The Struggle for the Soul of America: Can Democrats Pull an Upset in this November’s Mid-term Elections?

Posted on August 8, 2022 by Author: Bruce Berlin

(Note: I am taking a break. This is my last blog until after Labor Day. Back at you then.)

History tells us that the odds of the party occupying the White House winning the mid-term elections are pretty slim. “Since the end of World War II, the president’s party has lost House seats in all but two midterms: 2002 and 1998…”[1]

Until June 24^th when the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade’s right to abortion,[2] it appeared the conventional wisdom would prevail, and a Republican red-wave tsunami was gathering steam. In the last six weeks, however, the tide has turned purple, if not downright blue.

So much is now going the Democrats’ way, it’s hard to believe. No one thought that red state Kansas would support abortion rights by 18 percentage points.[3] Nor did most people think that Sens. Manchin and Sinema would sign on to the Democrats’ climate, health care and tax legislation,[4] assuring its passage in the next week or so.[5] The renamed Inflation Reduction Act will bring the country close to its emission reduction goals of cutting carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030. It will also lower drug prices by permitting Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and extend the Affordable Care Act for three more years.[6]

In addition, here’s what else has recently boosted the Democrats’ chances in November:

Hiring surged in July with 528,000 new jobs indicating the economy is improving.
Last week a U.S. drone strike (with no collateral damage) killed Al-Qaeda’s leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who was largely responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attack.
The PACT Act passed with full Dem support, providing aid to veterans exposed to toxic burn pits while serving their country, after Republicans were forced to drop their opposition.
Gas prices declined for the seventh straight week helping to ease the fear of rising inflation.[7]
The Dems passed the CHIPS Act with some Republicans support (See my blog, Manchin and Schumer to McConnell and the Republicans, “Gotcha!” at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog/) to bolster the domestic semiconductor industry.

Nevertheless, the elections are still three months away. While the Democrats now have a much stronger record to run on then they did just a couple of months ago, they will need an enthusiastic voter turnout, like the one in the recent Kansas primary affirming abortion rights, to upset the GOP and hold onto their Congressional majorities.

What was just a pipedream not long ago is now a realistic goal. With much of the Republican Party seeking permanent one-party rule,[8] the Democrats are finally giving voters good reason to stick with them by demonstrating that they can produce concrete results for the American people. Though it’s far short of the progressive ideal and not everything President Biden promised during the 2020 campaign, he and his party have made significant progress in the face of stiff Republican opposition. Just think what they could do if, we, the voters gave them greater majorities to work with in November. One can only hope. All of us working together to get out the vote can turn hope into reality this fall.

Bruce Berlin, J.D.

A retired, public sector ethics attorney, Berlin is the author of Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America (See breakingbigmoneysgrip.com.), the founder of New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics, a former U.S. Institute of Peace fellow, and the founder and former executive director of The Trinity Forum for International Security and Conflict Resolution. He can be reached at breakingbigmoneysgrip@gmail.com.

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/. Join the movement to revive our democracy. Together we can save the soul of America.

[1] https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-the-presidents-party-almost-always-has-a-bad-midterm/

[2] https://www.npr.org/2022/06/24/1102305878/supreme-court-abortion-roe-v-wade-decision-overturn

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/02/us/kansas-abortion-rights-vote.html

[4] https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/04/dems-agenda-energy-climate-bill-00049875

[5] https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/08/07/us/climate-tax-deal-vote

[6] https://www.yahoo.com/news/dont-believe-trump-gop-biden-130045250.html

[7] Ibid.

[8] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/04/trump-republican-party-democracy

The Struggle for the Soul of America: Manchin and Schumer to McConnell and the Republicans, “Gotcha!”

Posted on July 31, 2022 by Author: Bruce Berlin

Did Democrats Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer pull a fast one on Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, or what?

A month ago, Sen. McConnell declared, “Let me be perfectly clear. There will be no bipartisan USICA (a $52 billion bill to support the U.S. semiconductor industry) as long as Democrats are pursuing a partisan reconciliation bill.”[1]

Two weeks later Sen. Manchin put the brakes on the Democrats’ reconciliation bill. Believing that the partisan bill was dead, McConnell and 16 of his Republican colleagues then joined with all 50 Democrats to pass the CHIPS semiconductor bill on July 27. Within hours Sens. Manchin and Schumer announced an agreement on a $740 billion reconciliation bill[2] that McConnell can’t derail.[3]

It was the kind of cunning maneuver McConnell is known for, but this time the Democrats were in the driver’s seat. McConnell has been sticking it to the Dems for way too long. Could this just be the beginning of the payback McConnell and his right-wing colleagues clearly deserve?

The Democrats are finally learning to play hardball. And, right in the nick of time. With the mid-term elections fast approaching, the Dems need to demonstrate to the voting public the stark differences between them and the GOP. Forcing Republicans to vote on popular legislation they oppose, especially if the bill ultimately fails, helps the Dems make the case that the public needs to vote more Democrats into office if they want these bills to pass.

For example, take the bill enacting the right to contraceptives. A few days ago, Senate Republicans blocked the bill,[4] despite the fact that 84% of likely Republican primary voters support safe access to contraceptives.[5] Almost all House Republicans voted against this bill as well.[6] And most of them also voted ‘no’ on a same-sex marriage bill and a couple of other popular social issues.[7]

Even more reprehensible, last week Senate Republicans rejected a bill to assist veterans suffering from exposure to toxic chemicals while on duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Twenty-five Republican senators blocked the measure, even though they had voted in favor of it just one month earlier. Their about-face was in retaliation for being outmaneuvered by Schumer and Manchin in the CHIPS Act voting previously noted. “Getting even” with the Democrats apparently overrode their longstanding strong support for our troops. This may very well cost the GOP when America’s veterans go to the polls this fall.[8]

Meanwhile, as the Justice Department begins to zero in on Trump’s criminal culpability for the January 6^th insurrection, a bright light will also shine on his Republican Congressional enablers. McConnell and his colleagues who have failed to stand up to Trump are, in fact, accomplices to Trump’s crimes. If Senate Republicans had voted with the Democrats to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial after he had instigated the attack on the Capitol, he would have been barred from running for president again under Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution.[9]

The House Select Committee’s hearings have made it clear to millions more Americans how Trump and his party conspired to overthrow the 2020 election. All the Republican Congresspeople who voted against certifying that election and supported Trump’s Big Lie should be held accountable in my view. But that will be up to their constituents in November. The voters may yet reject those who chose overthrowing our government rather than upholding the Constitution, which they had sworn to defend.[10]

Though the polls and history suggest this is the Republicans’ year, recent events have given the Democrats renewed hope for winning the mid-term elections. In addition to all the above, abortion rights, gun control and climate change provide further Democratic momentum. And I just bought gas for under $4/gal. So, inflation may cease to be the overriding issue it has been projected to be. Then Democrats may well declare the ultimate “Gotcha” on the night of November 8^th. Wouldn’t that be something?!

Bruce Berlin, J.D.

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/. Join the movement to revive our democracy. Together we can save the soul of America.

[1] https://seekingalpha.com/news/3853443-mcconnell-looks-to-block-52b-in-chips-funding-over-spending-packages

[2] https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/07/joe-manchin-climate-bill-inflation-reduction-act.html

[3] https://www.businessinsider.com/mcconnell-assails-manchin-spending-deal-after-dems-strip-his-leverage-2022-7

[4] https://truthout.org/articles/republican-blocks-contraception-access-bill-from-coming-to-vote-in-senate/

[5] https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/07/19/poll-independent-womens-voice-republican-primary-voters-support-safe-access-birth-control-contraception/9921658251250/

[6] https://truthout.org/articles/republican-blocks-contraception-access-bill-from-coming-to-vote-in-senate/

[7] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/22/house-republican-votes-marriage-contraception/

[8] https://www.npr.org/2022/07/29/1114417097/veterans-burn-pit-bill-republican-senators

[9] https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-1/section-3/clause-7/#:~:text=Judgment%20in%20Cases%20of%20Impeachment,and%20Punishment%2C%20according%20to%20Law

[10] https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Oath-of-Office/#:~:text=Today%2C%20Members%20of%20the%20House,following%20the%20official%20swearing%2Din.

The Struggle for the Soul of America: Can We Learn from the Wildfires?

Posted on April 24, 2022 by Author: Bruce Berlin

Friday afternoon my friend John and I helped another friend evacuate his home to escape the wildfires raging in northern New Mexico. As I carried a few of the precious belongings he wished to save from the house to his SUV, I saw the billowing dark smoke ominously rising in the distant sky.

We had no idea how long it would take before the fire might engulf his home. But he could not wait to find out. He knew he must leave while he still could. It was truly a harrowing experience.

Later that evening another friend called John. She said the smoke at her home was making it difficult to breathe. Could she and her son seek refuge at John’s place? Their car packed with their most valued possessions, they arrived at John’s around 10 p.m. that night. Tragically, they had to leave their horses behind.

Both John’s home and my home are 25 miles or more west of the wildfires. Since the winds are blowing northeasterly, we do not appear to be in any danger. But those winds are wicked. While assisting our friend’s evacuation, gusts must have reached 60 mph at times. There’s no guarantee they won’t turn around and put us in harm’s way.

All this makes me stop in my tracks and rethink our current state. What could be more valued than a good friend willing to drop everything and come to your rescue at a perilous time? What could be more precious than a supportive community working together to save people’s homes from a deadly fire?

Yet, our political culture tends to distance us from neighbors with contrary views. Rather than seeking common ground to work on together, we try to overcome those who see things differently than we do. Just think how much better off our country would be if Democrats and Republicans, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy, could work together for the common good of all Americans.

It can and does happen. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act which promotes online competition has broad bipartisan support. The bill would prevent the biggest platforms, such as Google and Facebook, from giving themselves an advantage over smaller competitors. The GOP joined the Democrats in supporting this legislation which prohibits big tech firms like Amazon from giving its in-house branded products a leg-up over other brands when someone is shopping on its site. Instead of backing their big business allies as they usually do, Republicans put the interests of the American people in fair competition first.[1]

But fires are not only erupting in our forests. In state houses across the country as well as in the halls of Congress, our politicians are throwing verbal fireballs at each other. If we are to rescue our democracy from these overheated partisan flames, this needs to stop. We need to find a way to reach well-meaning Americans with divergent views to lower the temperature and work together for the common good without sacrificing our values. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act is a step in the right direction.

Bruce Berlin, J.D.

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/. Join the movement to revive our democracy. Together we can save the soul of America.

[1] https://www.wired.com/story/american-innovation-choice-online-act-antitrust-google-amazon/