Democratic Party Is Not Your Ally (Won’t Be; Never Has; Etc)

Here are some highlights of the stubborn, block-by-block, street-fighting resistance that the lionhearts in the Democratic Party are putting up in the face of an administration that these same worthies described as dangerous, a threat to American democracy, its values, and indeed, the very existence of this great republic: Senator Elizabeth Warren has voted for the utterly unqualified Ben Carson to be nominated Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; and fourteen Democrats have voted to support the nomination of pro-torture nominee Mike Pompeo to CIA Director. (We will soon see how other Democratic Senators vote during the Sessions confirmation hearings.)

I am baffled. Donald Trump is the most unpopular American president of all time–three million Americans ensured a little starting handicap in that race; the protests that greeted his inauguration were unprecedented; the activism directed against his presidency is visible and energetic. Why does the Democratic Party not take heed and devise a political strategy of maximum resistance too?

This question is made especially perplexing when we consider that a blueprint for success is staring the Democratic Party in the face: the Republican and Tea Party strategies used against the Obama administration over the past eight years. Now, that was some resistance, the kind that brawling partisans throughout history and all over the world could admire: relentless obstructionism, a refusal to give an inch of political ground, and a steadfast sticking to principles and values.  The scorched earth this tactic left behind ensured a derailing of most major Democratic Party initiatives, including the passage of a fatally compromised healthcare bill, which is now facing repealment. All the Democratic Party needs to do is run out the clock, using any and all parliamentary procedures possible, for the next two years. After that, the next election season will be upon us. (This sounds nihilistic and I’m afraid that on on revisiting this suggestion of mine, I’m inclined to agree. But unfortunately, this is the only strategy that will protect us, and our families, and our environment from the depredations of the Trump Administration. Knives, gun-fights, and all that.)

Of course, this will not happen. To see this, ask yourselves what political costs did Warren envisage incurring if she had voted ‘No’ on Carson’s hearing? The scorn of a political faction which considers her a dangerous enemy of finance and business, and which condones sneering references to her as ‘Pocahontas’? How did this match up–in her political calculus–versus the costs of voting ‘Yes’? (I ask these questions of Warren in particular because she appointed herself as the de-facto leader of a furious rhetorical assault on this incoming administration, and because so much progressive faith has been invested in her.) Perhaps not very substantially. And this is, of course, because of an important difference between the Republican and Democratic Parties: the former is committed to the ‘principles and values’ cited above, while the Democratic Party remains unsure, half-hearted, caught in constant vacillation, always sticking a wet finger in the wind to figure out a course of action. The barrage of phone calls, letters, emails, and social media campaigns that tell them their electorates have their back are simply not enough reassurance for this crew. They need dragging across the line, a burden that should not be taken on by those who have voted for them. They are not allies; they are a burden.