After what felt like an eternity, the November 3 election is finally winding down to its end. Despite baseless claims of voter fraud, it seems that Joe Biden is our President-elect and President Trump is on his way out. The balance of power in Congress has not changed much with the Democrats still maintaining House control, and the Senate seeming to favor the Republicans with its fate to be decided in Georgia’s January 5 runoff elections.
This election cycle had the potential to establish one of the most progressive administrations in American history but has ended with what appears to be another Democratic administration that will repeatedly be blocked from any meaningful action by a Republican majority in the Senate, barring Democrats sweeping the runoffs in Georgia. So, what happened to the blue wave so many anticipated?
The answer, how I see it, is actually extremely simple: they spent all their time punching left instead of catering to what the people want. Left-leaning policies such as higher minimum wage and universal access to healthcare have monumental support (especially during a pandemic) across any cross-section of Americans. According to Political Polls, a self-described nonpartisan polling group, 72% of voters support a “Government-run healthcare plan.” In the Florida election, a $15 minimum wage passed with 60% of votes in favor despite Florida Democrats refusing to offer their support. These are two policies that are continually touted as “left-wing,” so why doesn’t massive support on these issues correlate to landslide victories for the “left-wing” Democrats? Well, because Democrats are not left-wing… and have spent billions to remind us of this depressing truth for years.
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) tweeted a graphic on November 6 that explained the reality of what Americans want quite simply. Of the 19 congressional candidates listed, every one that supported Medicare For All won their election, every one that didn’t, lost. It’s almost as if the voters want to support people who are going to fight to radically improve their lives and are indifferent when neither party takes them up on this offer, a fringe concept that the Democrat leadership doesn’t seem to understand.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking Democrat in Congress, has been against progressive policies for years, referring to the Green New Deal as the “Green Dream or whatever they call it,” when it was unveiled over a year ago. Yet while both Medicare For All and the Green New Deal continue to gain support, establishment Democrats and tired leadership refused to acknowledge the changing of the times. Bob Dylan says it best when commenting on politicians’ tendency to put off change as long as possible: “Don’t block up the hall / For he that gets hurt / Will be he who has stalled.“
The two party system has forced the public to choose the lesser of two evil for so many years that the people are beginning to take the issues into their own hands. If neither Republicans nor Democrats support an increased minimum wage, or the massive decriminalization of drugs seen in Oregon, or the recognition of healthcare as a human right which should be provided equally to all regardless of class, then the people will vote for such policies directly when they can. These policies win an overwhelming majority when they are on the ballot, but Democrats continue to lose statewide elections to the party that gave us one of the least popular presidents ever. If their leaders had any desire to represent the working class they claim to love so much, it would be so easy to endorse progressive policy and win both chambers of Congress in a landslide.
I wish I could offer a satisfying answer as to why they behave and campaign the way they do. To some degree, this disparity between the people and their rulers can be illustrated by special interests that buy our elections, but for some reason, this issue is even more frustrating than that. Even when the party claims that they will do whatever it takes to end the Trump presidency, they completely ignore the issues that would make it so easy. Generally, I try to end my opinion pieces with some way that this problem is getting better, but with Schumer retaining his position as Senate Minority Leader and Pelosi actively trying to undermine progressive politics in Georgia, I see no hope for them. The solace instead must come from the people. Even though Trump won in Florida, an increased minimum wage passed with ease. Although they are low-ranking, the House is slowly gaining members who ran on a platform of climate action and universal healthcare. Even if the highest-ranking members of our government continue to oppose all progress desired by the majority of Americans, real change is coming from the bottom up, so let’s try to support good policies at whatever level they appear.
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