THE DEMS’ DILEMMA

Political suicide is painful to watch. That’s especially true right now with Democrats apparently intent on losing to a craven Republican Party trying to systematically undermine American democracy. President Joe Biden has had to punt both his Build Back Better bill and the election reform bills to next year, but he still doesn’t have the votes for either of them. The failure to deliver hurts working Americans, has ominous implications for our democracy and is ruinous for Democratic prospects in the 2022 elections.

Like all debacles, there’s plenty of blame to go around — but much of the media narrative has focused on the wrong culprits. This isn’t a case of “Democratic disarray.” Democratic legislators are more united than at any time in memory. The problem is Democrats have no margin for error and face lockstep Republican obstruction. GOP senators won’t even stop filibustering the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act that once enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support. Not one Republican senator voted for the American Rescue Plan in the midst of the pandemic. Not one supports any increase in taxes on the rich and the corporations.

A 50-50 split in the Senate means that any one senator can put a spanner in the works. And that is what Sen. Joe Manchin III, DW.VA., and, to a lesser extent, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-ariz., have done. The issue isn’t “Democrats in disarray” — it’s an unusual set of circumstances in which less than 5% of the whole caucus can still ruin things for everyone else.

Nor is the problem that the Build Back Better legislation is too radical or costly. What Republicans scorn as “socialism” is a set of long overdue and sensible reforms that citizens in other industrial countries have enjoyed for years. Child support, day care, pre-k, affordable prescription drugs and providing seniors with coverage for hearing, dental and vision loss are all relatively modest reforms that would provide essential and humane services to Americans. Appropriately, in a time of obscene inequality, tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations offset virtually all of the costs. The remaining price tag — less than $2 trillion over 10 years — is a pittance compared to the $10-plus trillion the Congress will throw at the Pentagon over the next decade with nary a concern about “paying for it.”

The debacle does reflect a failure of leadership. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., underestimated Manchin’s intentions for weeks. Interminable negotiations on the “bipartisan infrastructure bill” caused costly delay. And Democratic leaders haven’t informed — much less rallied — the nation as to the stakes involved. Neither Schumer nor House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-san Francisco, are compelling speakers, and Biden is painfully weak in using the president’s bully pulpit. Donald Trump generated more attention to “infrastructure weeks” that never came together than Biden received for an infrastructure bill that passed.

The biggest source of the failure, however, is the pervasive corruption of Washington — and the comparative weakness of the citizen’s voice.

Manchin’s loyalty to fossil fuels — and to his own fortune — are well known. Sinema has enjoyed lavish campaign contributions and corporate PAC ad campaigns. No rationalizations can cover up the brazen combination of insisting that the bill be “paid for”

What Republicans scorn as “socialism” is a set of reforms that other industrial countries have enjoyed for years.

while watering down tax hikes on the rich and corporations or resisting saving hundreds of billions by curbing the obscene rip-offs of the prescription drug industry.

There lies the tragedy. Essential reforms can be passed only if citizens overwhelmingly demand the change, turn out in large numbers to elect politicians committed to the change, hold those politicians accountable, and stay mobilized to engulf the big bucks and legions of lobbyists the corporations deploy, including former legislators and staffers from both parties. Without that, even excellent Democratic leadership would find it virtually impossible to overcome the entrenched opposition. And in failing to deliver, Democrats contribute to the cynicism that undermines enthusiasm for citizen involvement.

Breaking out of this futility won’t be easy. First, Democrats have to deliver. Democracy reform and Build Back Better are both essential. And much more attention must be directed at the Republican obstruction of democracy reform and the basic services offered in Build Back Better. The corruption of Washington won’t change. Our critical hope is that a mobilized citizenry turns out in large numbers to demand change and to remove those who stand in the way.