My Granddad Told Me There Was only One Thing Worse Than The Democratic Party-- The Republican Party

How Many Dems Will Refuse To Back Biden's Shitty Deal With The GOP?

GOP crackpots— both nationally and in red states— are passing extremely unpopular legislation, from restricting abortion rights and freedoms of communication to expanding gun rights. On Friday another all red state— Nebraska— passed a ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender minors (under 19) and on abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy. NPR reported that Omaha state Senator Megan Hunt, disclosed in March that her teenage son is transgender and said Friday that she now plans to leave the state. “Hundreds of businesses and medical professionals signed letters warning that both the abortion ban and the trans health restrictions would prompt corporations and doctors to leave the state. A letter submitted Friday and signed by more than 1,200 Nebraska medical professionals called the bill ‘a direct attack on the medical community of our state.’”

So Democrats should sweep Republicans out of offices everywhere next year, right? Yes, “should.” But plenty of Democrats are unfit for office as well… better than Republicans? Always. But worth voting for? Sure… if you buy into lesser-of-two-evils politics. On a congressional level, most DCCC-backed candidates are as terrible as the corrupt, corporate, careerist party leaders, Hakeem Jeffries and Pete Aguilar. And on the presidential level? Don’t make me puke. Remember when Biden assured his Wall Street bankster backers that "nothing would fundamentally change?" He meant it. Biden sucks; Harris is at least as bad. Watch as they “compromise” away working families’ ability to live decent lives with the greater-evil Republicans. Biden isn’t Trump— but what difference does it mean to a family that won’t be able to eat?

Do the Democrats— as a party— take any of this seriously?

In many parts of the world, inequality is spiraling out of control. The basic facts have become depressingly familiar.

In the United States, the top 0.1 percent now control about the same amount of wealth as the bottom 90 percent of the entire population. Globally, the richest eight individuals possess as much wealth as half the entire planet.

The United States could completely eradicate homelessness by taxing away just 2 percent of the wealth of a mere two billionaires, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. If we redistributed 2 percent of the wealth of all the world’s billionaires, leaving completely untouched the wealth of well over 99.9 percent of the world’s population, we could eliminate extreme poverty entirely. Billionaires, meanwhile, would likely not even lose any money in the process since they typically earn more than 2 percent annually off their wealth.

Despite stats like these, the same old objections resurface again and again, like ideological zombies, whenever anyone dares suggest a redistribution of grand fortunes.

The first of these objections: Reducing inequality remains simply impossible because the rich will always be able to avoid paying any new taxes levied upon them. The second: Even if we could raise taxes on the rich, we shouldn’t— because the costs to society always outweigh any benefits. And the third objection: The rich, morally speaking, deserve their good fortune.

Reporting for the L.A. Times yesterday, Jackie Calmes wrote about the sad shape of the Democratic bench, primarily a bunch of tired corporate less-evil candidates. Calmes enthusiastically listed what she called “the up-and-coming Democrats.” I’ll bold the ones who are worth thinking about.

Tops among the up-and-comers are two new governors, Wes Moore and Josh Shapiro, who demolished Trump-backed Republicans in November. Moore, an Army veteran of Afghanistan, former Rhodes Scholar, author and investment banker, is the first Black governor of Maryland.Shapiro, former Pennsylvania attorney general, won in his swing state on the strength of his reputation as a consensus-builder and on his prominence in fighting Republican efforts to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results.

Their time could well come. But among those Democrats seasoned enough now for the presidential arena are more experienced governors, including Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan and North Carolina’s Roy Cooper, both of whom impressively won reelection in their battleground states and have since gained national attention for their fights for abortion rights in their states. Second-term blue-state leaders J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, a billionaire whose family owns the Hyatt chain, and Phil Murphy of New Jersey, a former Goldman Sachs executive and ambassador to Germany, similarly have raised their profiles, speaking out against Trump and Republican extremism.

There’s also Andy Beshear, the popular Democratic governor in very red-state Kentucky, who’s running for reelection this year against a MAGA Republican, and Gavin Newsom, who has directly baited Trump and, more recently, DeSantis. (Latest round: Newsom needled DeSantis on Twitter Thursday for the Florida governor’s “bigoted policies” that provoked Disney to pull the plug on a Florida project: “That’s 2,000+ jobs that will be welcomed back with open arms to the Golden State.”)

Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Cory Booker of New Jersey, as well as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, all ran in 2020 and remain viable, though it’s unclear how ambitious for the top job they remain. Another possibility: Mitch Landrieu, former lieutenant governor of Louisiana and mayor of New Orleans, widely respected for his work on race issues and now overseeing implementation of Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure initiative.

Not much bolding there. Pete Buttigieg is viable! Jesus! What a pile of garbage— but that, to a great extent, is today’s Democratic Party, not as bad as the GOP… but bad enough. The last time I voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in a general election was 2008-- and I doubt I ever will again. At best, it's the party of the Peter Principle. I just spoke to Jason Call on the phone. He was one of the best Blue America-backed candidates last cycle. He's running again-- but this time as a Green. I asked him to write a guest post explaining why and he said he would. I hope he does it in time so I can run it tomorrow. Meanwhile... one of the DeSantis campaign signs they decided not to use anywhere but in Wyoming and West Virginia. Slightly altered versions-- like with a shirt and one one gun-- will be available in other states: