{"id":23351,"date":"2022-08-26T20:48:22","date_gmt":"2022-08-27T03:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=23351"},"modified":"2022-08-26T20:48:24","modified_gmt":"2022-08-27T03:48:24","slug":"dont-kill-me-for-asking-but-can-the-democratssave-american-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/dont-kill-me-for-asking-but-can-the-democratssave-american-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Kill Me for Asking, But Can the Democrats\u2026Save American Democracy?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

umair haque<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aug 25, 2022 (Medium.com)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Democrats Suddenly Came to Life \u2014 And I Hate to Say It, But It\u2019s a Bigger Deal Than You Think<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/
Image Credit: Kenny<\/a> Holston<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A fire suddenly, it seems, lit. After months \u2014 years \u2014 of bickering and dithering, going nowhere, suddenly, it\u2019s like watching a ward of geriatrics grow new legs and sprint into a marathon. First, the climate bill<\/a>, and now debt relief.<\/a> Could it be \u2014 miracle of miracles \u2014 that the Democrats are finally\u2026making progress? And can all that maybe \u2014 just maybe \u2014 save American Democracy? From total collapse? From the imminent threat of Trumpist authoritarianism\u2019s next coup, which is already openly, proudly cheered by millions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a moment to talk about it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginning with the mundane \u2014 which, as I\u2019ll explain, isn\u2019t. Debt relief. Why does it matter? How much does it matter? Very, very much, in fact. As soon as it was announced, the usual roll call of pundits and whatnot quickly scorned it. It was unfair<\/a>! Regressive<\/a>! Why, it\u2019ll cause inflation<\/a>!! It\u2019s not \u201cfree money<\/a>\u201d said one economist, notably. America doesn\u2019t have many good economists left \u2014 Stiglitz, Krugman, every now and then, the list is exceedingly short. But here\u2019s what an actually good economist would tell you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a secret. There is <\/em>such a thing as \u201cfree money.\u201d It\u2019s called investment<\/em>. <\/strong>When we invest in people \u2014 hold on, I\u2019m going to use an odious word \u2014 their \u201chuman capital\u201d grows. Forgiving student debt is a necessary and excellent step precisely because it transforms debt peonage into real investment<\/em>. Now that poor young person who\u2019s trapped working three dead end jobs just to pay off the interest on student debt for a decade or more \u2014 they\u2019re freer<\/em>. To do what? Anything else that matters<\/em>. Go out and invent clean energy, write a great book, science, art, literature \u2014 doesn\u2019t matter. That <\/em>stuff is what really makes us all wealthier. Forgiving debt is a way to invest in people \u2014 and America\u2019s never needed to invest in its own people more than <\/mark>right now<\/em><\/mark>.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This usual slew of pseudo-criticisms is deeply misplaced. Any time that anything vaguely good, decent, noble happens \u2014 these same pseudo-criticisms emerge from America\u2019s pundits and intellectuals. They\u2019re all painfully, well, forgive me for saying it, but well stupid<\/em>. It\u2019s \u201cunfair\u201d to\u2026be fair<\/em>\u2026to some people? Do two wrongs make a right? What do you call columnists and economists who apparently didn\u2019t go to kindergarten? Forgiving student debt is regressive<\/em><\/a>? Hello, we have five generations<\/em> and counting each more downwardly mobile than the last. Of course <\/em>it\u2019s not regressive to help entire generations of young people do something worthwhile with their lives, that goes on to benefit all of us. How could that possibly be the case?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Let me cover one more, quickly. Forgiving student debt will be \u201cinflationary.\u201d My God, how foolish do you have to be to believe this? Inflation\u2019s spiking right now because of climate change<\/a> \u2014 see China shutting down power grids<\/a> because of drought? Now think about the effects on the prices you pay at Amazon for all the stuff made there. How do we solve that problem, which is one that\u2019ll last decades? We educate people<\/em>. So they can solve tomorrow\u2019s problems. If forgiving debt to invest in people was \u201cinflationary,\u201d guess what, the Stone Age would have higher living standards than right now, but it doesn\u2019t, because only a rank fool would actually have the gall to believe<\/em> \u2014 and then shout at you \u2014 that educating people, of all things, causes inflation, not, you know, prosperity for all of us<\/em>. Fire. Candles. Light bulbs. Think about it.<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These \u201ccriticisms,\u201d let me say it again, are frankly idiotic<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we listened to all these pseudo-criticisms \u2014 if any other rich country did \u2014 you know what would happen? Nothing. Nothing would ever happen. Nobody would ever negotiate higher wages \u2014 oh no, that\u2019s unfair to someone else<\/em>! Government would be stuck dead in its tracks. No improvement in the social contract would ever be possible, because, well, in the real world of politics, no step is ever pure or perfect or immaculate. This is politics, guys, not the Virgin Birth. In the real world, unfortunately, this is how progress begins to happen. One painful step at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet this isn\u2019t just a \u201cstep\u201d \u2014 in fact, it\u2019s more of a giant leap. How so?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I highlight all that faux, foolish criticism for a reason. The Dems did good<\/em>. <\/strong>They knew they were going to face this onslaught from The Establishment. And they went ahead and did it anyways. That matters. That counts. That tells us that the Dems are growing a pair \u2014 at least the tiny, tiny vestiges of some. Testiclecules, maybe, let\u2019s call them. They\u2019re not the real thing, yet. But they might become so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s put all this in context for a moment. The world right now? It\u2019s an incredibly, incredibly<\/em> regressive place. <\/strong>Take a moment to think with me about America\u2019s dearest cousin and closest friend, Britain. There, collapse is happening at light speed<\/a>, in ways that\u2019d be shocking even to Americans. Britain\u2019s government is hell-bent on plunging people back into the Victorian age \u2014 and Brits are cheering it all on<\/em>. This winter, they\u2019ve already announced blackouts<\/a>. Amidst an energy crisis, the government\u2019s lifting any real restriction on prices<\/a>, and people are going to have choose between food and heating. 70% of the country\u2019s expected to go into \u201cfuel poverty<\/a>.\u201d And that\u2019s just Britain. I could go on. About India\u2019s democracy decaying into theocracy, China\u2019s resurgent nationalism, Europe\u2019s far right gaining ground swiftly and surely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Context matters, and the context right now, at this juncture in history, is this: the world is going backwards, at light speed.<\/strong> So for America \u2014 of all countries \u2014 to take positive steps? The nation that\u2019s long been renowned for being ultra-conservative, backwards, stiflingly indifferent to much of anything? That\u2019s not <\/em>just a small step: it\u2019s a giant leap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, it\u2019s equally true that America has a lot \u2014 a lot<\/em> \u2014 of work to do to catch up to a nation like, for example, Canada. The starting line is different. But progress being made in America while the world is plunging backwards into a Dark Age is something remarkable, and credit should be given where it\u2019s due. Did you ever think you\u2019d see the day where a hyper-capitalist society like America would be\u2026forgiving debt<\/em>? Even Marx is smile-frowning in disbelief from his grave in Highgate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, it\u2019s easy to lodge real criticisms, so let\u2019s dispense with them quickly. Is $10K of debt relief \u201cenough\u201d? Of course not<\/em>. <\/strong>Should much, much more debt \u2014 and more kinds of debt, too, from medical debt to credit card debt be forgiven? Of course it should<\/em>. Should we go even further than just forgiving debt, and actually just\u2026give\u2026people\u2026money\u2026to invest in themselves, for education, to start businesses, to create things, for research\u2026 just for existing? Of course we should<\/em>. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the right will emerge a chorus of \u201cWhat? Are you crazy!! But that\u2019s unfair\u201d \u2014 wrong, actually what\u2019s unfair is an entire being indebted for life to a tiny, tiny handful of billionaires<\/a> and \u201chedge funds,\u201d reduced to the state of Neo-serfdom, precisely because more or less all the gains<\/em> in the economy for 50 years, half a century<\/em>, were taken by a small few at the very top. Unfair? Let\u2019s begin with real <\/em>economics, not BS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So. The Dems haven\u2019t just taken a small step. They\u2019ve taken a big one. Perhaps not quite a quantum leap, yet. But in the context of both America as an economy and a society \u2014 a ruthless, indifferent, cruel, hypercapitalist one \u2014 and of the world, which is plunging backwards towards the Victorian age or a Dark Age, take your pick, something like forgiving debt\u2026really, really matters<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now. Let\u2019s talk about why they did it. Shortly on the heels, no less, of finally passing a climate bill.<\/strong> What do you think turned Joe Manchin around? The Dems got serious, at last. They stopped playing softball, and obviously turned the screws on Manchin, which tells us that they always had <\/em>the screws. And they did all this \u2014 in remarkably short order \u2014 precisely because their political fortunes were plummeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few short months ago, everyone was frustrated with the Dems. Enraged, even. Apart from maybe perpetually sunny centrists like my best friend Ezra Klein, everyone else \u2014 young people, old people, women, minorities\u2026they\u2019d all had enough<\/em>. The Dems hadn\u2019t delivered much of anything \u2014 instead, they\u2019d dithered, and let their holdouts crater any agenda<\/a> they\u2019d had, time and again. Everything they\u2019d promised to each of these constituencies? None <\/em>of it had materialized. And then<\/em>, thunderbolt. Roe was struck down by a Supreme Court packed with lunatics<\/a> like Scalia and fanatics like Amy Coney Barrett, the former \u2014 literal \u2014 \u201chandmaid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People\u2019s frustration and disappointment <\/strong>turned to outright fury<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. <\/strong>Where were the Dems? Were they ever going to do<\/em> anything? And \u2014 miracle of miracles \u2014 they did<\/em>. They did begin to do stuff. Again, it\u2019s easy to criticize \u2014 go ahead, read what I wrote about the climate bill<\/a>. And yet doing anything positive right about now \u2014 anything at all, anywhere in the world, especially in America? Wonderful.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Astonishingly enough \u2014 I think many of us have forgotten, maybe \u2014 this is how democracy is supposed<\/em> to work. When people end up furious, politicians are supposed to do something<\/em>. <\/strong>America\u2019s spent so long being politically paralyzed that it seems almost thunderous that something happened<\/em>. In Britain, for example, nothing good ever happens anymore, and probably won\u2019t for a generation or three, at the rate it\u2019s going<\/a>. Democracy is working right now in America, and that is a very, very good thing, in this age of democratic decline and backsliding and collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now. All this is going a long way to restoring the Democrats\u2019 flagging, sagging political fortunes. <\/strong>People might not be \u201ccharged up\u201d the way they were during the Obama years \u2014 but a kind of grudging respect is emerging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s important and necessary both. Why? For a very simple reason. The GOP was expected to sweep the house, not so long ago, when the Dems were about as popular as Harvey Weinstein. But now things are different. Even seasoned political forecasters are predicting<\/a> that it won\u2019t be a blowout for the GOP \u2014 maybe even there\u2019s a good chance the Dems take key races. And that matters precisely because what\u2019s on the line over the next two years is American democracy itself<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enough Trumpists win? Bang, game over. We all know it.<\/strong> By now, even the former doubters will probably admit that it\u2019s a neo-fascist movement inimical to democracy. Not a drill. The real thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now the Dems have a chance<\/em>. If they take two more Senate seats \u2014 which is eminently possible \u2014 then it\u2019s game on. Then the holdouts Manchin and Sinema can\u2019t use their power in such awful ways, forestalling whole agendas, delaying them for years. Then the Democrats can take on the meaningful goals of not just better policies, but structural and institutional reform. With two more Senate seats, they can begin to change supermajority rules that grind progress to a halt. They\u2019re all but assured of being able to impeach\u2026hmm\u2026what about Supreme Court Justices who lie under oath<\/a>? They can undertake a series of institutional reforms that American Democracy desperately needs, altering the House and Senate and even Executive to actually work <\/em>again. Can<\/em> \u2014 not will. Time will tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most crucial thing, though? They\u2019ll be far, far better able to stop the ongoing rise of Trumpism. <\/strong>Trumpism is already planning not one coup this time around, but 50<\/a>, one in each state, from intimidation to false electors to lawsuits, right down to armed militants on the streets. Democrats winning in the midterms have a far, far better chance of stopping Trumpism\u2019s next coup, dead in its tracks. Maybe they\u2019ll even be able to convince Merrick Garland to file charges sometime before the sun dies because it ran out of nuclear fuel. I kid, but only a little bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can the Democrats save American Democracy? I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s a loaded question. I know that cynics will respond to it badly, and take it as an opportunity to score points. Go right ahead \u2014 I\u2019m not here to be to the Dems what Camille Vasquez was to Johnny Depp. I\u2019m just here to tell it like it is. And right about now, the Dems have a fighting chance, and better yet, they\u2019re clearing a path for more. That\u2019s the good news. The bad news? The Dems are still<\/a>\u2026all we\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Umair
August 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

umair haque Aug 25, 2022 (Medium.com) The Democrats Suddenly Came to Life \u2014 And I Hate to Say It, But It\u2019s a Bigger Deal Than You Think A fire suddenly, it seems, lit. After months \u2014 years \u2014 of bickering and dithering, going nowhere, suddenly, it\u2019s like watching a ward… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23351"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23352,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23351\/revisions\/23352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}