By:

Dave Kingsley

    Yesterday, a mass mailing from Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries arrived in my mailbox.  It was actually an appeal for money, which seems to be the main activity of the Democratic Party these days.  This is the first paragraph verbatim:

“The American people deserve leaders who set aside partisanship and focus on bipartisan solutions.  House Democrats are committed to working with the other side of the aisle to make life better for hardworking middle-class families.  At the same time we will push back against their extremism whenever necessary.”

    Just how delusional can a Democratic Party leader be?  Since 1980 and the right-wing revolutionary regime of Ronald Reagan, bipartisanship has meant “Democrats rolling over.” Pushing back has meant “making some noise and then caving in to Republican demands.”  Let’s take the massive 1983 bipartisan cuts in Social Security as an example.  As a result of the Establishment’s stewing and fretting over funding the coming retirement of the Baby Boomer generation, eligibility was pushed back two years.  There appeared to be no consideration of raising the cap and making the affluent classes pay a little more.  That was the result of a recommendation from the “bipartisan” Greenspan Commission and an accommodative bipartisan vote in Congress.

    Perhaps one could find a little bit of bipartisanship and Democratic Party pushback on extremism in the early days of the Reagan Revolution.  But these days we are not talking about extremism of the Reagan variety.  Over the past 45 years, extremism has evolved into a current regime of fascists, and neo-Nazi sympathizers intent on bringing back second-class citizenship for women, people of color, and gay people. They are also intentionally heaping cruelty on transgender, poor, and asylum-seeking immigrants.  We are talking about a typically sadistic, fascist movement rife with anti-Semitism.

    We now have in America a proclaimed dictatorship in league with the regimes of Pinochet, Franco, Salazar, and Mussolini.  It appears that their leader thinks that Hitler had some good ideas.  Of course, Washington Democrats along with their pals in the mainstream media aren’t pushing the current Republican’s self-anointed dictator to specify exactly what those ideas are.

    Until recently, Republicans at least had a modicum of respect for the U.S. Constitution.  But in January of 2021, an insurrectionist mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.  Members of law enforcement were injured and some died as a result of the violence heaped on them.  I watched in horror as goons wearing t-shirts with “Six Million Was Not Enough,” “Camp Auschwitz” and the like broke windows, assaulted police offices, and set up a gallows for the execution of Vice President Pence who refused to override the election results.

    Eventually, many were convicted and held accountable.  But now the U.S. dictator wannabe with support of his Republic sycophants in Congress have given them a pardon.  These are the same leaders who have a rubber stamp Supreme Court that will back their destruction of all facets of federal government designed to protect and improve the lot of “we the people.”  Project 2025 is designed for the betterment of the extremely wealthy.  It will not end well for everyone else.

    Where exactly does Congressman Jeffries see an opportunity for bipartisanship?  This is a fanatical Republican Party that denied President Obama his constitutional right to select a Supreme Court Justice. 

    One give away regarding the state of the Democratic Party at the top these days is Leader Jeffries statement that the party wants to “make life better for hardworking middle-class families.”  That’s laudable.  However, life has become unbearable for low-income families in America.  The Republicans are intent on slashing Medicaid, SNAP, and other programs barely keeping a large part of the U.S. population alive.

    All of this will not end well for anyone in the U.S. except billionaires who can always seek refuge in more comfortable surroundings located far from the boundaries of the United States.  If the Democratic Party continues its mealy-mouthed nonsense about bipartisanship and fails to operate (fight) from clearly stated principles, they will continue to sink and take the rest of us with them.