Democrats learn: we are the only friends that we have

Attacks on democracy, family drama in Florida

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Since the November election, the prevailing narrative about the Democratic Party has been that it is experiencing an existential crisis, directionless and adrift. Over the past few weeks, however, I think a more complicated picture has begun to emerge, one that runs counter to that prevailing wisdom. I think that the Democratic Party, as an institution defined by its self-selecting members, has a very clear ideological and political track to follow; instead of existential, the crisis within the party is one of power and legitimacy.

There are two main fault lines within the party at the moment, though there is considerable overlap. Most predominant at the moment is the fissure between the comfortable, conciliatory Democrats and those who do not think that elected officials should give a single inch of ground to the emergent fascists in the White House. Chuck Schumer and Senate leadership represent the former, while rank and file voters are overwhelmingly in the latter camp, as indicated by dire new poll numbers for Democratic leaders in Congress.

Just 40% of Democrats approve of the party’s performance in Washington, with 49% registering disapproval, a low point that matches grassroots Republican dissatisfaction in the lead-up to the Tea Party movement. While some might point out that the early 2010s conservative uprising was more of an idealogical movement than an uprising centered on a thirst for pugilism, I would contend that there is also a clear political and philosophical dimension to the Democratic schism.

There are basically two policy conversations happening at the moment. Among the online and think tank wonks, the talk is about Abundance, a new technocratic manifesto by columnist Ezra Klein and journalist Derek Thompson. The book offers a blueprint for a flourishing future built on new technology and dramatic deregulation of construction, development, and energy production. It envisions giant walkable cities spurred by zoning reform and rapid transport powered by new kinds of fuel. It’s an agenda that is devoid of politics and eschews populism, reorienting society as it exists today around efficiency. Think Popularism, by way of the Jetsons, promoted as the next big thing in Democratic politics by center-right, anti-labor think tanks.

The other conversation is happening at massive rallies all over the country, where unprecedented crowds are gathering to demand an end to oligarchy, or rule by massive corporations and the ultra-wealthy Americans who own and operate them. The sheer number of people who are showing up at Bernie Sanders and AOC’s rallies in red parts of the country has nothing to do with their celebrity, either. It’s the organizing principle, the collective goal of wresting back control of the economy and freeing us from the control that major corporations exert on our health, our elections, and our day-to-day survival.

For too long, Democratic elites have convinced party base voters that such lofty ambitions would be unpopular, that modest tinkering would resonate with more Americans. Decades of promoting small bore visions and laundry lists of limited tweaks only led to desperation for fundamental changes that “shake up the system.” It couldn’t be more obvious that Democrats must organize their opposition and comeback around reorienting society toward fairness and a breakup of powerful monopolies, empowering workers over management, and rebuilding from the bottom up.

They want to rig the game

Lawmakers have introduced over 100 bills in 18 states that would roll back or completely overturn the results of citizen-initiated ballot measures passed last year, accelerating an anti-democratic trend that is veering toward a full-blown crisis.

For the most part, the proposals have come from Republicans who want to prevent progressive, voter-approved policies from taking effect in states otherwise dominated by conservatives. In some places, it’s been sneakily technocratic; take Idaho’s new law on Medicaid, which limits the providers available and requires recipients to logged hours worked every week, making care far less accessible to those who need it most.

In other states, Republicans are aiming at totally overturning the will of the people.

For example, in Missouri, they’re maneuvering to nullify a newly approved minimum wage increase and requirement that businesses provide paid sick leave to employees.

“Of course the people voted for it. It would be like asking your teenager if he wanted a checkbook. They’re going to vote for it every time," Rep. Mitch Boggs said last week. “If we don’t protect our businesses, there’s not going to be a job to go to to get a minimum wage.”

Boggs’ quote is telling, as it reveals a fundamental aversion to democracy, not just the paid leave and minimum wage policy itself. He does not care what voters think; Boggs doesn’t even view them as fully functioning adults. Maybe that’s a function of how Boggs wound up getting elected: nobody ran against him, so he was essentially anointed to his seat in the legislature.

Republicans in Missouri are also lining up to find ways to prevent abortions, which doctors were cleared to perform again in the state last month after voters approved a constitutional amendment codifying the right to reproductive care in November. Beyond that, the Missouri GOP wants to throttle the ballot initiative process altogether, following in the footsteps of Republicans in South Dakota.

That state’s chief executive, Gov. Larry Rhoden, is currently weighing whether to sign a bill that would make it almost impossible to even qualify a constitutional amendment for the ballot in the first place. Currently, organizers are allowed to collect petition signatures from anywhere in the state; House Bill 1169, which passed through the legislature last week, would require advocates to collect signed petitions from 5% of recent election voters in all 35 state legislative districts.

In a state as rural and conservative as South Dakota, that would be the kiss of death for anything resembling a progressive ballot initiative, or one that isn’t being bankrolled by deep-pocketed outside financiers.

There’s only one potential hiccup in the GOP’s plan to throttle direct democracy: voters themselves. If Rhoden does sign the bill, advocacy groups will get a chance to put the amendment on the ballot for an up-or-down vote in November 2026. All they’d have to do is collect nearly 18,000 signatures by June 30th — and luckily, there is no geographic requirement on them.

Should they get the requisite signatures, the referendum would share the ballot with another attempt to throttle direct democracy. As a result of a bill that Rhoden signed earlier this month, voters will be asked whether to increase the threshold to approve constitutional amendments to 60%, as has been done to devastating effect in both Florida and Arizona.

And over in Wisconsin, Elon Musk is trying to buy another election.

The world’s richest man has now spent at least $13 million to influence next month’s state Supreme Court election in Wisconsin, where his PAC is urging people to vote for former attorney general Brad Schimel. Urging is actually putting it lightly; as of late last week, Musk’s America PAC is now bribing Wisconsinites $100 apiece to sign a petition decrying “activist judges.”

The petition, which calls for judges who “interpret laws as written, not rewrite them to fit their personal or political agendas,” is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, using vague platitudes that anyone might agree with to capture emails, phone numbers, and other data about voters in Wisconsin. Those who sign the petition will be inundated with texts and emails that smear liberal Supreme Court justice candidate Susan Crawford for the next few weeks — as if Musk didn’t dominate enough real estate on people’s phones.

And now here are some headlines…

➡️ Activists in Columbus, OH are backing a ballot initiative that would create an alternative nonviolent community crisis unit to respond to 911 calls that involve mental health crises and do not present “imminent danger” to responders. Notably, the police union seems to not be entirely opposed to the idea, so long as it doesn’t take resources away from cops. Like that has ever happened in the US.

➡️ One Republican lawmaker in Kansas has proposed using prison labor to build more housing. Yikes.

➡️ Not to be outdone, Republicans in Ohio are gearing up to loosen child labor laws. The state Senate just advanced a bill that would authorize 14- and 15-year-olds to work later on school nights. Right now federal law permits kids that age to work until 7pm, but the family values types in Ohio want to raise that to 9pm.

A few years ago, when Iowa lowered its child labor standards below the federal minimums, many businesses that embraced the new laws got dinged by the Department of Labor. Presumably, the Trump DOL would be less vigilant about enforcement.

➡️ In better news, the Oregon state Senate just passed a bill that would allow striking workers to collect unemployment benefits. Both New York and New Jersey permit striking private sector union workers to collect unemployment, but Oregon would be the first state in the nation to extend the right to public sector workers. The bill squeaked through the chamber and still must pass the state House. A few Democrats have opposed the bill’s public sector provisions because they are visionless technocrats.

➡️ New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is promoting “middle class” tax cuts that would actually largely benefit the richest New Yorkers (her real constituency). I guess I’m rooting for Lt. Gov Antonio Delgado, now persona non grata with Buffalo Kathy, to kickstart his primary challenge.

One of the only things I really like about Hochul is how much she disdains her predecessor, disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The Empire State’s own sex pest grandma killer has been running for mayor of NYC for less than a month and he’s already ensnared himself in a corruption scandal involving real estate lobbyists who are allegedly acting as undisclosed campaign bundlers for him, which violates city law.

➡️ There’s an even messier rivalry coming to a head in Florida, where prominent siblings are squaring off in an upcoming special election: Both state Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis and former state Sen. Randolph Bracy III want to replace the late state Sen. Geraldine Thompson.

This situation has been brewing for a while. Last year, Randy ran in a primary against Thompson, a longtime family friend, and LaVon and the rest of the Bracy clan endorsed the late senator. Thompson’s family has now returned the favor, endorsing LaVon over Randy, who seemed to think his run last year put him first in line to succeed the late senator.

“This is a sad day for the Bracy name. My sister choosing to run against me dishonors our father's legacy in every way possible,” he recently raged on Facebook. “I will not disparage our Father; who believed in this family, by debating my sister in any format. People know my record, and I will continue to walk and live in the light, by putting the PEOPLE over POWER.”

For what it’s worth, Randolph seems to have gone off the reservation over the past few years. After losing a Congressional primary in 2022, to now-Rep. Maxwell Frost, he became a “consultant” and began living like a high roller; Bracy has claimed to have clients in show business and investments in a winery, and now fills his social media pages with photos of his flashy lifestyle.

We are the only friends that we have

It’s only been four years since Major League Baseball decided to move its All-Star Game out of Atlanta in protest against Georgia’s then-new voter suppression law, but that act of corporate responsibility may as well have taken place four lifetimes ago.

Barack Obama’s ascension to the White House ushered in an era of modest social progressivism that restored Democratic voters’ faith in institutions after the debacle of the George W. Bush years. Corporations, sensing the shifting tides, joined in, embracing diversity efforts, however surface-level, and committing their branding to the lucrative new virtue signaling. It felt as if the good guys were in charge, and during Trump’s first term, he was enough of a crude and corrupt mess, and the pushback from the public was so strong, that public institutions continued their slow performative march toward progress.

Delta, a conglomerate airline that has spent millions on union-busting, could curry public favor by releasing statements condemning voter suppression. Target could shine up its image by carrying an array of Pride t-shirts manufactured in foreign sweatshops. Big Law could fill its publicity materials with its associates pro bono work while cashing in on major corporate clients.

But when good will is based only on financial calculation, new factors can quickly change the equation. Trump’s vindictiveness and the right’s embrace of outright hate speech and segregationist policies have laid bare the cowardice of those who run elite institutions.

The capitulation has been fast and almost frictionless.

It was ABC and CBS, coughing up millions to Trump to settle specious lawsuits and surrender editorial integrity.

It was Facebook dropping all election and Covid disinformation monitoring to curry favor with the incoming tech regulators.

And this week, it was the law firm Paul Weiss and Columbia University, both agreeing to sell out fundamental freedoms and collaborate with Trump in order to temporarily escape illegal targeting by the regime.

To be certain, Columbia had long since surrendered its integrity, and helping ICE kidnap Mahmoud Khalil already felt like the final nail in the coffin. But in giving the administration control over its curriculum and hiring, the university opened the door to a new level of fascism. The path was cleared for Trump to make government funding contingent on idealogical fealty and collaboration with federal deportation troops. The whole thing had me thinking of this anecdote, from when the Nazis seized control of the Frankfurt University, a prestigious liberal center of academia:

Brad Karp, the chair of Paul, Weiss, folded just as easily in the face of potential lost income. Until very recently viewed as a leading voice in progressive legal circles, Karp justified the decision to collaborate as one that would protect the livelihood of its well-compensated employees and the interests of its well-heeled clients, and argued that it was so very stressful for all of them. Heaven forbid.

As disconcerting as it is, these capitulations should ultimately prove useful. Now Democratic voters know that there is no calvary coming to save us, there are no companies or powerful institutions willing to sacrifice for the greater good. If we want to survive, we are the only friends that we have.

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