No political party ever more richly deserved the national repudiation that the Republicans just got. The party that is is devoid of policy ideas other than “cut taxes for the rich, payback, and unleash the billionaires;” unleashed a reign of terror on our streets; participated in the most grotesque and open acts of corruption ever seen in the world; openly admitted that they regard the entire government as a scheme to reward friends and punish opponents; proudly stated that the suffering of Americans is of no concern to them; and repudiated traditional Republican concepts like fiscal restraint, judicial restraint, federalism, state’s rights, and limited federal intervention; richly deserved the rejection of voters.
This could be a generational election. It is conceivable that once deep red states like Texas, Ohio, and Iowa could be battlegrounds in 2028. Dixie is no longer off-limits.
Or, alternatively, the Democrats could be the ones facing an extinction event by 2030.
Congress faces a huge challenge of undoing the damage Trump has done and fixing a system that the public thinks has been going wrong for a generation. It will be vital to strike a balance between (and make progress at)
Economic reform/affordability/opportunity (ending the war and tariffs, housing and childcare, incomes, taxes),
Fixing the wreckage (Trump vanity projects; ICE reign of terror; $2 trillion budget deficits; tax code; politicization of justice system, FBI, intelligence, officer corps, and civil service; wreckage of public health, alliances, military readiness …),
Oversight and accountability (overlaps with above, but one focuses on fixing, the other on accountability)
Systemic reform (strict codes of ethics for all three branches, electoral college reform/elimination, Supreme Court expansion/term limits, 51st-52nd states, etc.), and
Other urgent policy changes (healthcare, immigration, public health, and an endless list …..).
All this while we face the worst deficit crisis in history ($2 trillion a year and growing), the imminent insolvency of social security, a tax code that is deeply flawed, and looming generational conflict. If Congress gets it right, it could begin the process of undoing 46 years damage to our economy and society. If it doesn’t, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z are lost forever.
One vast gulf of understanding is between many Democrats who remember Obama fondly and believe things started going wrong in 2017. In reality, the economic rot started at least as long ago as 1980. That’s when union jobs started to disappear, companies were freed of antitrust and regulatory restrictions, the non-war defense budget began to bloat, the “greed is good” mentality took hold, and the systemic under-taxing of the rich and under-funding of public services began.
The period between 9/11 and the economic recovery further set us on a course to become Sparta, with a perpetual warfare state, the acceptance of a surveillance state, and the salvation of financial institutions and the auto industry while homeowners and borrowers were fed to the wolves.
Democrats who believe this election was a call to restore “the good government’ of the period before Trump will find themselves talking to an empty room in 2030.
