They’re actually gonna do it. The Democratic-majority House is getting ready to pass a bill—possibly tomorrow—to fund the “Department of Homeland Security,” in the middle of Donald freakin’ Trump using that very agency to deploy literal secret police, invade American cities, attack and grievously injure Black Lives Matter protesters, snatch people off the street without charges, join forces with white supremacist local police, and implement fascism.
House to bring controversial Homeland Security bill to floor
BY Niv Elis, The Hill, July 20, 2020
According to that reporting, the progressive amendments passed in committee actually helped sugarcoat this poison such that it gained sufficient support to advance! Meanwhile here’s progressive leader Rep. Mark Pocan justifying yes votes in committee while as much as admitting that they willingly gave away their leverage after some amendments. Even Rep. Barbara Lee voted aye. Pocan says that the Progressive Caucus opposes a floor vote… but Speaker Nancy Pelosi controls that, not them!
And now here we are, a damn floor vote. Progressives may vote against it, but in futility, because it’s likely to pass. Pocan talked about the funding for secret police being one issue among several, when it is the most critical issue to keeping a democracy at all!
And don’t tell me that the markup happened before Donald and Barr’s illegal DHS deployment, so last week’s final committee vote was too late to do anything about it. We knew as of the vote! So vote no on the whole bill! Even if you’re gonna lose, vote no, just to make the point! And this was a known danger from the beginning regardless! On top of the horror of so many Democrats voting to fund something called “Homeland Security” year after year.
In the Hill’s reporting (taken with due skepticism given that it can be an unreliable source, though this article tracks with everything else I’ve seen), the Democratic leadership’s supposed political priority is demonstrating “good governance.” Oh great, they’ll knowingly renew fascist power, not just passively acquiesce to it out of appeasement, no, they’ll proactively go on the record and vote to use your tax dollars to pay for fascism, supposedly to prove for the billionth what good little boys and girls they are. (Meanwhile they didn’t even get their cherished Capitol confederate statue removal provision.)
You can read about more of the intra-caucus debate in this article. Note that even a “clean continuing resolution” (CR) keeps the fascism funded.
As Trump threatens secret police deployment nationwide, Democrats debate expanding surveillance powers and new money for DHS
By Ryan Grim, The Intercept, July 21, 2020
This is how democracy dies, with play-acting “progressive” strategery… and willful Democratic House majority bankrolling. This is not an exaggeration, these are not some hysterical dramatics, this is not a mere game that the political leadership can just play and hope that the highly-endangered, already-degraded election will magically sort out. This is not an “oh well, we tried.” This is for all the marbles. This could be the thing that locks in inescapably brutal, tyrannical rule in America for generations—for white people too this time, not just for minorities whom too many white folks find nice to think charitable thoughts about but maybe not deem worth giving up a little unearned advantage or sticking their necks out for—and (oh by the way) the thing that quickens the incineration of the planet’s environment and that risks apocalyptic war.
What do we have left, the Squad and the hopes that Donald does something stupid that deep-sixes the bill? Our chances of clawing our way back to a chance of attaining democracy and justice are disappearing like a Polaroid of Marty McFly. The protesters are the greatest force keeping hope alive, yet as we just saw in Hong Kong, we’re sunk without institutional actors who’ll champion and act on that political mandate with all legitimate authority available to them.
Call and email your congressperson. Demand that they block funding to DHS. Insist that they ban secret police, to the point of government shutdown if necessary. (Yes, even with an election coming up. That’s what it takes.) Ask for actual action on offense: open impeachment inquiries, immediately hold public hearings, and impeach acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, acting CPB Commissioner Mark Morgan, Attorney General Bill Barr, the president again, and more, on all of this and everything else. Do it in the form of privileged impeachment resolutions, which jump to the front of the line and guarantee an hour of floor time and a vote. Command the country’s attention. Sound the alarm. Back up the brave protesters.
Stop trying to run the country, and start trying to save it.