The Whole Rotten Thing

The problem is much worse than Joe Manchin or Krysten Sinema. We're facing an existential crisis centuries in the making and half-measures aren't going to cut it. Luckily, there are options.

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It’s been the worst kind of déjà vu.

Yet again, West Virginia senator Joe Manchin has used his leverage in the slim Democratic majority to stop President Joe Biden’s agenda cold, this time slipping the toe tag on any effort to really rein in climate change. Though we’ve all probably depressingly gotten used to this offensive nonsense, it feels particularly bad considering temperatures in Europe have already killed thousands and roads and airstrips in England are melting while wildfires spontaneously combust.

But this article isn’t about Joe Manchin. We’ve covered that ground, detailing how he and Krysten Sinema, as well as plenty of Democrats who hide behind them, are safely in the deep pockets of the wealthiest donors and special interests in Washington, D.C. It’s not even worth talking about this continued song and dance in the media where people who very well should know better, and likely do, try and parse out Manchin’s motivations.

Instead, we must dig deeper and discuss the larger and much more pressing problem.

Manchin’s obstruction, along with the Supreme Court’s systematic rollback of the progress of the 20th century, are both massive issues in their own rights, but when paired together they reveal a matter being criminally un-investigated and un-discussed. Though it is uncomfortable for some to even mention radical change or structural reform, we must face facts. The very construction of our system, from the Senate that Manchin haunts to the court that has been taken by hook and by crook, is primed for this very situation.

In fact, it’s working exactly as designed.

This is a hard thing to swallow. Conventional American history is a story that attempts to walk a very thin line. We are told that our country was born from a desire for freedom and designed by flawed, but talented, men who just happened to own slaves. Their ethical and moral failures are notable, depending on the teller of this story, but what they created is irrefutably, despite its lingering contradictions, something miraculous.

Lost in that narrative is the disturbing truth that Founders designed this system specifically to minimize the possibility that their grand designs might be countered by democratic impulses. The people, they almost universally agreed, were not to be trusted with power and would be much better served if their betters - the Founders and others of their class, obviously - handled the heavy lifting. And so, poor people, women, and the enslaved masses were “necessarily” relegated.

Meanwhile, controls in the system, including the Senate (which was never intended to include direct elections and was designed specifically to undermine the House of Representatives), the presidency (with its Electoral College), and a host of other “checks and balances” that scholars and politicians constantly laud, were put in place to mitigate that democratic “danger.” In addition, the Founders were determined to maintain a one-party system in which the wealthy and powerful dominated politics.

When that changed in the 19th century and divisions within the elite class splintered into parties and mass politics found flight, there was a sense of terror among the ruling class. Since then, we have seen a back-and-forth battle between democratic movements seeking necessary reform and the forces of entrenched wealth attempting to protect their existing power and erase any gains over the generations. Now, after decades of hypcapitalistic neoliberalism, record inequality has produced a new extreme wealth class, including tech industrialists and those made obscenely rich through fossil fuels and finance, obsessed with destroying democracy forever that intersects and partners with white supremacists and evangelicals desperate to reinforce their respective, and interlocking, control over culture.

This system is perfect for them and their radicalized minority. The Senate negates democratic energies and will by giving as much power to a North Dakota or Wyoming as California or New York. The Electoral College runs interference when it comes to the popular vote. The Supreme Court, long a tool of the powerful, serves as an oppressive backstop should any of these fail-safes fall to the wayside.

To talk about Joe Manchin incessantly, to parse out his statements and search for signs of potential “compromise,” to even continue pretending that two or three or four more Democratic senators will do the trick, while we still have no idea how many neoliberals or conservatives hide behind Manchin and Krysten Sinema, is to ignore a larger truth.

The system itself must change and continuing to operate as if this isn’t the case will only make matters much, much worse.

So. Let’s talk about what a radical agenda might look like and what it might and could actually achieve.

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The Midnight Kingdom: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis is the story of how our modern world and its institutions were created by white supremacist lies, conspiracy theories, and weaponized religion to serve the interests of the powerful. Now, they threaten to plunge us into an authoritarian nightmare of a future. Only by learning what we’ve been through, and what we face now, can we move past this moment and build something better.

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Let’s go step-by-step, discussing what achievable goals could unleash in the long term, how they might begin to answer the long-lingering issues of antidemocratic institutions within our framework, and also why these things aren’t happening already.

1. Establish An Agenda That Troubles The Stalemate

Currently, the Democratic Party exists as a guardian of the status quo. As the GOP sprints further and further right, violently embracing authoritarianism, the Democrats have been left to defend institutions and impotently promise that things are not so bad that the system can’t be saved. This “few bad apples” framing is currently playing out in the January 6th Commission Hearings where the problem is Donald Trump, his closest conspirators, and extremist paramilitary groups, all while the donors who funded the coup attempt have been left to the shadows. In this narrative, peddled by Liz Cheney, the GOP has been assaulted by the “virus” of Trumpism and can be just as easily cured.

This is entirely untrue and, what’s worse, most Americans understand that fact. Satisfaction with the parties is dwindling because people really are getting a raw deal. Hypercapitalism has exacerbated exploitation and created a precarious society. People are desperate for an answer, so desperate that they turn to a charlatan like Trump. The choice here is obvious: continue clinging to the status quo that everyone knows is rotten or promote some kind of change.

Turn a white hot spotlight on Joe Manchin, Krysten Sinema, and the dark money coursing through the system. Explain the policy failures and declining state. Explain why the Supreme Court is acting in such a counter-majoritarian manner. Tie the battle against climate change to economic opportunities that are being thwarted by entrenched wealth. Underline everything with the urgent need to fight corruption in an Us vs. Them battle people are dying for. And, for the love of god, stop telling everyone that everything is fine.

2. Seed Possibilities and Promote Reform

You would not believe the number of Republican operatives who have told me they were stunned by the response to the overturn of Roe V. Wade. They’d spent years believing the Democrats and their supporters would unleash Hell if it ever happened, and then it was little more than a yawn. As I keep warning, the result is preparation for a post-Roe world in which more and more freedoms and rights are going to disappear.

Currently the Supreme Court enjoys roughly 25% support. A vast majority would support imposing age restrictions while a growing number would be fine simply abolishing it altogether. The time is absolutely ripe for a strategic political assault. Start entertaining all of these ideas and having public discussions and speeches revolving around what could be done to handle such an obvious problem. Talk about adding justices, talk about retiring justices, talk about simply ignoring them. Everything is now on the board and everything, as we can see, enjoys broad support.

Meanwhile, the Senate is obviously holding back progress. Destroying it altogether might be an option in the future if a sea change were to take hold, but in the meantime, it’s way, way past time to deal with some incredible injustices. Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico deserve representation. Begin discussing that, if only to let the political environment know you’re serious about facing these attacks. What’s more, it’s not only the right strategic thing to do, it’s the right thing to do. Period.

3. Tout “Fairness” and Tie It To Crumbling State

When the Democratic Party considers actually making corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share, it’s done apologetically and quietly. It’s talked about behind the scenes by most while a few reformers do it openly and get attacked by corporate media and “concerned” billionaires. What’s missing is the opening up of exactly what’s happening. America is being starved, by design, of funds that could carry out social programs and actually deliver us the future we so desperately need.

Talk about corporations and the wealthy in a “fair” system. Frame it this way: you pay your taxes, why don’t they? You pay for your schools, but they don’t. Link crumbling infrastructure to the wealthy shirking their responsibility. Stop just putting numbers out there. Definite their denied burden in terms of schools funded and roads repaved.

What’s more, start actually describing the money in politics as undermining votes. This is a tough one as most of the establishment are funded by this money, but if the agenda were to gain popularity - and it would, which is part of the reason it isn’t attempted - you would start seeing different candidates. Candidates who weren’t millionaires, who weren’t completely funded by special interests and billionaires with an agenda. As it gained popularity, and this would be a consistent drumbeat of the reform and fairness movement, one of the main goals would be the outright removal of dark money in politics and, if possible, an eventual amendment to the Constitution enshrining it into perpetuity.

It would require pressure on the party from the grassroots. Constant, relentless pressure until elected officials felt a need to actually serve their constituents as opposed to being the obvious “lesser of two evils” in contrast to the Republicans, which allows them to continue catering to the whims of the wealthy donor class and all but tuning out populist calls for action.

4. Confront the Crisis

Honestly, this is where it starts, but it has to be continual. The Republican Party is absolutely possessed by an authoritarian movement and it isn’t even debatable anymore. Years ago, people laughed at warnings from people like me. Those same people are reaching out now and apologizing or else just publishing their own warnings, half a decade too late. What the GOP is doing cannot be argued over any longer. Anyone who isn’t part of this regressive, authoritarian push knows full and well the party is out of control and threatening to do incredible damage.

Stop calling for a “strong Republican Party.” Stop telling people it’s a “fever” or something they’ll “wake up from.” When you do this, you’re not only denying observable reality, you’re actively flying in the face of the opinions of the vast majority of the country. The Democratic Party is rightfully seen now as a body unwilling to fight against this threat and as wildly out of touch. They’ve earned that.

And now, their political failures are mounting because they have yet to change course, abandon neoliberalism, and stake out new territory. Or, rather, re-embrace the fight they used to champion before they switched their donor/political base from vulnerable communities and labor to corporations and the professional managerial class.

Doing this would actually win elections and gain momentum. And, it would necessarily trouble the current stalemate and reawaken Americans to the potential for change, which is sorely needed now. The neoliberal state has worked overtime to convince people things can’t change any longer. That’s a lie, an illusion, and if it were troubled in any serious way there’s no telling how radically things actually could change.

Which, by the way, is part of the reason why this hasn’t happened yet. Because figures like Manchin and Sinema are not necessarily the outliers. They are the most public examples of neoliberals in the thrall of corporate and special interests because their political fortunes are linked to that portrayal. But, in many ways, they are mainstream Democratic politicians who, like a lot of their compatriots, truly believe the neoliberal system of helping the wealthy at the expense of the people is the only means of carrying out government.

The institutions we’re talking about have their own intentional and hidden authoritarian features. They’re coming to the forefront now because the rollback of progress is decidedly antidemocratic in nature and operation. To challenge this, you have to start embracing the idea of actual change and reigniting progress.

One of the things we learn from history is that something unthinkable one moment can become inevitable the next. It begins with movement, even if it’s small or almost imperceptible. There’s literally no telling how things might change. For the better or for the worse. All we can know is that something must change. The question is who will make that decision and whether we will even begin dealing with the institutions that intentionally thwart our will.