General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow do "bipartisan" bills help us Democrats more than the rThugs?
If we only pass watered down bills that the Republicans are on board on, how does that help us in the midterms?
If we Democrats argue amongst ourselves that President Biden's 3.5T "Build Back Better" agenda is too expensive, as some Democrats are, isn't that writing the attack adds for the Republicans come the midterms?
Doesn't the danger really lie in doing too little to help people in the bottom half the American economy?
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)for them. And a very solid majority want the Democratic and Republican legislators they elect to represent them (!) to work together to do a good job -- for them.
Bipartisan bills pass specifically because both sides know their voters WANT what they're intended to do.
Even if government could be mainly about taking care of people in trouble (really bad idea!), those in the bottom half vote less and tend to be somewhat more conservative overall. They don't elect Democratic majorities by themselves.
Representative government is supposed to serve the people, all the people through compromise and agreement. The zero-sum attitude that actions that bipartisan actions that benefit Republicans must be bad for Democrats is dysfunctional, inimical to democracy, and exactly how tRump's deranged brain works. But not our peoples'.
bluewater
(5,376 posts)Politico reports that internal polling by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has them very worried. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chair of the House Democrats campaign arm, privately warned Democrats that theyd lose the House if the election were held today.
The internal DCCC poll found that only 42 percent of likely voters in more than four dozen House battleground districts and regions trust Democrats on the economy, according to Politico. Theres also this:
A growing number of battleground-district incumbents are privately alarmed by new data that showed the party struggling on bellwether issues such as the economy, despite their trillion-dollar pandemic rescue effort this year and Bidens generally steady approval rating.
As a result, Politico reports, the DCCC chair is privately advising Democrats to get more aggressive in promoting President Bidens economic agenda, whose individual items are still very popular in DCCC polling and in public polls.
The complication here appears to be that its unclear how much it means politically that Bidens individual policies poll so well on paper. Either Democrats are not doing enough to communicate these particulars to voters, or their overall experiences of the recovery matter more than what they think of those policies, or some combination of the two.
The good news is that there may be an answer to both of those problems: It resides in passing Bidens agenda. But this will require both communicating about it effectively once its passed and that it actually has a palpable impact on peoples lives.
A new memo from the Center for American Progress makes this case. It argues that Democrats should not be spooked by Republican fearmongering about government spending leading to inflation, which is meant to create the impression that Big Government liberalism has led Democrats to lose control of the economy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/03/democrats-are-worried-about-midterms-can-their-agenda-save-them/
Again, isn't the danger really doing too little to help struggling Americans by caving to Republican demands and allowing the rThugs to win in the midterms?
Sorry, but I actually think its better for America if Democrats control the House and Senate than the Republicans, so, yes, in that regard it IS a zero sum game. Otherwise, why are we even being politically active as Democrats if electing Republicans isn't such a bad thing?
Mad_Machine76
(24,452 posts)How much of the public trusts Republicans? Do we know?
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)doing "too little to help struggling Americans"?
First off, though, please note that the trimming of the big infrastructure bill is being done by DEMOCRATS, not Republicans, who know their voters want that from them. Remember, representative democracy, serve the people who sent you to Washington, etc? Most of that other 48% you mention thinks we spend too much! That's been a RW mantra since we created the New Deal, accepted as natural law, like gravity.
Second, these bills are going to be of enormous benefit to struggling and nonstruggling Americans.
No matter what the final forms contain, they should include extending the Child Tax Credit that benefits millions of people and their communities in addition to children, expanding healthcare under the ACA, and taking big, comprehensive actions to fight climate change. Plus a bunch more. Including jobs. Good jobs.
Each of those 3 items, alone, though, is more than the Republicans have done for Americans in over 40 years. And our party and candidates will running on them and what we promise to do next.
Steelrolled
(2,022 posts)the best they can. I really like bipartisan bills.
I_UndergroundPanther
(12,496 posts)To have a say in anything our govt does.
The republian party is facist and terrorist .
Dont negotiate with sociopaths,fascists or terrorists.
You will lose everytime if you think they are normal people.
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)Mad_Machine76
(24,452 posts)I think that it mostly comes back to politicians generally worried that the public values cooperation and "bipartisanship" and being seen as "not fighting and getting things done" and that, at the end of the day, being able to push out a "bipartisan bill" (even if it is not the best bill possible) is of paramount importance. I don't know exactly what Manchin and Sinema's issues are but we always seem to have a few Democrats beholden to special interests whom are willing to use their leverage to kill deals and/or pare things down, almost reflexively. IMHO we just need more and better Democrats so that folks like Manchin and Sinema can't hold us hostage every five seconds or keep us from doing what we need to do in order to move forward with better bills