The current news cycle has been dominated by sturm und drang about a certain freshman member of Congress. While the Representative in question certainly purveys ludicrously toxic views and has been malignantly engaged on social media for several years, the current furor feels contrived. We have known that this person was headed to Washington for months now, her social media activities were a matter of public record. The current shock and awe is....curious.
To be fair, the events of January 6 have lent some real urgency to the situation. Talk of violence in the Capitol can no longer be treated as an abstraction. The new member's colleagues cannot be blamed for viewing her with suspicion, and insisting that her behavior be regulated.
But even allowing for a level of legitimate concern, the current moment of stridency is highly suspect and politically foolish. GOP voters sent this person to Congress out of the same impulse that has been gaining force on the political right for five years: a voracious desire to "own the libs" and a ravenous yearning for lulz at the expense of "the system." All of the current gnashing of teeth and rending of cloth plays directly into those pathological impulses.
Moreover, there is a degree of cynicism at play. Certain interests in both the Democratic Party and the media are casting about for a bete noire to replace the one that skulked away on January 20. This is understandable, but its being so does not make it wise or even acceptable. The Democrats do not need and cannot use their own version of AOC to serve as a whipping post. However much such theatrics may serve in the short term to distract some voters on the left, in the long run it can only detract from Democratic electoral prospects in 2022 and 2024.
Any and all attention given to What's-Her-Name (hereafter WHN) can only increase her celebrity and cachet among GOP base voters. The votes to expel her in the closely divided House do not exist. Attempts to do so will only set off guffaws from her supporters about the impotence of the libtard snowflakes. There are only two steps to take in confronting WHN:
1)If she tries to bring a gun into the Capitol, call the SWAT team.
2)Who were we talking about, again?
The Democrats live beneath the sword of Damocles. In the ordinary course of politics, given how thin their majorities are and the general trend of past midterm elections concerning the party in the White House, one would expect them to lose both the House and the Senate in 2022. If that happens and they have achieved nothing by way of alleviating the misery in which millions of Americans live (many of them since long before the pandemic began), the entire nation will suffer a calamity.
If the current Congress proves to be a "Do-Nothing Congress," not only will voters hand power back to the GOP, but they will make sure that they give it over to the most maliciously racist and authoritarian elements of the Republican Party. Their logic will be clear and incontestable: "We gave the Dems the House, the Senate, and the White House, and they did nothing. It must be because they are owned by Wall Street. Let's try the fascists. They may be lunatics, but they at least have the courage of their convictions."
Take heed, Democrats. You don't like Congresswoman WHN? How about Governor WHN? President WHN? That is what you are opening the door to if you allow yourselves to be distracted now. GET STUFF DONE. GET STUFF DONE NOW!!! Pass the $1.9 trillion relief package. Pass voting rights legislation. Create a public option to make health care more affordable. Raise the minimum wage. DO IT NOW, OR ELSE.
Could doing those things be politically risky? Could it require eliminating the filibuster? Might it cost you the election in 2022? Sure. WHO CARES? The alternative is DISASTER. In the face of such ludicrously asymmetrical risks there is only one choice. IGNORE WHN. GET STUFF DONE.
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