The late anarchist David Graeber used to say that the tendency towards political despair and hopelessness is a tool of the right-wing. Demoralization is a tactic that serves our enemies. So, when I read needlessly negative comments here— never-mind full-blown stories— that start from the premise that “we are fucked,” I have to ask: How is this helping? Did MLK believe everything was hopeless, so why bother? Do all the unionizing Amazon and Starbucks employees start from the premise that their situation is hopeless? In point of fact, they know present conditions are untenable, and so they proceed into action.
It is telling that while AOC and Elizabeth Warren are offering concrete ideas for action, President Biden and Vice President Harris are, more or less, suggesting the only solution is to wait a hundred days and try to win the election. Yes, that would be great, is in fact essential, of course, but there is something to be said for not being risk averse in a unique time of crisis. There are political rewards from trying something bold and failing… for one thing, it lets the supporters know you give a damn, and it teaches valuable political lessons to the population. Let SCOTUS overrule a gambit for wholesale debt forgiveness from Biden, for example— the president could than point vocally to “the Republican Supreme Court” as yet again another hindrance towards progress. Biden wins even if he “loses.” Because he shows a key demographic ( the youth vote) that he cares and assures they vote for him come November. That is just one example. We need to be constantly highlighting political contrasts, through bold action, instead of making feckless attempts at bi-partisanship to please some mythical voter and the bullshit corporate media. We don’t want an autocratic president in the mold of Trump— but the calculus has changed since Trump, and Biden certainly can go bigger, if only to rally the masses, and to give people hope and get people energized. The Republicans were out of power for a huge part of the 20th Century, and they built institutions, and ran hopeless candidates, in hopeless districts, until they won. You can say a lot about how singularly awful Republicans are, but they certainly know how to use the power they have.