It’s easy to get lost in the minutia of day to day politics but I really think people are missing the forest for the trees. In the grand scheme of things Biden’s little spat with Manchin and Build Back Better isn’t really going to matter. The bill will pass and disappointment about what gets left on the cutting room floor will inevitably fade and give way to excitement about what IS in the bill. Think about the argument we’re having right now: Do we want universal pre-k or or a universal child allowance? Should we make the largest investment ever in combatting climate change or the largest expansion of affordable healthcare in a over a decade? Or maybe we should focus on the greatest expansion of civil rights and voting rights since 1965? These are not bad problems to have.
I just don’t buy all the punditry saying Joe Biden misread his mandate or made a mistake by going too bold and now people are inevitably going to be dissapointed. It’s easy to play Monday morning quarterback but let’s game out some other scenerios. Biden ran on a bold, progressive platform. What would have happened if he said, “Never mind. I only got 50 votes in the Senate, so all that stuff I said I was gonna do – I’m not even going to try.” He would have had a progressive revolt and thrown away any chance of doing anything. Biden has a difficult task before him – keeping the disparate factions of the Democratic party together and united behind his agenda – and in my opinion (Manchin spat aside) he’s done so masterfully.
I just finished reading Evan Osnos’ biography of Joe Biden (you can thank my long layover in Texas for that). I highly reccommend it. It really helps you understand what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. Here’s the Biden theory of the case: the only way to save our democracy is to prove that a democratically elected government can deliver results for people. Put another way, the only way to defeat Trumpism is to show Trump’s supporters that their voices are being heard and that they don’t have to turn to someone like Trump to get a government responsive to their problems. That’s why Biden’s been so singularly focused on Build Back Better. It’s why he’s billed the infrastructure bill a “blue collar blueprint to rebuild America.” And it’s working. Wage growth for those without a college degree has outpaced wage growth for those with a degree since January 2021 – the longest period on record.
The bad actors are going to act bad – that’s what they do – the only thing we can do is make the outrage they’re peddling less appealing. Remember: the outrage machine only amplifies anger and resentment, but there has to be an existing base of anger and resentment for it to amplify, and though you’re never going to remove all the things that make people angry or upset, you can reduce it to a level that is sustainable. Just like how reducing transmission of the virus allows society to function normally, reducing anger and resentment to a sustainable level will allow democracy to function. The only way out is through helping people, not punishing them.
Of course governing effectively is only one piece of the puzzle. There’s an important second piece too. If making the bad actors less appealing is step one, reforming democracy to shore up the weaknesses exposed by the bad actors is step two. Biden has gotten a lot of flack (including from me) for not paying enough attention to voting rights. Bad actors all across the country are using the “Big Lie” as an excuse to pass restrictions that make it harder to vote, and they’re likely to continue in 2022. Passing both the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will push back against these state level restrictions and also put an end to gerrymandering, which causes increased polarization by making elections less and less competitive.
In order to pass both of these bills we will need to reform the filibuster – though filibuster reform shouldn’t be thought of as a means to an end, rather, reforming the filibuster is itself essential to saving our democracy. The fact is that one of the reasons people no longer believe democracies can deliver is because whichever party is out of power does their damnest to make sure the party in power can’t get anything done. Giving the minority a blanket veto over the majority’s agenda is insane and runs counter to the way our democracy was designed. Fixing the filibuster will allow our government to function as intended and be more responsive to the needs of it’s people – instead of our current state of affairs where politicians make big promises on the campaign trail that are impossible for them to fullfill once in office.
Finally, we need to update the Electoral Count Act to clarify the Vice President’s role in the counting of electoral votes and also what constitutes grounds for challenging a state’s votes. It’s unclear at this point whether this is something Democrats will have to do on their own or whether there’s enough establishment Republicans (I’m looking at you Mitt Romney) to pass a filibuster proof bipartisan bill. Obviously for big changes like this you’d prefer it to be bipartisan but if going it alone is the only way then that’s the route Democrats must take. This is just too important. Besides, both the 14th and 15th Amendment, which gave citizenship and voting rights to freed-slaves, passed on party-line votes.
Biden has not paid nearly enough attention to voting and democracy reform in the first year of his presidency but it looks like that is starting to change – a very welcome sign for those of us worried about the future of democracy.
Biden has a great task ahead of him: literally saving American democracy. But if he can pass Build Back Better, voting rights and election reform, on top of the infrastructure and COVID relief bills he’s already passed, that would go a long way towards meeting his goal of proving democracies can function. It would also safeguard our democracy against future attacks. I don’t know if it will save Democrats in the midterms but I would still call it a success – and though this has been said about every President, I think it’s the case now more than ever: Biden’s success is America’s success.
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