Coronavirus, Legislation, Progressives and Moderates, Senate

Progressives Attempting to Shame Moderate Senators Are Politically Naive

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Recently I have seen several messages on Facebook posted by progressives attempting to shame the 8 moderate Senate Democrats who did not vote for the $15 minimum wage hike to become part of Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package.  It is obvious that those on the left who attacked those 8 Democrats need a lesson in practical politics.

First, normal Senate rules usually mandate that 60 votes are required to bring any legislation to the floor for a vote.  Since there was no chance that 10 Republican Senators were going to get on board it was necessary to invoke an exception to normal order called the budget reconciliation rules in order to enact the legislation. Under those rules, only a simple majority vote is necessary to enact budget legislation.  However one of the provisions of budget reconciliation is that legislation contain only “changes of spending or revenues”. 

President Biden, with his long history as a Senator, has long predicted that the minimum wage provision would not meet that test, and he was right.  That’s why he always said that he would probably have to address a minimum wage hike in a separate piece of legislation.  As expected the Senate parliamentarian, the authority on such matters, ruled that the minimum wage provision did not meet the test of being a “change of spending or revenue”.  Why? Simply because it would not increase or decrease the government’s spending or revenue; it would have only mandated that businesses pay their employees a higher minimum wage.   

Senator Sanders’ amendment to include the minimum wage provision in the relief package was most mostly for show. Those Democrats who voted for the provision knew it should not and would not be included in the bill, but a yes vote would cost them nothing and it would make them look good for their constituents back home. Those Senate Democrats who voted against the measure’s inclusion were simply and properly upholding the rules of the Senate.  I fully expect that if Joe Biden were still a Senator he would have voted against the amendment himself.

However, there is the much larger issue of the animosity of many on the left flank of the Democratic party towards moderate Democratic senators.  What they fail to grasp is that we have a very tenuous majority in the 50 – 50 Senate only because the voters in some Purple and Red states have elected Democrats to represent them in the Senate.  What is more important politically is that those men and women from those states would have had absolutely no chance of being elected had they been as progressive as Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.  Had they not approached politics from a moderate perspective, there is a high likelihood that many of their states would have elected their Republican opponents instead.  

So here is what it comes down to in practical political terms.  Would progressives rather have a moderate Democrats like Joe Manchin represent a Ruby Red state like West Virginia, which Trump won by the greatest percentage of votes in the 2020 election, or would they rather have Mitch McConnell in charge of the Senate.  I can guarantee you that if Manchin had been any more liberal during his time in the Senate, West Virginians would very likely long since elected a Republican to replace him. With Joe gone and Republicans holding a 51 to 49 majority in the Senate, the minimum wage provision would never have been an issue.  Mitch McConnell would have never let President Biden’s stimulus bill proceed to a vote in the Senate, or any other progressive legislation for that matter.

What some politically naive progressives don’t seem to understand is that in Purple states politicians of both parties have to espouse moderate stances on most issues if they want to get elected.  Supporting the politics too far to the left or too far to the right of center in those states is a political death sentence. In Red states like West Virginia, being a moderate or even a bit right of center moderate is an absolute necessity. 

In summary, moderate Democratic politicians in Purple and Red states can’t get elected if they adopt progressive stances on most issues.  And unless they can get elected, Democrats will not be able to control the Senate. Without a Democratic Senate majority, Mitch McConnel will insure that none of our agenda will become reality regardless of which party controls the House or who sits in the White House.

So if you are one of those progressives who gets upset about how some of our more moderate Democratic Senators may vote on a particular issue, be aware that when you display those emotions in public you also actually displaying your political naivete.  Just be happy that on most issues those moderate Democratic senators are on our side. 

In conclusion, remember what Bernie Sanders said after Democrats alone, with the help of Vice President Harris, passed the stimulus package in the Senate (even without the minimum wage provision included), “. . . this is the most significant legislation for working people that has been passed in decades”.  Also remember that it would not have passed without the votes of the eight moderate Democrats some on Facebook ignorantly tried to shame,.

Cajun  (Rick Guilbeau)   3/10/2021

6 thoughts on “Progressives Attempting to Shame Moderate Senators Are Politically Naive”

  2. Dems need to stop being afraid of Republicans.

    If we kill the filibuster and pass a bunch of things that help regular people, then we can just dare the GOP to undo it all —– i.e. Let the GOP DARE to LOWER the $15 min wage again after it was passed by Dems; Let the GOP DARE to make marijuana ILLEGAL again after the Dems remove all penalties for its use; Let the GOP BRING BACK avenues to political corruption after the Dems have removed them with the anti-corruption bill; Let the GOP DARE to cancel needed infrastructure investments after the Dems passed and promised them; Let the GOP DARE to bring back student college debt to millions of yoiung people after the Dems have forgiven a huge chunk of it. These policies are verified as being very popular. Killing the filibuster and passing this stuff will WRECK THE GOP for a generation. But ONLY if the Democrats have the courage to act decisively in behalf of The People, and then DARE the GOP to cancel it.

  3. In my last post, I neglected to say that killing the filibuster, and putting pressure on the most conservative Dems to get with the program, will be necessary —- That’s where the real guts will be required.

  4. Doubledee,

    Good post!
    This statement of yours is especially pertinent:

    “Time to oust the outmoded, hidebound democrats from the DNC and install more progressive and certainly more energetic new leaders.”

    The current leadership seem to be Republican moderate soulmates far more than they are forward-looking Rooseveltian leftist Democrats.

    The leadership doesn’t seem to fully grasp how many voters will be energized to vote Democratic if they can just see the party actually giving needed things to regular folks.
    And the need is great.

    The Covid Bill is good, but dropping that $600 from the relief, and not going all-out to FIGHT for a $15 min wage, will hurt the Dem turnout in the next election.

    Just thinking in hard political terms:

    A $15 min wage would lock-in 100s of thousands, or even millions more voters nationwide who would feel grateful to the party for getting them their 1st minimum wage raise in over a decade.

    Forgiving MOST student debt, if possible, would lock in MILLIONS of millennial voters for 2022/24.

    Legalizing marijuana, once and for all, would also lock-in more votes of gratitude from folks all over the political spectrum who have been waiting for generations for that change to come.

    Insisting on passing BOTH sections of the upcoming election integrity/voting bill (including the anti-corruption part), would lock-in many more disillusioned voters who think politics is incurably corrupt.

    When the military wants a whole bunch more $$$,
    they GET IT.

    When the rich want a big tax cut, they GET IT.

    When big corporations push to have regulations dropped or loosened, they GET IT.

    Now, in the depths of a pandemic, The People really need stuff to help their families survive. What will THEY get?

    The Covid relief is s good start, and big infrastructure investment will help even more.

    But to really lock-in the votes to win the upcoming elections, the Democratic Party will really need to deliver to the masses, bigtime. They will need to do more than Covid relief and infrastructure.

    In 2022/24, the GOP will specifically run on the failures of the Dems to help people. That is why they clearly want the Dems to fail. The GOP can be counted on to obstruct ANY real help the Dems NEED to give The people. They are not allies;They are ENEMIES.

    I pray the Democratic Party leadership can find the guts to do what is necessary, which will take courage to do, because it will have to be A LOT.

    1. Thank you for the kudos…Usually my position that the Left is its own worst enemy brings me arrows not kudos. Far too many fail to understand the mechanism under which our Legislature is forced to operate, thinking Biden and his party possess some mythic magic wand and can , if they so chose, enact all we wish to see.

      I am a dyed in the wool advocate for third party politics , seeing multiple parties as a way to weaken, if not end, the strangle hold of corporate control of our legislative process. But, those who remain within the Democratic Party must address the very poor leadership of their party and work to bring new and more progressive leadership to the fore…..

      Sorry for the somewhat rambling response….

  5. I might quibble with a couple of points you made, voting for what is right , what is desperately needed, should, but of course does not, transcend political considerations.
    But ,mainly, I rise to object to your classing those who post negativity as ‘progressive’.

    I suspect they may be more than a bit further left than that. I had a civics professor at Michigan who took the position that political adherence is , in fact, circular, with the extremes, left and right, approaching each other in positions.

    I am active on a couple of political sites and see leftists ( not all, I consider myself one actually) post as if Biden and the democrats had a magic wand and could simply wave it to effect the changes we all see as necessary.

    Obviously not the case as Disney is fictional .Practical considerations, such as Senate rules and how voting proceeds and how majorities are garnered never seem to enter into these folks minds, and, while compromise is on life support certainly, it remains a fact of life.

    Democrats need to change leadership I believe, and install those in a leadership position who will be more energetic, use their positions to reach out far more to the voters, and, especially important, move that party further left again.

    I am aware of the trending to the right we are experiencing but believe that is due more to the effective outreach of the radical right in the Republican Party and the abysmal lack of such from across the aisle.

    All polls yet show that, on the issues, Americans favor progressive legislation, but they need to hear from the left. Thus far they only are exposed to the right. Time to oust the outmoded, hidebound democrats from the DNC and install more progressive and certainly more energetic new leaders.

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