And I don’t think we can lose the current one. It’s good that they’re starting to realize they should give people nice things, even though they still don’t seem to realize you have to be uncouth about it: that is, they hate tell people they gave them nice things, and they hate even more telling people Republicans want to take away their nice things (they are the only political party that seems to think politics is beneath them).
That said, that’s how you win in 2010. It’s still necessary, but not sufficient. Now, the very mechanisms of democracy are under assault, and I’m not seeing much in the way of alacrity, especially by Senate Democrats. It’s as if they don’t realize they’ll lose their Senate majority and probably the House majority if they don’t pass HR1/S1–and Manchin’s proposal to simply reauthorize the Voting Rights Act isn’t enough, since the radical right Roberts Court already gutted its key proposal.
There’s also a time crunch: there’s little point in passing legislation that wouldn’t affect the 2022 election by turning back the hundred plus bills Republicans have passed to restrict the franchise.
I don’t know if it’s age or just a party infrastructure that selects for excessive caution, but Senate Democrats need to fight the current war.
mikethemadbiologist
They’re doing their job as the pawl in the ratchet of America’s rightward decline – channel any energy from the left into performances and deliver as little as possible. That’s what their donors pay them to do and they are very good at it. Why would they mess with success?
It’s Manchin, this is all a dance to fluff his ego; problem is if one of the Senators has a heart attack the music is gonna stop and the party (democracy) will be over
I am not a lawyer, but I don’t think Roberts declared that section of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. He said the time is past when there is need for it, and it had been seven years since Congress renewed it, so even though there was no expiration date he was just going to say it’s no longer in effect. If I’m right, then Joe Manchin’s effort should include reinstatement of the requirement for states to get pre-approval from the Department of Justice before making changes to votint regulations and laws. I believe Manchin’s bill does that, but it requires all states to get their changes approved, not just the ones in the original list. That’s OK by me. But you’re right that Biden needs to do more. A lot more. I think the Dems can survive even if they can’t get the big bills passed, but ONLY if they are seen as really trying and then point out forcefully that the Republicans are why we can’t have nice things.