Member-only story
Democrats get ready
Will Rogers famously said that he was not a member of an organized political party; he was a Democrat. In this day and age, Democrats can no longer turn a blind eye to serious political strategy.
It was shocking to Democrats after the 2016 election how quickly the Republicans moved to implement their agenda. The contrast with what happened after the Democrats won a filibuster-proof majority in the House and Senate in 2008 was striking. Where in 2009, Democrats held more than a hundred hearings on their health care reform bill, and they did not pass legislation they could easily have passed with their majority such as cap and trade for greenhouse gasses, a higher minimum wage, fairer tax policy, or greater protections for unions, they took no such steps. The Republicans by contrast, have shown no such restraint.
This is because, as usual, the Republicans care about results while we Democrats care about the idea of a successful polity. Given the success of Republicans in destroying the middle class and increasing the wealth gap, we no longer have that luxury. While we must hope that we can at least take the House in the 2018 election, and pray that we can also take the Senate then, we must plan ahead to the potential that the 2020 election might represent.
The only reason the Republicans have the potential to hold onto the Senate at all this year is due to the…
