Losing the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation battle is more dangerous than just the loss of the Supreme Court. We are at a tipping point and have no room for errors. We must be very careful between now and Midterm 2018 and here is why.
I was concerned from the beginning about the fight we were having over Brett Kavanaugh. I wrote the piece “Stop with the false hope. Supreme Court lost for a generation lest we …” in July 2018 making the point that it was false hope. I wrote the following.
But this is where we find ourselves. The reality is that it is unlikely that anything can be done to stop Trump and the Republicans from installing anyone they so choose to place on the Supreme Court. Democrats do not have the numbers to stop anything.
We can fire up Progressives and hit the streets. We can pretend that pro-choice Republican Senators will potentially vote against their party. We can raise a lot of money temporarily on the Progressive side with this tale until the charade is over and Republicans ultimately install their corporate and ideological shill to the Supreme Court.
But what then? We run the risk of demoralizing those to whom we have given false hope, those who believe that we have options we don’t have.
Isn’t it time that we stop going through the same old playbook, the same old paradigm? Isn’t it time that we speak to all Americans as the intelligent people we are even if at times ill-informed and governed by our fears? Yes, it is.
Many are in despair because they finally understand that Trump’s evil legacy will live on in the stacking of the courts with Right Wing ideologues that could overturn women’s rights, civil rights, and much more.
Yes, we must encourage protest and continue the resistance. Progressive activists must lay the groundwork, the modus operandi, assuming Trump will get his desired Supreme Court Justice. We have not lost yet. The Constitution does give us options.
Read the entire article as there are in fact options. But most importantly we must realize that the Republicans are building a constitutional anti-democratic firewall for minority rule of the American Plutocracy. When we get that we will see that it is not about what the average American wants but what the titans of finance demand of their political slaves.
While protests are good to mobilize our people, it does little to sway the votes of the current crop we elected because they feel more indebted to their financial benefactors. And for that, we must fill the halls of Congress and the Presidency with the least polluted.
Going forward let’s be more honest as to what we can and cannot do. That way we won’t have to reinflate those who are extremely disappointed now. This can actually be deflating to turn out as some cauterize in their minds that political engagement is pointless from this experience.
Midterm 2018 must highlight what Progressives will do
So what now? All those people we mobilized for the Kavanaugh fight must be given hope that Midterm 2018 still matters. We have to remind them of all the issues a Progressive win will ultimately start mitigating. Let’s continue to remind folks of these five issues that we all support.
Progressives must define their opponents first so that it is them who are on the defensive. Then, tell poor and middle-class America in a district-specific manner, what is in it for them. It must be clear to them what they expect out of voting for Democrats.
- Democrats will fix the health care issue once and for all with a single-payer Medicare for All system.
- Democrats will provide student loan relief.
- Democrats will provide need-based subsidized child care for anyone who wants to work.
- Democrats will decriminalize marijuana and treat drug use as the disease that it is.
- Democrats will make the criminal justice system live up to the “Justice is Blind” motto.
Those five bullet points expressed in different terms will work in every district in America. It appeals to millennials, people of color, all working class people, parents, and every demographic in between. Most importantly these bullet points afford Americans a path to self-sufficiency It frees them from aberrations in the economy that stunts innovation, the inability to start one’s business, and the dependency and the enslavement to the corporation. One would hope that every Democrat who gets on Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, HLN, or any other network would steer every topic to these bullet points.
Let’s reinflate all those who are disillusioned by the Kavanaugh outcome. We still have a lot of work to do. I am heading to a block walk tomorrow to do my small part in the process.