The Right Way To Think About What’s Going On November 17, 2021November 17, 2021 Enough with the gloom and doom! The stock market is at record highs. Unemployment is near record lows. Anyone who wants a job can get one. Wages are rising. Taxes are about to go up on the wealthy — whose talent, hard work, good luck, and inheritance we should celebrate — to help pay for massive, long overdue investments to revitalize our infrastructure, including the electric grid and more-widely-available broadband, and to lower health care costs and the cost of raising kids. And to confront the climate crisis. And to get the economic pendulum, so long swinging toward the uber-wealthy, swinging back somewhat. These are fantastic things. We’ve ended our endless war in Afghanistan and evacuated 124,000 of those most at risk. We’ve rejoined the Paris Accord and the community of nations, reestablished the dignity of the Presidency, reimposed ethical norms, restored the independence of the Justice Department, cut child poverty in half, vaccinated the majority of the country. We’ve staved off autocracy, at least for now. All sorts of terrible things are possible down the road — but it’s also possible the surprise will be on the upside. Especially if we keep our heads down and keep at it. After a time, fuel and food prices could fall. Supply chain problems, the “fault” of the pandemic and the free market, could ameliorate (with help from the Administration wherever requested). After a time, the truth about January 6 could come out — Liz Cheney and Adam Schiff are pretty tough cookies. The disgraced former president might not run for reelection — or face a damaging primary if he does. (See: Could Chris Christie and Liz Cheney Take Trump Down?) The mid-terms will be tough — but so was winning two Senate seats in Georgia. And we did. Will 88-year-old Chuck Grassley really be unbeatable in Iowa? I don’t think so. Could former Chief Justice Cheri Beasley flip North Carolina’s open Senate seat from red to blue? Absolutely. She lost her last statewide race by just 400 votes. Could Val Demmings win in Florida? She is awesome. Could we pick up Senate seats in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin? And hold the blue seats we need to hold? You bet. We just have to get our butts in gear, fund massive organizing — now, early, while the organizing snowball has time to grow huge (thank you, as always) — and spread a positive message wherever we go, inspiring people to join us. If they like weekends, remind them that it was unions that gave us weekends; the anti-union party that opposed them. If they like Medicare, remind them it was Democrats who delivered it; Ronald Reagan’s team that famously opposed it. Social Security? Democrats delivered that. The Assault Weapons Ban? Democrats delivered it; Republicans refused to renew. The Violence Against Women Act? Same. A woman’s right to keep the government out of her most personal decisions? Democrats want abortion to be safe, legal, and rare. The other party is the party of back-alley abortions for women who can’t afford to travel. If they have LGBT friends, relatives or co-workers, remind them it was Democrats who’ve so dramatically improved our lives; Republicans who fought us every step of the way. The Family And Medical Leave Act? Democrats. DARPA and the Internet? Democrats. Massive job growth? Democrats. Comprehensive immigration reform? Democrats (68 to 32 in the Senate, only to be denied a vote — that would have passed — in the Republican-controlled House). But wait! The Interstate Highway System? The Environmental Protection Agency? The Earned Income Tax Credit? Republicans! But of the moderate variety, who are now, basically, Democrats. Or Independents. They believe in integrity, civility, compromise, balanced budgets (Clinton was the last President to achieve one; Obama got the Debt shrinking relative to the economy as a whole, which is nearly as good) . . . and the peaceful transfer of power. The point is: Democrats have so much to run on. With more to come. In ordinary times, the party in power gets killed in the mid-terms. These are not ordinary times. Let’s emphasize the positive and get to work.