The Vote Is In… And One Side Wins

The greatest canard re American politics is “Both the Left and the Right are equally guilty in the country’s sharp division.”  No, no, and no.

Proof of this can be found in the vote this past week on the compromise to avoid a Federal government default with almost certain cataclysmic consequences.  The Senate voted on a bill painfully hammered out in the House by Pres. Biden and Speaker McCarthy.  It was totally clear that failure by the Senate to approve the measure would lead to an historic and immediate Federal government default with incalculable effects on the US and worldwide financial system.

The vote in the Senate was 63-36, approving it by a comfortable margin. But 31 of those “nay” votes came from Republicans and only 5 from Democrats. The anti Republicans represent nearly 2/3rds of their caucus; the five Dems were just 10% of their cohort.  Further, essentially every Democratic no vote came because those Senators were certain the measure would pass despite their opposition.  This made their votes merely statements of principle.  Had its passage been in actual jeopardy, most if not all of those five nay-voting Democrats would, I strongly believe, have voted aye.

Conversely, most of the far larger number of Republican “no” votes came from Senators fully prepared to see the economy crash and burn to support their extreme ideological point, had they sufficient votes.  Fortunately they didn’t.

While it is a hoary cliche’ to cite Solomon and the baby, America does today have one party fully prepared to see the baby die in preference to seeing its opponents win. The other, the Democrats, accept the necessity of acting responsibly, even if it means occasionally losing ideological ground.

Equating the behavior of America’s two parties as equally partisan is not merely misguided but a conscious lie by most of its proponents.  Those pseudo-centrist groups like No Labels represent, given America’s current political divisions, either a witting or an unwitting attempt to divide the opposition to the Trumpist MAGA vote, with a view to allowing the far Right to win future elections narrowly with a plurality.

The great anthropologist Richard Dawkins once memorably said, “When two people hold diametrically opposed opinions, the truth does not necessarily lie somewhere in between.”

This has never been more true than when one of those two opinions comes from an adherent to today’s MAGA Republican policies.  Americans have traditionally respected the views of their political opponents, even if on occasion vehemently disagreeing with such opinions.  However, the current extremism of the American Right, and the likely consequences should their ghastly views prevail, make it impossible for me to accord them even the tiniest measure of respect.  

Fortunately, there is a highly intelligent, if still relatively small, cohort of anti-Trump Republicans.  They are best represented by the deeply sensible right-of-center but uncompromisingly anti-Trump folks at The Bulwark (thebulwark.com.)  Their highly articulate thought leaders represent a growing contingent, as more and more centrist (and even right-of-center) voters are repelled by the noxious antics of Trump and his camp followers.  (Although the term originally had a broader meaning, “camp follower” has come to mean prostitute.  Just saying, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley.

Many of these principled conservatives find themselves compelled to vote for Democrats, even if they may find many of their policies a bit too “liberal” for their tastes. But the extremism—bordering on nuttiness—of the dominant elements of today’s Trump-ruled GOP has enabled the formation of a Democrat-led coalition that, barely left of center, includes millions of disenchanted former Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents.

The policies of the Biden administration mirror those of the conservative parties in Britain and most Continental democracies—not their left-leaning opposition.  Try telling the average Tory voter in the UK that “Medicare for all” is a dangerously radical concept, as the GOP roundly dismisses such a proposal in the US.  For that matter, try telling it to the 69% of US voters who support it, including nearly half of Republicans.

The center-slightly left coalition that is today’s Democratic (NOT “Democrat”) party distinguishes itself from the present GOP by being four square in favor of democracy, by opposing excessive voting restrictions and by demonstrating simple good sense.

Some on the right maintain a posture that their opponents espouse “far left” views. But the precepts of nearly all of today’s Democratic officeholders, even including “the Squad,” on such topics as abortion, voting restrictions, gun control and attitudes toward LGBTQ Americans, reflect the expressed views of anywhere from 60-80% of Americans. This makes these views hardly “left wing.”  This even applies to policies identified with the more progressive wing of the Democrats, such as Medicare for All and stringent attempts to prevent further climate damage.

The farther Republicans go in embracing far-right extremism, the more that hordes of former Republicans and self-described Independents vote for Democrats, even if not prepared to change their party self-identification.  Given our binomial system, such voting is seen by them as a necessity, especially among younger voters.  Given the roughly 4,000,000 US citizens who turn 18 every year, given the 65% or so support of Democrats by that age demo, and given their increasing propensity to actually turn out and vote, it is no wonder that the GOP is terrified of the demographic handwriting on the wall.

Strangely, they are only slowly learning that presenting unattractive candidates who shrilly espouse unpopular policies is leading to a shrinking—if still huge—population of voters with the slightest inclination to favor Republican candidates—but nowhere near a majority.

I believe it will require a solid electoral thumping before that gang of right-wing ideologues will accept that adherence to their current views will consign them to permanent minority status.  Unlike most observers, I think that thumping is coming in 2024 if either Trump or DeSantis heads the GOP ticket.

When this occurs (OK, IF it occurs if you insist) the Republican Party will have learned the wisdom of the title of Rick Wilson’s prescient 2017 book, “Everything Trump Touches Dies.”  It may be a slow death but a death it will be.