There is a lot I want to say, but it’s not time yet. People aren’t ready to hear it. They’ve retreated to their safe zone to make sense of what is — to them — inexplicable. And so they find the usual explic in their comfortable bubbles, safely able to put this election into its “proper” context, meaning the context that makes sense inside the confines of allowable thought. When you’ve confined your search for answers to your own personal Overton Window, you see only the answers you’ll accept, whether or not they’re the right answers.
And that goes for both parties I will mention in this diary. But it’s not time yet. So instead, I want to take what’s going on now right down to the brass tacks. I’ll have more to say to both parties later. But for now, I want to talk about the only way this current situation ends with anything like a path back from where we are. Here goes.
A fight is beginning (or more accurately, re-beginning) here at Daily Kos, the same fight as the one going on across the country. The same fight we’ve been having for 50 years. Let’s call the combatants Team Steady As She Goes and Team Recalcitrant Left.
Note to Team Steady As She Goes: Save everyone a lot of pain, and take a dive in this fight. Or you’re going to lose a lot more. Whether Team Recalcitrant Left is justifiably estranged from an Establishment that is unresponsive to their concerns and needs, or they’re whiny crybabies who took their ball and went home, the result is still the same: you lose.
Let’s play make-believe for a minute. Ask yourself: would you trade the ACA, right now, for a President Clinton, right now? Would you repeal the ACA this instant if that meant she could be our next President instead of Trump? Because this isn’t just a hypothetical; this may as well be exactly the trade that was made. I’ll explain that.
The anger at The Establishment™ is not confined to the right, or to the racist fuckers (which, believe it or not, is not always synonymous). You know this. Team Recalcitrant Left is very angry at the Establishment, and we’ve all just seen a demonstration of just how deep that anger runs — on the right and the left. It may not run as hot as it does on the right, but it’s still pretty deep on Team Recalcitrant Left. Because they feel — rightly or wrongly, it does not matter — that the Establishment does not fight for them. Or you. Or anybody, for that matter.
Would they feel the same way had Democrats fought for single-payer/universal health care/Medicare for all/the public option, and failed? (Remember, a lot of people around here argued that they would have failed. A lot of people said that was the reason not to fight for more than the ACA. And a lot of other people warned that it would have consequences. Or, more accurately, it was to them yet another example of gutless compromise that was having consequences, and would have even worse consequences.)
Would they have turned out if they thought they were backing a party who fought the good fight? Possibly. Probably. Would it have been enough? In this election, it seems likely.
So. Would it have been worth it to fight for something more than the ACA — and lose — if it meant President Obama were succeeded by Hillary Clinton and not Donald Trump? Of course it would. Is that the scenario that played out? No. Of course there’s no direct line between the ACA compromise and the 2016 election. But there might as well be, because the ACA compromise was exactly the kind of thing Team Recalcitrant Left has been warning the Establishment about for a long time now.
Because this isn’t about one piece of legislation. Whether it’s the ACA, or US adventurism/imperialism, or lack of urgency on climate change, or lack or urgency on the wealth gap/wage stagnation/etc, or not standing up to elite private power, or any of a number of things Team Recalcitrant Left has been angry about for some time now, or all of the above, the culmination of this anger has been expressed, and it did not go well.
And again, you can complain and stomp and shout all you like about what big fucking babies Team Recalcitrant Left are, and how they’re ruining everything in a snit fit of me me me, but the result will be no different than if they were rightly standing on principle for what is only just: you lose. Sure, you get to feel right, and you’re still running the show. But you still lose. Whether they’re sacrificing short-term pain for long term gain, or aiding and abetting the sexist and racist takeover of America, you still lose. No matter how right or wrong you might be, you.
Still.
Lose.
I say this with a heavy heart. It’s an unfortunate truth. It’s a painful truth. It’s a truth everybody wishes weren’t true. But it is true, and I don’t expect that very many people will accept it. I’m seeing a lot of denial from Team Steady As She Goes. A lot of, “Fuck those people; I will never work with them.” It’s the same message I’ve seen in every election that hasn’t gone well for Democrats in my lifetime: “Fuck Team Recalcitrant Left; they cost us the election.”
Is it worth it? Is running them off worth the losing? Is it worth Donald Trump? (Because if you believe Team Recalcitrant Left is the reason Donald Trump is President, then you know the answer. There’s a lot more to this election than the anger of Team Recalcitrant Left, but none of it is germane right now. And believe me, they are not getting off light. If you think this speech sucks for you, wait’ll you see the bitter pill they’re going to have to swallow. But I digress.) You know you’re holding all the cards, so you’ll win every time it comes to a fight with Team Recalcitrant Left.
So take a dive. Of course you can win this fight, but as long as you do, you lose.