Lost in all the sturm und drang is that a year from now, we could be looking at COVID under control and a new normal underway, America NOT at war, and modest but negligible inflation paired with consistent economic growth.
A lot could change, but this outlook is *very* possible.
For all the back and forth about "messaging," "popularism," "deliverism" and this or that, I think the thing that's MOST likely to decide the midterms is whether or not kids are in schools without masks.
It'll be a mood, not a message folks.
One of the reasons 2010 was *SO* bad (in addition to the racist backlash) was that America was still in a really bad mood due to a still-sluggish economic recovery (that had been hampered by "moderates" scaling back the recovery bill).
We don't have to make that mistake again.
As a liberal, I'll be incensed if we haven't raised the minimum wage, codified Roe, secured a pathway to citizenship for immigrants, or passed the Equality Act.
But most voters are not me. It'll be a vibe check, and that's why a robust #BuildBackBetter agenda is so very crucial.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
With news of means-testing fever re-emerging, I thought it'd be good to resurface this piece on government inefficiencies and how things like means-testing makes programs more cumbersome to administer—therefore making it harder for the benefits to be felt. theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
Every time we've been given the opportunity to make social welfare programs universal, there's always an effort to make sure that *certain* groups aren't getting any "extra benefits" they "haven't earned."
This is flatly racist, and it'd be nice if we started saying so loudly.
When Clinton said the "era of big government is over," he really just doubled down on Reagan's hobbling of the social safety net.
When Manchin bemoans an "entitlement mentality," he's really just opposing a safety net that works for *anyone* who needs it *whenever* they need it.
For what it's worth, I think a big problem Democrats will face shortly is a whole generation of 18-35ish year old voters who'd otherwise be diehard Blue Team collectively saying "meh, what even is the point?" instead of showing up at the ballot box.
This cohort has seen two financial crises, a raging climate crisis, rising authoritarianism, and institutions failing to respond to any of it adequately.
The party's pitch of "hey we're better than the other side" has a STEEP diminishing margin of return in the face of all that.
We've got many outstanding elected officials, but the party leadership and much of the rank and file just consistently seem out of step with the specific moment we're in.
This isn't an ideological thing. It truly is a crisis of confidence, and it's only going to get worse.
I get the frustration with Republicans speaking at our convention. I really do. I'm a "burn the Republican Party to the ground and salt the earth" kind of Democrat.
It shouldn't (and likely won't) be like this four years from now, but right now it is. Here's why I'm ok with it:
Each of the Republicans speaking are committing to voting for a candidate running on the most progressive platform in our nation's history.
That platform looks the way it does because of the organizers, agitators, and others who willed it and pressured it into existence.
When Biden wins this election convincingly with the help of some disaffected GOP voters, the mandate will be for the platform he ran on, and we'll hold him and his administration accountable.
The more Republicans who reject Trump publicly, the better chance we have of winning.