Give Democratic Socialism a Chance

     The circular firing squad has already begun in the Democrat Party. Yes, again.

     On a conference call with Democratic leadership, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a right wing, aka mainstream "Democrat", said this: “We need to not ever use the word ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again. We lost good members because of that. If we are classifying Tuesday as a success, we will get fucking torn apart in 2022.”

     Uh huh. 

     Four years ago, liberal voters who went for Jill Stein over Hillary Clinton bore the brunt of the blame from the centrist wing for Clinton's defeat. This, despite the fact that the snarling Clinton was the most hated and loathed Democratic presidential candidate since George Wallace. Clinton was forced on us, as was Biden after that carnival sideshow of a Democratic "primary." Pour a few drinks down Bernie's throat and he'll tell you what really happened in the last two general elections. Tens of millions of us stayed away from the polls on November 8th, 2016.

     Four years later, liberal lawmakers who weren't much in evidence in 2016 are now getting the tip of the spear. Spanberger's Trump-like ravings consisted of the conspiracy theory that the far right was successful in smearing all Democrats as far left socialists which was why every single Democrat without exception who'd lost their seat Tuesday night was a Blue Dog like Spanberger. But trends show if that was true, if that over-hyped right wing propaganda campaign had actually worked, more Democrats would've gotten elected to the House and Senate.

     Reality check: Every single "Democrat" who lost a congressional seat was a Blue Dog like Spanberger. Ocasio-Cortez, self-described Democratic Socialist, won NY-14 by nearly 68% of the vote. Rashida Tlaib, another self-described Democratic Socialist, won reelection in Detroit's MI-13 by the second biggest margin of the Squad with nearly 78% of the vote. Ilhan Omar won in MN-5 by 64.5% of the vote. And Ayanna Pressley here in Massachusetts won MA-7 by a gargantuan 87.3% of the vote (No Republican even bothered to run against her).

     All four women identify with the liberal wing of the party. All four won reelection by massive landslides. The Squad is stronger than ever. We. Like. Liberals. More please, we're saying.

     Spanberger's QAnon-like conspiracy theory claiming that liberal Democrats cost Blue Dogs their seats would be laughable if it didn't result in such a thumping at the polls on the 3rd and that it's a wearisome, common refrain from right wing "Democrats." Republicans, in their overheated and overwrought rhetoric, beat up what very few liberal lawmakers there are on Capitol Hill but we've come to expect that from a neo Nazi party that supports a man who thought the coronavirus pandemic would "go away like magic", that a nuclear warhead would stop a hurricane and that windmills cause brain cancer.

     But for many years, Blue Dogs aren't blaming the Republicans who took those Democratic Congressional seats but liberals who have so far been getting little if any traction on their sweeping, bold proposals such as Medicare For All and the Green New Deal. The last would involve a very heavy taxation on the 1%, which most Americans, not all Democrats, greatly favor, according to an ABC/IPSOS poll from last January.

     As for M4A, back in 2018, 69% of those queried in a Hill-HarrisX poll favored Medicare For All and an even more well-known Kaiser Family Foundation poll from the same month low-balled the percentages somewhat but still showed 56% support and that 68% favored M4A plus a government-run public option that the ACA lacks. The Morning Consult listed similar numbers, 55% in favor of M4A but still registering a 1% bump.

     If anything, the need and desire for a universal single-payer health care plan has, understandably, jumped upwards since the pandemic hit in January, especially as upwards of 40,000,000+ Americans had lost jobs they needed to keep their health care.

     These aren't bomb-throwing wild-eyed Socialist liberal ideals- They're common sense solutions that Blue Dogs, starting with Biden, refuse to embrace, much less accept. In fact, as with 2016, hardly any real progressive positions made the party's pathetic 2020 platform in the three rules committees tasked with creating that platform.

     The numbers don't lie: Liberals like Omar (64.5%), Pressley (87.3%), Tlaib (77.9%) and Ocasio-Cortez (67.8%) have kept their seats, with a vengeance, and had not cost any Blue Dogs theirs.

     Postscript: Abigail Spanberger is barely hanging on to her seat in VA-7 by 1% or fewer than 5000 votes. As a friend of mine suggested earlier today, perhaps she should pull a Jeff Van Drew and run as the Republican she truly is to avoid getting "fucking torn apart in 2022.”

     It's about time we've confronted a screamingly obvious truth- Americans love true liberals and are euthanizing the Blue Dogs. We proved it in the 2018 midterms. We proved it again in spades last Tuesday night. Give Democratic Socialism a chance and we will dominate the fucking planet.