In the wake of the Nina Turner defeat, and win for corporate power, in Ohio's 11th Congressional District this week, I have finally had to take heed to my own misgivings about the Democratic Party across most of our nation. And this morning, a friend, on and off FB, reminded me of a Joe Biden ad that sent a very nasty implication that anyone supporting Medicare for All was insulting Joe Biden's dead son, Beau, who had the best health insurance in the world, unlike most Americans. When reading the article explaining the language used in the ad, and not merely watching the ad, the online magazine Vice makes a persuasive case Joe Biden meant precisely that. I am now ready (though I have given $50 or so last year) to join others in building the Movement for a People's Party. I agree with Brie Joy Gray it may be better for progressives to run OUTSIDE the Democratic Party, as it is clear the party powers would rather have a compliant nothing (I watched a debate with her and was struck by how dull and uninformed she was), and corrupt, Shontel Brown, in Congress than an empathetic, intelligent, and exciting Nina Turner. And if someone wants to say "spoiler," then try to explain the progress made when each Democratic Party administration and Congress follows a further right wing Republican one. Ten years ago, it was Max Baucus, Harry Reid, and for awhile Joe Lieberman who blocked the progress. Today it is Sinema and Manchin. It is part of a game of finger pointing and virtue signaling--all while doing next to nothing to move our nation to where even the majority of Americans want.
The argument "We have to save the Supreme Court" has been lost. The current president campaigned on a public option last year and, once elected, promptly broke that promise. Biden won't take action on student debt except at the margins of those who went to truly fraudulent college-businesses. His moves on climate change are hardly sufficient. Etc. To say, "Well, Trump was and is worse!" does not get us anywhere policy-wise. It is, instead, more of a debating point--and one I agree with, but that is now no longer enough. Too many progressives and liberals who said they would work to push Biden "left" have been AWOL, or worse running interference for Biden and progressives in Congress as if they were celebrities and this was an argument which Kardashian we like least or best (Don't ask me which one as I don't follow them, and they all seem awful).
The Democratic Party's brand is toxic in so many States, and Biden's administration is not making anything better in that regard. This is not simply a matter of public policy but of strategy. The strategy of voting for lesser evils continues to fail as the Republicans move further and further right into outright fascism, white supremacist nationalism, and unhinged conspiracy theories.
Yes, I can still maintain my hope that the Dem Party in NM may become an exception, as has Nevada's Dem Party. But, for at least 40 states, that is not true at all. My advice is to give to the Movement for a People's Party for them to get on the ballot in those states, and to come out for rallies for movements, whether it is BLM, climate change organizations, student debt relief, M4A, etc. Change is more in the streets than at the ballot box, as Dems insist on their failed neo-lib strategy, and saying the Republicans will regain control of the House and Senate in 2022. That is not only an abdication of leadership, but a failure of policymaking--as again, a strong voice from the party on issues Americans are either ready to embrace or have already embraced would strengthen Democratic prospects. But, no corporate Dems have shown they would rather lose than win with Bernie type policies. So, I have decided it is time--again--to say two can make that strategic move.
Change means moving beyond the political duopoly known as Democratic and Republican Parties. And no longer worrying about being a spoiler. The corporate Dems have spoiled their own beds, and it is time, as Seward, Chase, and Lincoln did in the 1850s, to move to a new party away from a party that was feckless and hopelessly divided.
