All Good Ideas are on the Table: This is How Politics Should Work

Advice from Bernie Sanders to Democrats: Change Course Before you Nosedive in November 

Open minds, a variety of diverse ideas and perspectives, listening to people who sit in a different place and have a different perspective.  How refreshing it is to write those words after decades of gridlock politics brought to us by the Republican Party.  I'll preface this by saying no one is perfect, and no one is the ultimate authority on what is or is not going to work in an election.  We've been surprised before, though we are at a point now where polling data and the predictions that go along with them are generally pretty accurate.  But even so, just accepting this information without acting on it, or working to do something that will make a difference, is silly and defeatist.  And considering what is at stake, which is the effective functioning of American constitutional democracy, everything it worth a try.  

Of all political perspectives and party positions, Democrats should know that all ideas do not have to be mutually exclusive. 

Concerned About the Possible Outcome of the Midterms?  Me, too. 

Since the Supreme Court leak of Justice Alito's brief, and the Uvalde Shooting, adding to a summer of televised hearings on the January 6 Trump Insurrection, my confidence in the Democrats ability to retain its control of Congress has increased significantly.  That, along with obviously diminished support for Trump-endorsed primary candidates in GOP primaries thus far, which seem to be hitting a ceiling somewhere around 30% of the vote, win or lose, makes me feel better than I did back in the winter.  The polling numbers, which are scrambled and not as clear as they usually are, indicate that voters aren't necessarily ready to hand control back over to a GOP that they pushed out in 2020.  

And while Trump supporting Republicans are hanging their hat on the "Big lie," his continued harping about it, including continued ways to try and figure out how to subvert the constitution and somehow get him back in the White House now, even though that's constitutionally and legally impossible and is not supported by the fact that the voters kicked him out, is a liability, not an asset to Republican candidates running for office.  Those who he has endorsed have eked out narrow wins in most cases, while many of his endorsees have been spectacularly defeated.  It's hard to win a general election when 70% of those who are likely to vote think you are lying and don't believe the lie you're pushing.  

My concern at this point is that I don't see much change in the Democratic party's strategy to bring all of this messaging in a way that will motivate voters to go to the polls in November.  Like Senator Sanders, someone whose opinion and perspective I consider and to whom I pay attention, I think the strategy needs to shift to a more effective method. The debate over Roe and the speculation of the Supreme Court's decision, the January 6th hearings, the gun control debate, and the Putin war against Ukraine are all issues now tilted in the Democrats favor.  And it looks like some secondary issues, especially Russian involvement in the 2016 election and the proof for collusion, will make the rounds again.  But it is clear that just letting issues make the argument isn't enough. 

Democrats Listen, Consider and Act

As I said before, different ideas about how to go about what is now a somewhat urgent political job with limited time, do not have to be mutually exclusive.  Of course, because this is the Democratic party, the concern over the ethics of what gets done is an important consideration, and I agree with that.  But the Democratic party is diverse enough that several paths to the same outcome are not duplicitous or deceiving.  

I think we need to listen to Senator Sanders, and Senator Warren, who has similar ideas and a similar perspective about how to do this.  I trust them both.  They are politicians, but their concern for those they represent and their lives shows in everything they do.  I think they're on the right track.  Point out that two obstructionist senators have stood in the way of the Democrats completing their agenda in the first year of the Biden Presidency and that change that the voters approved when they elected Biden is only going to occur if you give the Democratic party two more senate seats to plow around the obstructionists.  

That's easy to understand.  Senators Manchin and Sinema are household names which everyone knows because that's what the mainstream media has focused on rather than multiple accomplishments and achievements of the Biden administration.  A lot of frustrated Democrats who need motivation to go to the polls can relate to this because it has been the news media theme day after day.  So turn that around just a bit and state the obvious.  The Biden Administration will be faithful to its promises which will benefit the American people (i.e. you and your interests) when it has a fully cooperative Congress.  So give that to them. 

Works for me.  

Democratic Populism is Still Democratic

The last thing Bernie Sanders wants to see is a Republican dominated Congress.  He's made being an independent who caucuses with Democrats work because he is very practical in his politics, to the point where he can pick up votes from other independents and even Republicans because they get away from ideology and into practical matters.  There's probably not anyone more influential among the more progressive wing of the Democratic party except maybe Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, or Elizabeth Warren.  

There is no possible way the Republicans can get enough votes to win a majority of congressional seats, even with their gerrymandering, if they face a united Democratic party, as diverse as it is.  And that's the bottom line.  I'm in favor of doing what it takes to get there, as long as it isn't lying or deceit.