A Republican Senate: The Progressive Revolution on Hold

A Republican Senate: The Progressive Revolution on Hold

By Howard Sierer

The predicted “blue wave” that would give Democrats control of the Senate fizzled. Republicans very likely will hold the Senate and actually gained seats in the House. Democrats across the country lost races they were expected to win, destroying any pretense of a “mandate” for progressive legislation.

Joe Biden looks like our next president, winning primarily by virtue of being “not Trump.” While I’m no Trump fan, I’ve supported a lot of what’s been done in the last four years, some of which will get undone in a Biden presidency to the country’s detriment. But thanks to likely Republican control of the Senate, much of the potential damage will be put on hold.

Despite being nominated as a “moderate” when Democratic Party leaders recognized that socialist Bernie Sanders was unelectable, Biden quickly changed his stripes. Hoping to keep Sanders’ followers on board and believing that Trump was exceptionally vulnerable, he outsourced his campaign platform to radical leftists.

The result was the revolutionary 110-page “Biden-Sanders Unity” manifesto that envisioned an all-encompassing welfare state. Here’s a quick rundown on the revolution that progressive Democrats promised but that voters have put on ice by electing a Republican Senate majority:

Green New Deal. Biden claimed he had not adopted the Green New Deal in its entirety; nonetheless, he promised to spend $2 trillion on a clean-energy climate plan. His promise to shut down the oil and gas industry with strangulating regulation is still on the table.

Government Health Care. He embraced Sanders’ Medicare for All, planning to implement it in stages rather than all at once. His government health insurance option backed with taxpayer funds would have quickly “competed” all private health insurance out of business, exploding health care spending. This will go nowhere in a Republican Senate.

Racism. The left attributes every disparity in racial balance – wealth, health care, housing, policing, education – to systemic racism. The solution: a massive transformation of every aspect of American life, using a reparations commission, wealth transfers, subsidies, employment and promotion preferences, quotas, and new mandates on all government entities to foster racial equality. Forget equal opportunity; expect a flurry of new regulations promoting equal results.

Supreme Court. Democratic threats to “pack” the Supreme Court with additional liberal justices are put on hold. My prediction: even if Democrats win a Senate majority in 2022, they will abandon the idea fearing voter opposition to politicizing the courts.

Taxes. Biden’s $3.3 trillion tax plan will have to sit on the back burner. Danger to the federal budget lies in new regulations that slow the economic recovery and consequently diminish tax receipts.

Washington DC and Puerto Rico Statehood. A progressive idea to cement a permanent Democratic Senate majority, but on hold pending a hoped-for Democratic Senate.

Labor. Unions are increasingly unable to attract workers on their own. Biden proposed legislation that effectively forces the unwilling into the hands of often-corrupt union bosses. Also planned: a nationwide $15 per hour minimum wage, wreaking havoc in smaller cities and towns primarily in Southern and Mountain West red states. Both ideas will go nowhere in the Senate.

Shareholders. Biden pledged to end the “era of shareholder capitalism,” taking corporations from their owners – shareholders – and handing effective control over to “stakeholders” such as government, environmentalists, unions, and community leaders. When business failures occur, as they often would in such an unaccountable scheme, corporate officers could be blamed rather than the “stakeholders.” Dead on arrival in the Republican Senate.

College Tuition. Public colleges would be “tuition-free” for “roughly 80 percent of the American people.” Just what we need: more taxpayer dollars funding radical leftwing professors.

Student Loans. Loan repayments would be capped and loans eventually are forgiven, leaving taxpayers holding the $1.6 trillion bag. Sadly, new regulations can implement this at least in part.

Post Office Banks. Biden advocated publicly-backed banking services provided through that paragon of government efficiency, the U.S. Postal Service. Another terrible idea that will be DOA in the Senate.

Biden claims he’s his own man with his own agenda. Republican legislators report that when he was serving as Vice President, they often made progress negotiating compromise legislation with him, only to have it swept aside when Obama walked into the room.

If Biden is willing to return to moderate form, we can expect some progress on Congressional compromise legislation in various areas, rekindling the give and take that was the hallmark of our democracy.

Trump’s handling of the economy was approved by 62 percent of voters. If Democrats are willing to tacitly acknowledge the Republican tax reform’s benefits in the pre-pandemic economy, they will likely find Republicans willing to work with them on social legislation.

The danger for Democrats arises if the party continues to listen only to its radical leftwing, adopting a take-no-prisoners approach to working with Republicans in the hope of winning the Senate in 2022. Failing to recognize that leftist policies like defunding the police have alienated moderate voters could result instead in a repeat of 2010 when Democrats lost six Senate seats and 63 House seats.

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