Meet Pramila Jaypal — MBA, former investment banker, leader of the progressive caucus.
Pramila Jayapal Won’t Let the Biden Presidency Fail.
We are in good hands.
And Conservative David Brooks is in favor of pretty much what she is — a robust, transformative package.
He has it exactly right:
I’ve spent the past few weeks in a controlled fury . . .
. . . I can practically hear the spirits of our ancestors crying out . . .
. . . Read again Robert Kagan’s foreboding Washington Post essay on how close we are to a democratic disaster. He’s talking about a group of people so enraged by a lack of respect that they are willing to risk death by Covid if they get to stick a middle finger in the air against those who they think look down on them. They are willing to torch our institutions because they are so resentful against the people who run them.
The Democratic spending bills are economic packages that serve moral and cultural purposes. . . . In real, tangible ways, they would redistribute dignity back downward. . . .
In normal times I’d argue that many of the programs in these packages may be ineffective. I’m a lot more worried about debt than progressives seem to be. But we’re a nation enduring a national rupture, and the most violent parts of it may still be yet to come.
These packages say to the struggling parents and the warehouse workers: I see you. Your work has dignity. You are paving your way. You are at the center of our national vision.
This is how you fortify a compelling moral identity, which is what all of us need if we’re going to be able to look in the mirror with self-respect. . . .
Read the whole thing; and if you happen to know Senators Manchin or Sinema, please pass it on.
If you’ll be in New York sometime between now and January 2, don’t miss The Lehman Trilogy — theater at its best. Amazing. Wonderful.
If you want to read a really good book, live better, and meet New York’s next mayor, don’t miss Eric Adams’ Healthy At Last.
Have a great week!
