OK, I've Had Enough

Time to take a breath

Today, I feel like Popeye:  “I’ve had all I can stands, I can’t stands no more.”  I’m thinking it’s time to stick a fork in the Biden administration and the Dems in general, because, as of last night, they’re pretty much done, no matter what happens next year. 

Since January, as we’ve all seen ad nauseam, the drama has been mounting over the debt ceiling.  I have no doubt that a U.S. default on obligations would rock the financial markets around the world, and lead to another devaluation of our credit.  In other words, the consequences would indeed be dire.  President Biden initially took a surprisingly stern stand, declaring that he would not negotiate, that the debt ceiling is a stand-alone issue, and that he would accede to no GOP threats.  So here we are, a few days before the country theoretically runs out of money to pay bills, and….Uncle Joe, after negotiating for two weeks, has reached a tentative deal with the MAGA hostage takers.  The word is that the MAGA position was to impose more severe cuts on future spending, but Biden has shrewdly bargained them into less punitive terms.  The particulars haven’t been announced as of this writing, but the whispers say that the tax cuts Biden hoped to partially claw back will stand as they are; that most social safety net programs will remain untouched, except for TARP benefits, which will now include work requirements; that the environmental permitting approval process will be simplified (I have no doubt this will play into the recent SCOTUS decision to remove protections from wetlands); and money will be taken away from the IRS’ going-after-tax-evaders budget, among other items.  In return, IF McCarthy can garner the votes, the MAGAs agree not to hold the country hostage again until 2025.

Latest update, 5/29/23:  It turns out that, as part of the terms of the agreement with McCarthy, Joe Manchin managed to get approval for his environmentally disastrous pipeline to go through.  This is the project that locals had been protesting for years.  Looks as if Uncle Joe gave in to get Manchin’s vote.  Not only a loser of a deal, but absolutely disgraceful.

Of course, several workarounds had been suggested for Biden to employ, but evidently, he rejected all of them for one reason or another.  Instead, he went for the sure thing:  caving to MAGA pressure.  Psych 101 tells us that the President has now taught the right-wingers that if they push hard enough, he’ll give in.  Meaning that they’ve got all the encouragement they need to continue to make demands over various issues.  He’s reinforced the conviction that he’s weak. 

The Dems had majorities in both houses for two years, but failed to eliminate the filibuster or the debt ceiling.  It’s beginning to look as if we out here on Main Street are merely the audience to an ongoing kabuki play, with scenes playing out over months.  The fix is in---we’re gonna get the shaft no matter what.

Which brings me to the blindness of so many Dem supporters.  But first, I’ll say up front that I don’t think the Dems as a party are quite as bad as the GOP.  They’re equally bought, but I don’t believe they’d let the country burn to get their way.  I don’t believe they’d institute a theocracy, and I tend to think they’d shy away from an open dictatorship.  Otherwise, though, except for a few individuals, the party is all about money and power, the same as the GOP/MAGAs (I don’t make a distinction between MAGAs and other Republicans, because to continue to belong to the party is to condone its extremists).  The main difference between the donkeys and the elephants, as I see it, is that the elephants are quite open about their naked greed and worship of power.  They make no bones about their racism, homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, and other bigotry.  They embrace militias, and they don’t blanch at the thought of overthrowing the government:  147 Republican lawmakers voted to overturn the 2020 election results.  The donkeys probably wouldn’t go that far, and they’re more subtle about their allegiances.  They bow to Big Corp, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Insurance, and so on, but they don’t want that getting around.  They do a pretty fair job of hiding it, too, unless one is paying close attention.

And that’s where the staunch Dem supporters come in.  In their way, they’re every bit as fanatical as the most devout MAGAs.  They admit no nuance, and they brook no criticism of their party.  To the most devoted, Joe Biden should be in line for canonization.  Every mistake he’s ever made wasn’t really an error.  Rather, it was a wily maneuver to only give the appearance of a blunder, while he was….secretly plotting a genius move, or something.  He didn’t cave to McCarthy over the debt limit; instead, as one commenter on a “liberal” forum put it, he showed he was a masterful negotiator by not giving the MAGAs everything they wanted.  This commenter simply couldn’t understand why people weren’t showering Biden with praise for his courage and ingenuity.  Another commenter responded, “Masterful?  On what planet?”  I wholeheartedly side with that second guy.  Ending up negotiating as a last-ditch effort, when there didn’t have to be a crisis in the first place, is assuredly NOT statesman-like.

Another poster asserted that, “…despite Republican efforts (and this one [over the debt limit] was epic), the economy and the Biden administration are not failing.  In fact, both are succeeding spectacularly.”  To that, I’ve gotta echo the, “On what planet?” rejoinder.  By what kind of definition?  Homelessness is increasing; housing prices are soaring out of reach in many areas (this latter condition is now more frequently causing the former one); employers are offering fewer benefits and are imposing ever-more draconian working conditions; pandemic-related Medicaid benefits have expired; the enhanced child tax credit has expired; three large banks have failed; monopolies are becoming more common every day; inflation is resulting from corporate price gouging; and on and on.  Biden promised, “No more drilling on public lands.  Period.  Period.  Period.”  And yet….he approved the Willow project in the Arctic and new oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico.  His Inflation Reduction Act will allow for more privatization of public infrastructure, which is an insidious change whose disadvantages will only become obvious when the public begins to realize what a Very Big Deal it is as they get it stuck to them.  Likewise, the privatization of Medicare continues apace, and it’s a shameless racket in the form of huge giveaways to Big Insurance.  All of these things are successes?  Only to the 1%.  Promising to make climate change a central focus of his Presidency, but continuing to subsidize Big Oil, implement the aforementioned extraction efforts, and taking weak measures, at best, to fight global warming?  How does that count as spectacular?  We’re looking at yet more military spending, as well; even the MAGAs didn’t want to touch that discretionary budget item.  I hardly count that as a success by any criteria.  Or at least, any criteria that benefit the average citizen, as opposed to the profiteers. 

So….all of these negative events are going on as we speak, plus dozens more.  Many of them can be laid directly at the door of the Dems.  Or the Dems failed to stop them when they had the chance (the failure to codify abortion rights is a great example).  Information about them is available on any number of non-MSM sites. 

But to say one word against the President or his party on liberal forums is to be excoriated.  Raked over the coals.  Accused of disloyalty to democracy.  Cited as a MAGA lover.  I get cracks like, “So, you want a dictator?  You want cruelty and evil, you want voter suppression, you want book banning, you want to end abortion, you want a theocracy?  Then just keep on knocking the Democrats.  If you don’t want this country to devolve into a banana republic, you’d better hold your nose and vote Dem.”  I get told that we can’t afford to criticize Biden and the Dems, lest the Republicans win in 2024.  We don’t dare put the message out that “our” party isn’t perfect, or it will drive people to vote GOP.  In fact, we can’t even accuse the Dems of being ineffective at messaging, because, well, that’s just a tired old myth, and we shouldn’t keep repeating it.  Regardless that the Dems are, in fact, horrible at messaging. 

Someone in a forum today pointed out that there’s no young, strong, White Knight to ride to the country’s rescue in 2024, so therefore, we should stop all criticizing of Biden/Harris.  I failed to see the logic in that conclusion.  Seems to me that if---unfortunately---Biden/Harris is all we’re going to get, then we damn well OUGHT to criticize them, or we’ll get more of the same slow-rolling train wreck we’ve seen for the last two years.  If we don’t call out all the hypocrisy and corruption, no matter which party is in power, the DNC and RNC have no incentive to change anything.  Blind loyalty to person and/or party is what got us into this mess, and I’m thoroughly sick and tired of being told not to bring up inconvenient facts.  It doesn’t help the country to keep nodding along at bogus slogans and keep buying into the condescending BS we’re fed every day.