The election(s) was/were a relief, given what the pundits were predicting. But your final paragraph treats "us," "Americans," as if we are a single person who just made a single action. ("Perhaps that’s what Americans have opted for. After years of tempest and tumult, it may be that most of us want nothing more dramatic than a competent government that acts reasonably and carefully — and doesn’t make any waves.") No, we Americans voted for very strongly opposite things/candidates in most instances. The votes were Very Close in instances that gave wildly divergent options. We are a very divided country.
I hope the Democrats will come up with more candidates who can appeal to working people. We can't expect to reproduce Fetterman—he's a unique man. But I hope his appeal and his ability to win even in the face of a terrible health challenge convinces the powers-that-be in the Democratic Party that continuing to foist candidates whose main commitment is to Wall Street oligarchs is not a winning plan. President Biden has governed in a far more sensible way than I, frankly, had expected (although he could not pass many of his programs because of his small legislative majorities). One important point was his making Bernie Sanders a key member of his cabinet. If Biden does not run again (and I'll be happy if he does run again), the candidate must not be one of those pretty faces whose heart belongs to Wall Street. And they abound in the wings, getting ready to run. That mistake could cost the country big-time.
I wish I shared your optimism regarding last week’s midterms, Dr. Reich but I don’t. Despite the garbage shoveled by the mainstream press, Donald Trump does not control the Republican Party. As the handmaiden of affluence the GOP was, is, and will always be committed to redistributing wealth upwards, and because of that it was, and remains, under the control of a cast of plutocrats all of whom are dedicated to insulating their privileges from public accountability and they will use any device at hand to make sure that remains the case. In the early 1950s the Party not only tolerated, it encouraged, Joseph McCarthy. When the Wisconsin senator outlived his usefulness they discarded him. The same will happen with Donald Trump. In fact, we may be seeing the beginnings of this process already. Trump may be harder to get rid of than McCarthy owing to the loyalty of the “base” ,but given their resources, once the plutocrats give the signal, Trump is gone.
This doesn’t mean Trumpism is going anywhere. Extremism is the Republican’s metier and given that Charles Koch, Peter Thiel, and their cohort of billionaires are determined to end majoritarian politics in the U.S. we can expect it to continue, albeit perhaps with a bit more nuance. This presents the Democrats with a challenge. The corporate Democrats who run the Party are as dedicated to protecting their big donors as Republicans. Since 2016 Democrats have been running against Donald Trump who provided good cover allowing the Democratic leadership to knee-cap its progressive change agents. (Has everyone forgotten Joe Biden’s 2020 guarantee to the donors that if he was elected, “nothing fundamentally will change”?) As Dr. Reich makes clear, last week’s results were not an endorsement of the Democratic Party. Had they been the result would have been a blowout. Off year elections or not, Democrats would have been given a solid majority. While the Supreme Court is sure to drop a number of bombshells in the coming years, I doubt anything will be as galvanizing as the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Without abortion or Donald Trump to campaign against, the Democrats are going to have to deliver for working Americans. We know the Republicans, Trump or no Trump, aren’t going to change. This question is, will the Democrats?
We must work to get Warnock elected. His opponent is a useless, incompetent potential senator, not to mention the politics he espouses. The young voters who got us over this fascist hump deserve all the activism they voted for!
It would be a great relief if the BS crazy wing of the Republican party would just go away. It's main symbol may hopefully sink into oblivion, but the crazies are still there, and they may dominate with other seemingly well-articulated agenda items. Rick Scott and the dismantling of Social Security and Medicare comes to mind. What will over half of all seniors dependent on SS do if there is a threat of their earned monthly benefits saying goodbye? What will happen to our already ravaged health care system gets the right wing representative treatment? Will there be any support for environmental protection with Ryan Zinke back in Congress promoting gun ownership so he can shoot wolves in Montana? We have a two year reprieve on any of this getting through, but we better not relax too much or Lindsay Graham's shifting loyalties and policy pronouncements will confuse us all.
"Notably, not a single election-denying candidate at the state level for secretary of state – the people who would have overseen the 2024 elections – was elected. "
What does it mean? When it comes to the complete craziness of this country over the last two weeks, here's something it might mean. It's almost as if.....and bear with me here.....making decisions for voting, predicting, investing, loving, hating, attacking, believing, denying, governing, buying, selling, ingesting and bleaching based on messages of 280 characters or less MAAAAY not be the wisest choice for individuals or the nation as a whole.
I’d love to see 51 Dems in the Senate. I just wish we had it the last two years so more could have been accomplished. Women and young voters- here’s hoping it keeps up in 2024.
The analysts will no doubt provide us with a picture of who voted and who supposedly were the influential elements in the vote.
Something else, however, is changing. For possibly the first time since the early 1980s, there is a President articulating a strategic direction for the nation. We may disagree with the neo-liberal direction set in the early 1980s but that may prove the point rather than refute the importance of having a deeply held sense of national direction. Strategies and direction setting can be misguided and even destructive but they do produce results.
Perhaps this time the green shoots of decent direction setting should be grounded in some basic principles of democracy.
* Human rights are for humans, and must be seen as rights within a vibrant society.
This would mean that "legal fictions" such as corporations do not enjoy the human rights in the constitution, i.e. money is not political speech. It would also mean that rights such as freedom of expression cannot be used primarily as a means to intimidate and endanger others or destroy the country.
* Universal suffrage.
Simply put, if you are a citizen of age 18 or older (as noted in the 26th Amendment), you are entitled to vote. The gaming of the vote with registration purges, ID ploys, and other shenanigans needs to end.
* Good governance needs to be the norm for all governmental and economic activities (including corporations).
This means
- upholding the rule of law (not ruling by law),
- effective, accountable, non-corrupt, and transparent institutions,
The Republicans brought this upon themselves, not only by empowering Trump (and his lies) but by going after reproductive rights. Not only with the overturn of Roe V Wade but because Lindsey Graham stupidly unveiled his nationwide abortion ban bill before the midterms.
He either intentionally sabotaged his own party or is extremely ignorant. Honestly it could be either one.
Regardless, voters repudiating both Trumpism (for the most part) and election deniers is a great step toward protecting our democracy.
Trump may be gone or on his way out, but Trumpism is not dead by a long shot. Representative Adam Kinzinger said it well when he said the fight against Trumpism has just begun. Ron DeSantis is Trump on steroids and Trump who can read. Far more dangerous than Trump ever was. The far right militia groups are still here and the basic ideas of fascism and anti-democracy and white supremacy are still far too prevalent among far too many people. This is not over with this election.
Professor, Considering the one group that supported Democrats 2 to 1 is GenZ, I imagine their aspirations these next two years far exceed “a competent government that acts reasonably and carefully—and doesn’t make any waves.” Presuming Warnock defeats Walker next month and the Republicans, by a paper-thin margin, re-take the House, GenZs, in my view, and rightly so, will expect Dems to fight hard for the agreements reached in late Spring 2020 between Senator Bernie Sanders and presumptive Presidential nominee Joe Biden. People here might recall the two created 6 policy task forces to deal with education, climate change, healthcare, the economy, criminal justice, and Immigration reform. Throughout 21 and 22 virtually every policy that had emerged from that effort passed in the Democratically-controlled House and remained stalled in the Senate partially because Manchin and Sinema had joined the 50 Republican Senators to filibuster the legislation and partially because they had voted against much of the transformative reconciliation package (BBB), leaving Dems to pass the substantially edited down Inflation Reduction Act as the so-called “human infrastructure” companion to the bipartisan physical infrastructure package.
My sense is that if Dems don’t work hard to enact what did pass, let alone fight hard to get more passed, GenZs might not be nearly as engaged in 24. Speaking realistically, we can’t win races without them, particularly in the Senate where the Party will be facing tough re-election contests.
As a final point, while gaining that 51st seat in the Senate affords several advantages, foremost in my mind is the promise of Warnock greatly contributing to amassing a sufficient enough downpayment to make the case for seating more Democrats.
I just learned that American progressive economist, Herman Daly, author of the 1996 book, Beyond Growth, just passed away, in his mid-eighties. I gather he won the Swedish left Nobel Prize for his work.
Might you be interested in building a post around Daly's work? I suspect that it might be valuable for all your readers.
I am amazed at Biden's favorability rating being so low, as he has done a remarkable job and is a thoroughly decent person. It is at least my belief that his lack of a favorable rating is due more to extremely harsh treatment from the media than any other reason. What more could have been "reasonably" expected of him over the past not quite two years?
I'm so very tired of hearing about Biden's allegedly low approval rating. If there's anything these polls have taught us over the last several years, is that even if the statistical math is correct, the methodology in deciding who to poll is clearly off-base (no pun intended).
It seems that American democracy was saved by women voters and young voters.........The Democrats and us "boomers" owe them ...............
The election(s) was/were a relief, given what the pundits were predicting. But your final paragraph treats "us," "Americans," as if we are a single person who just made a single action. ("Perhaps that’s what Americans have opted for. After years of tempest and tumult, it may be that most of us want nothing more dramatic than a competent government that acts reasonably and carefully — and doesn’t make any waves.") No, we Americans voted for very strongly opposite things/candidates in most instances. The votes were Very Close in instances that gave wildly divergent options. We are a very divided country.
I hope the Democrats will come up with more candidates who can appeal to working people. We can't expect to reproduce Fetterman—he's a unique man. But I hope his appeal and his ability to win even in the face of a terrible health challenge convinces the powers-that-be in the Democratic Party that continuing to foist candidates whose main commitment is to Wall Street oligarchs is not a winning plan. President Biden has governed in a far more sensible way than I, frankly, had expected (although he could not pass many of his programs because of his small legislative majorities). One important point was his making Bernie Sanders a key member of his cabinet. If Biden does not run again (and I'll be happy if he does run again), the candidate must not be one of those pretty faces whose heart belongs to Wall Street. And they abound in the wings, getting ready to run. That mistake could cost the country big-time.
I wish I shared your optimism regarding last week’s midterms, Dr. Reich but I don’t. Despite the garbage shoveled by the mainstream press, Donald Trump does not control the Republican Party. As the handmaiden of affluence the GOP was, is, and will always be committed to redistributing wealth upwards, and because of that it was, and remains, under the control of a cast of plutocrats all of whom are dedicated to insulating their privileges from public accountability and they will use any device at hand to make sure that remains the case. In the early 1950s the Party not only tolerated, it encouraged, Joseph McCarthy. When the Wisconsin senator outlived his usefulness they discarded him. The same will happen with Donald Trump. In fact, we may be seeing the beginnings of this process already. Trump may be harder to get rid of than McCarthy owing to the loyalty of the “base” ,but given their resources, once the plutocrats give the signal, Trump is gone.
This doesn’t mean Trumpism is going anywhere. Extremism is the Republican’s metier and given that Charles Koch, Peter Thiel, and their cohort of billionaires are determined to end majoritarian politics in the U.S. we can expect it to continue, albeit perhaps with a bit more nuance. This presents the Democrats with a challenge. The corporate Democrats who run the Party are as dedicated to protecting their big donors as Republicans. Since 2016 Democrats have been running against Donald Trump who provided good cover allowing the Democratic leadership to knee-cap its progressive change agents. (Has everyone forgotten Joe Biden’s 2020 guarantee to the donors that if he was elected, “nothing fundamentally will change”?) As Dr. Reich makes clear, last week’s results were not an endorsement of the Democratic Party. Had they been the result would have been a blowout. Off year elections or not, Democrats would have been given a solid majority. While the Supreme Court is sure to drop a number of bombshells in the coming years, I doubt anything will be as galvanizing as the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Without abortion or Donald Trump to campaign against, the Democrats are going to have to deliver for working Americans. We know the Republicans, Trump or no Trump, aren’t going to change. This question is, will the Democrats?
We must work to get Warnock elected. His opponent is a useless, incompetent potential senator, not to mention the politics he espouses. The young voters who got us over this fascist hump deserve all the activism they voted for!
It would be a great relief if the BS crazy wing of the Republican party would just go away. It's main symbol may hopefully sink into oblivion, but the crazies are still there, and they may dominate with other seemingly well-articulated agenda items. Rick Scott and the dismantling of Social Security and Medicare comes to mind. What will over half of all seniors dependent on SS do if there is a threat of their earned monthly benefits saying goodbye? What will happen to our already ravaged health care system gets the right wing representative treatment? Will there be any support for environmental protection with Ryan Zinke back in Congress promoting gun ownership so he can shoot wolves in Montana? We have a two year reprieve on any of this getting through, but we better not relax too much or Lindsay Graham's shifting loyalties and policy pronouncements will confuse us all.
This is fantastic:
"Notably, not a single election-denying candidate at the state level for secretary of state – the people who would have overseen the 2024 elections – was elected. "
What does it mean? When it comes to the complete craziness of this country over the last two weeks, here's something it might mean. It's almost as if.....and bear with me here.....making decisions for voting, predicting, investing, loving, hating, attacking, believing, denying, governing, buying, selling, ingesting and bleaching based on messages of 280 characters or less MAAAAY not be the wisest choice for individuals or the nation as a whole.
I’d love to see 51 Dems in the Senate. I just wish we had it the last two years so more could have been accomplished. Women and young voters- here’s hoping it keeps up in 2024.
The analysts will no doubt provide us with a picture of who voted and who supposedly were the influential elements in the vote.
Something else, however, is changing. For possibly the first time since the early 1980s, there is a President articulating a strategic direction for the nation. We may disagree with the neo-liberal direction set in the early 1980s but that may prove the point rather than refute the importance of having a deeply held sense of national direction. Strategies and direction setting can be misguided and even destructive but they do produce results.
Perhaps this time the green shoots of decent direction setting should be grounded in some basic principles of democracy.
* Human rights are for humans, and must be seen as rights within a vibrant society.
This would mean that "legal fictions" such as corporations do not enjoy the human rights in the constitution, i.e. money is not political speech. It would also mean that rights such as freedom of expression cannot be used primarily as a means to intimidate and endanger others or destroy the country.
* Universal suffrage.
Simply put, if you are a citizen of age 18 or older (as noted in the 26th Amendment), you are entitled to vote. The gaming of the vote with registration purges, ID ploys, and other shenanigans needs to end.
* Good governance needs to be the norm for all governmental and economic activities (including corporations).
This means
- upholding the rule of law (not ruling by law),
- effective, accountable, non-corrupt, and transparent institutions,
- participatory decision-making,
- open access to meaningful information, and
- equitable protection of fundamental freedoms.
The Republicans brought this upon themselves, not only by empowering Trump (and his lies) but by going after reproductive rights. Not only with the overturn of Roe V Wade but because Lindsey Graham stupidly unveiled his nationwide abortion ban bill before the midterms.
He either intentionally sabotaged his own party or is extremely ignorant. Honestly it could be either one.
Regardless, voters repudiating both Trumpism (for the most part) and election deniers is a great step toward protecting our democracy.
Trump may be gone or on his way out, but Trumpism is not dead by a long shot. Representative Adam Kinzinger said it well when he said the fight against Trumpism has just begun. Ron DeSantis is Trump on steroids and Trump who can read. Far more dangerous than Trump ever was. The far right militia groups are still here and the basic ideas of fascism and anti-democracy and white supremacy are still far too prevalent among far too many people. This is not over with this election.
Professor, Considering the one group that supported Democrats 2 to 1 is GenZ, I imagine their aspirations these next two years far exceed “a competent government that acts reasonably and carefully—and doesn’t make any waves.” Presuming Warnock defeats Walker next month and the Republicans, by a paper-thin margin, re-take the House, GenZs, in my view, and rightly so, will expect Dems to fight hard for the agreements reached in late Spring 2020 between Senator Bernie Sanders and presumptive Presidential nominee Joe Biden. People here might recall the two created 6 policy task forces to deal with education, climate change, healthcare, the economy, criminal justice, and Immigration reform. Throughout 21 and 22 virtually every policy that had emerged from that effort passed in the Democratically-controlled House and remained stalled in the Senate partially because Manchin and Sinema had joined the 50 Republican Senators to filibuster the legislation and partially because they had voted against much of the transformative reconciliation package (BBB), leaving Dems to pass the substantially edited down Inflation Reduction Act as the so-called “human infrastructure” companion to the bipartisan physical infrastructure package.
My sense is that if Dems don’t work hard to enact what did pass, let alone fight hard to get more passed, GenZs might not be nearly as engaged in 24. Speaking realistically, we can’t win races without them, particularly in the Senate where the Party will be facing tough re-election contests.
As a final point, while gaining that 51st seat in the Senate affords several advantages, foremost in my mind is the promise of Warnock greatly contributing to amassing a sufficient enough downpayment to make the case for seating more Democrats.
Robert,
Thanks for your wise counsel! Much appreciated!
I just learned that American progressive economist, Herman Daly, author of the 1996 book, Beyond Growth, just passed away, in his mid-eighties. I gather he won the Swedish left Nobel Prize for his work.
Might you be interested in building a post around Daly's work? I suspect that it might be valuable for all your readers.
I am amazed at Biden's favorability rating being so low, as he has done a remarkable job and is a thoroughly decent person. It is at least my belief that his lack of a favorable rating is due more to extremely harsh treatment from the media than any other reason. What more could have been "reasonably" expected of him over the past not quite two years?
An excellent read... and I've read plenty. This is the clarity I've been hungering for. GO WARNOCK!!
I'm so very tired of hearing about Biden's allegedly low approval rating. If there's anything these polls have taught us over the last several years, is that even if the statistical math is correct, the methodology in deciding who to poll is clearly off-base (no pun intended).