There is a lot of righteous anger about the reactionary Republican Supreme Court’s elimination of a woman’s right to control her own body. And some of that anger is being directed at both President Biden and the Democratic political leadership in the Congress. There is a divide between the reaction of Democratic political leaders and Democratic voters, especially with younger more progressive voters. I am seeing a number of tweets and articles about the Democratic “Gerontocracy.” And before anyone starts talking about ageism, I want to say that I agree that our Democratic leaders are a gerontocracy.
And I want to state for the record that I am white male approaching 59 years of age, and I do not see this as ageism.
The inital responses from Democratic leaders over the SCOTUS overturning Roe was just weak tea at best. At worst, I find it stupid and pathetic. It is stupid because Democratic leaders are stuck in a time period that no longer exists, and they refuse to change their political strategies or tactics.
- President Biden has ruled out expanding the Supreme Court. If we do not expand the Supreme Court, the reactionary Republican partisans will just keep striking down any laws that the Congress might pass and Biden signs into law. Only by adding four more justices could we hope to have a Supreme Court that will not strike down progressive bills that expand rights and freedoms.
- Clyburn’s “anti-climatic” remark was dismissive to put it mildy. I knew this was coming, but it is still a SHOCK to anyone with a conscience. How will Clyburn feel when the rest of the Voting Rights Act is destroyed by this Supreme Court? I wager he will not feel “anti-climatic” when we have election nullification and POC lose voting protections.
- Singing “God Bless America” for a extremely modest gun safety bill that has a shelf life of zero thanks to another SCOTUS decision to strike down the ability of states to regulate concealed weapons laws is just too mind numbingly pathetic for words. The Court made it easier for any asshole to get a gun now. There will be more gun deaths now not less. So what are you celebrating for? Democrats act like they are getting a scrap from the Republican dinner table, only to have the dog get to the scrap first with the help of the SCOTUS.
- Congress will not be called back from recess. They may get around to havings some hearings next month when they come back. No rush here.
Women and others are going to die because of what the SCOTUS has done. But I do not see any sense of urgency from Biden or the Congress. Sounds tough, but it is true.
I know that others on here will be, “Well, what do you want them to do? We have that damn Senate filibuster, Sinema and Manchin, and 50 other Republicans blocking anything meaningful from getting done. So what do you want Merlin?”
For starters, maybe Democrats should act like Republicans and have some laser focus on some issues. Maybe have more votes that will not go anywhere, but Republicans have used those show votes effectively to galvanize their voting base and put Democrats on the defensive. Why don’t Democrats do that? It would at least send notice to our voters that we are going on offense.
And we need to think outside the box and do things like running on expanding the Supreme Court. Hell, even Charlie Christ said that what some of those justices did during their Senate hearings was perjury, so why not run on impeachment of Kavanaugh and the rest of the reactionary Republican justices? YES, we do not have the votes to impeach any of them. I get that. But it would send a signal that Democrats are using EVERY avenue and means to fight for our rights and freedom!
We are in a political WAR with a party of FASCISTS who have spent decades getting us to an America that will NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN! Yet, Biden and the rest of the Democratic gerontocracy act like it is still pre-1994. Those days are long gone, and trust me, even back then those were not good times.
I have had to watch the middle class shrink while the rich got richer. People struggle economically to get by. People who are from diverse backgrounds and thought they were moving the social ball and expanding freedom now have to deal with bigots who feel free to employ violence. And while we made some initial progress on pollution, our planet is now threatened by global climate change.
And we now have to deal with a fascist party that may destroy our democracy.
We got to this place because Republicans are racists who have embraced fascism, but Democrats in Congress refused to see this. They keep thinking that some “fever” will break and Republicans will come back to their senses and work for bipartisanship. It’s why Democrats in the past voted for some of Republican picks of judges during all those decades. Democrats figured, “They won, so they get to pick any judge they want.”
Look at what happened when Democrats got into the White House and started picking judges. Over time, less and less Republican senators voted for Democratic nominees. And then we had Moscow Mitch throw out the entire playbook on judicial nominations.
The world has changed and not for the better. People are dying from Republican policies and judges. The younger Democrats see that, and even this old guy here sees that. Democratic leadership has to wake up and smell the damn coffee and start acting like they are really “fighing for the soul of the nation.”