Supertankers Momentum in Congress 28 December 2021

 

House Progressives Leadership does not Understand Public opinion

It took FDR 4years to get the Social Security Act of 1935 out of the Congress. The disaster in 1929 was not responded to properly  until 1935. Overcoming the resistance to change took tremendous effort and persistence.

When we tried to bar  supertankers from  the waters of Puget sound the only convincing argument was that it took 20 miles to turn a ship away from the rocks.  The San Juan islands Often had far less than that between islands and thus if a ship lost steering it would be on the rocks, spilling millions of gallons of oil on beaches, birds and seafood feeding grounds in spite of a sober and able bridge crew.

 I was once a coalpasser on an oreboat  that ran aground in Lake St. Clair on a clear day in the channel between Lake Huron and Lake Erie.  A cotter key broke and jammed the steering engine. The crew were unable avert the disaster.  It took 3 days to unload the boat so It could be refloated. The momentum of the ship carried it into the mud.

Lest you think such examples are far fetched we have all been witness to the grounding of the world’s most sophisticated container ship in the Suez Canal as recently as this year. A ship, 4 football fields long , was driven a ground in the Canal despite the best technology and human brains.  The wind blew the ship sideways and the momentum carried into the mud.

In more ways than one the President of the USA is at the helm of a supertanker of more than 300 million humans as he tries to mold public opinion to accept a plan for controlling an unmanageable epidemic inspite of the Medical advice in the world.  At the same time he is trying to guide economy between the rocks of stagnation and collapse on one hand and inflation on the other hand.  If that was not enough he is trying to change the social safety net to pick up those who have fallen through the cracks in our society. Children, overpriced pharmaceuticals, and lack of health insurance are just a few of his problems.

Getting public opinion to accept all this change at one time is a gargantuan challenge.   Progressive leadership seems to have no idea or concern about the momentum of the ship of state to an ugly grounding in 2022 for the Democrats. They seem to believe that the Public opinion will shift dramatically if they get some minor change perfectly in July   as they adjourn for the August recess.

By their insistence on getting the last turn of the wheel of the ship of state they are certain to run us aground. Even FDR knew when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em and when to get away from the table. He wanted National Health Insurance but it was too much to get done and he left it on the table for next time. 

They are losing momentum every day they don’t take the good instead of trying for the perfect. When the ship runs aground the Progressives will get the credit.

14 December 2021 There is no Democracy with a Filibuster

  

On the 25^th of August 2009 Ted Kennedy died. With his death the Senate Democrats lost the votes to defeat a filibuster and pass Obamacare. I spoke to my senators and told them that it would be impossible to pass a good Healthcare bill using the rules of the Senate to avoid the undemocratic 60 vote rule.

All the resulting problems with passing Obamacare that persist to this day are still traceable to it birth in a Reconciliation bill. If one looked then, you could see the coming paralysis of today’s Senate.  We are now down to 50-50 with the vice President as a tie breaker. So even one self-centered Senator can frustrate the President and the American people’s desire for free and fair elections and the programs contained in the Build Back Better legislation.

If one contemplates history one can see the future. Two books and one article are plenty to convince one of the dire nature of the present paralysis threat will lead to Totalitarian rule. In 2003 Richard Evans, a British historian wrote, The Coming of the Third Reich, which tells the tale of what happened before Hitler. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt  in 2018 wrote,  How Democracies Die, which tells the history of a number of countries that have preceded the USA down the rabbit-hole into Totalitarianism.

The next Atlantic Monthly has a article by Barton Gellman, Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun. If the two books don’t make you uneasy this article will.  All three tell the same story from different perspectives.

Like a fall on a glacier there is a chance to arrest the slide into disaster. It requires swinging hard and burying your ice axe in the ice.  Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer must call Sinema and Manchin into their office and deliver an ultimatum.  “Either you will vote to amend the Senate rules by a majority vote or we resign” and you can try to resurrect the Senate from the ruins of the Tornado.  The Senate will look like Kentucky after the last week but it will be clear that the Democrats tried to act before we lose the House in the 2022 elections and our Democracy in 2024.”

This will not solve everything immediately but it will create momentum to pass election law reform and additions to the safety net Laws so that the effects will be felt in the election of 2022.  Time is rapidly passing and each day of Paralysis in the Senate is one day closer to the election of an autocrat whomever he or she may be.

The time has come to Stand in our Democracy rather than to protect Senatorial privilege. My old friend Warren G Magnuson, when asked about running for the Presidency or seeking a Supreme court appointment, said, “I’m not leaving the most exclusive club in the world for anything.”

Standing up for Democracy is worth risking the loss of status.  Nathan Hale, before he was hanged on 22 September1776, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”  

10 December 2021 A New Strategy for the Democratic Leadership

 

10 December 2021 A New Strategy for the Democratic Leadership

There is a way to save the Midterm elections and our Democracy for the American people.  Sports offer a clear path to success.  The USA is enamored with the brute force of Football. But clearly the Democratic leadership does not have the power to force movement on BBB or voting legislation to halt voter suppression.  For many, the 2022 elections are becoming a foregone conclusion. The Democrats will lose their majorities in the House and Senate. The inability to get several members to commit to voting for specific proposals has created a situation in which the Democratic Party is being slow walked into impotence and obscurity.

The national sport of Japan is Judo.  Every Japanese is taught that skill and cunning can beat strength and speed. The key is recognizing the leverage one has in order to take down your opponent. Two senators have total control of the entire process at this time.  Over and over, they have rejected proposals made by their leadership.  There is no doubt in Washington that the whole process is balanced on this point. These two want to hold back the Congress for their own ends, not for the common good. It is not clear what their goals are, other than Personal.

The only way to move them from their position is to use the leverage of public opinion. Right now, the leadership is looking inept and weak. If they reversed the leverage and said to the two Senators, “You win. You are now in total control. Let us know when you have decided what proposals you support for creating fair elections and what you will do to solve the problems daycare for the children of working mothers. At that point we will move forward. Until then we do not intend to have anymore fruitless meetings. This government is paralyzed and we will inform the press that you are coming up with the solutions you can support.  Whatever happens in 2022 you will get full credit for.”

48 Democrats and the President and the vice-President are presently hostages of two person junta. The refusal to call it what it is makes it impossible for the country to move forward to solve its problems. When the legislative body becomes paralyzed the appeal of authoritarian leadership rises.  People expect their government to solve problems but they can be lured into believing that authoritarian leadership with a rubberstamp legislative body is acceptable. Examples exist in the world today. Russia, Hungary and other countries are moving toward or have reached this model.

Time is of the essence. District boundaries for Congress are being drawn. In addition, money appropriated to solve problems takes time to be distributed so no one will ever believe it happened. They will never see the infrastructure projects. The time has come to put the two Senators in the hot Seat, driving the vehicle of state.  Right now the struggle over who is driving is has the state headed for the cliff of totalitarianism. But it is not too late.!