The corporate Democrats refuse to back measures that appeal to huge majorities of their base, preferring instead to campaign against one evil man and his appointees.
The issue most often used to silence criticism of Democrats is the presidential authority to appoint federal judges. Yet the Democrats are caught in yet another debacle of their own making regarding this very issue. Anyone who even attempts to question the Democratic Party is immediately met with the words, “What about the Supreme Court?” The question itself, a variant on the lesser evilism argument, is an admission of guilt. The death of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has exposed the corruption which led to defeat at the hands of Donald Trump and now to a Republican appointed super majority on the court.
The fake Democratic Party is nothing more than a marketing scheme for political operatives. Their donor class, comprised of big pharma, insurance companies, banks, hedge funds, social media and technology, and other corporate interests, give money and call the shots. The needs of their voters are explained away and excuse after excuse is given to tell them why they can never get what they want. Democratic propagandists do nothing except repeat ad nauseum that the Republicans are worse and in return they get unenthusiastic and ever weakening levels of support.
The Supreme Court is supposed to be the issue that ends all arguments. The fact that the Democrats mishandled this situation so badly is one of the reasons they have deified the late justice Ginsburg. They have to divert attention from the mess they created. The federal courts would not play such a large political role if the Democrats were serious about winning and keeping legislative majorities. When Barack Obama was president, they lost more than 900 seats in state legislatures, the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The loss of the Senate was particularly devastating. Ginsburg should have stepped down when Obama still had the Democratic Party control needed to nominate a replacement. Instead, the 80-year old who had already been diagnosed with cancer was supremely arrogant. In 2014, Ginsburg was dismissive of prudent calls for her to retire and said so publicly . “So tell me who the president could have nominated this spring that you would rather see on the court than me?” Thanks to her hubris, Democrats are now caught in a mixture of panic and overly deferential mourning.
Of course Republicans played hardball when conservative Antonin Scalia died in 2016. They controlled the Senate and simply refused to allow Obama’s nomination of Merritt Garland to proceed.
Despite their constant browbeating over judicial nominations, the Democrats are now coasting along with bizarre nonchalance during a presidential campaign season and behaving with the same lackadaisical attitude that cost them the 2016 election. In the must-win state of Michigan, the Biden campaign has no in-person voter outreach, and no one that people who want to help can talk to. Of course there are no field offices because an on the ground campaign doesn’t really exist.
Democrats already had the campaign that was most important to them. Making certain that Bernie Sanders was not the nominee was their primary consideration. Beating Trump obviously doesn’t count for very much. Hand wringing about Ginsburg’s death is all that Democrats have to make their case.
If they were serious about getting and holding power, the courts would be of lesser significance. So-called down ballot races get little attention or funding while control of state houses and Congress hang in the balance. Of course the Supreme Court is important, but less so if a party has an agenda to fight for.
But the Democrats’ agenda has nothing to do with what the people’s needs. Raising money and mobilizing over issues are of no interest to them. Raising millions of dollars for the presidency, the office they use for their deal making, is all that matters. In 2016, the $1 billion that Hillary Clinton raised was all for naught. Donald Trump captured the imagination of the masses of self-identified white people and combined their enthusiasm with vote theft and suppression to flip Michigan and other states. The rest is history.
Now liberals do nothing except make entreaties to the spirit of the departed Ginsburg and send money to Democratic political action committees like ActBlue. Small donations totaling $100 million were made to ActBlue in the three days after Ginsburg died. Of course, Hillary Clinton raised more money than Donald Trump, but four years of propaganda have rendered most Democrats incapable of critical thought. They believe that repeating a losing strategy will somehow work this time around.
Meanwhile Donald Trump is sending unidentified Border Patrol and other agents into cities to make arrests, designating New York, Portland and Seattle as “anarchist jurisdictions ” that no longer qualify for federal funding, and ginning up redneck supporters to vote twice and block entrances to early voting sites.
If Trump succeeds in pursuing fascist policies, it is because he has no real opposition. Democrats don’t mobilize because they don’t want to. They don’t care very much if they win any office except the presidency, but if that is threatened by someone even slightly to the left they will reject that too. Vote shaming and scolding are no substitute for policy but they don’t want to change any policy. That is why finger pointing and prayers to St. Ruth are all they have.
The Republican Supreme Court super majority is a very bad thing for the country. But it all came about because of the Democratic Party. The sooner voters abandon them and build progressive politics for themselves, the better. The people must save themselves and the first thing they can do is detach themselves from the losers. Giving money to their PACs is a waste and so is idolizing a dead justice. For that matter, idolizing a dead political party is equally foolish.
Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well at patreon.com/margaretkimberley and she regularly posts on Twitter @freedomrideblog. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.
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