This Trump fiscal Heist is as damaging as the Reagan Heist. While we recognize the Dems can do little as a minority party, once you regain the majority and the WH you will need to act quickly and decisively. You did almost nothing from 1992-2000 and 2008-2016 to stop the Plutocratic wave. A lot of high level Democrats got rich, but the country was reduced by rapine and theft. The GOP is a lost cause on this, we understand they simply act for the 1% -- that’s their mission statement. But the Dems have also been terrible since the early 90s – at best they have held the line but never reversed the trickle down policies which since the 1980s and really since JFK’s ill-advised tax reform of the 1960s have decimated the middle class. Meanwhile Dem Members, advisors, and pundits live in wonderful homes in Alexandria and ride the revolving door between great jobs in academia, K Street or Think Tanks. They lecture us on why we cannot return to economic justice – boo, too scary -- while sending their kids to the Phillips Academy.
Well, 2016 taught us all just how tired the whole country is of that shtick. I never said this and you didn’t hear it, but maybe it’s fine the Dems have abandoned the Poors. They don’t vote, they lose. Suboptimal, but understandable for a pol to stick his blood funnel where the votes are. And to be honest, and I didn’t say this either, 2016 showed us what a mess the white Poors are at this point. So OK -- vaya con Dios. But you have also given the middle class the shaft since the DLC took over the party. We noticed. You folks aren’t fooling anyone.
Real economic liberalism must come back, starting with very high (I mean > 70%) top marginal rates and the elimination of the distinction between cap gains and earned income. Your choices are: (1) liberals regain the Democratic party, we all flourish, and you get the credit, (2) a third party bleeds off liberals and we remain nothing but a neofascist hellhole for the rest of our lives, and you sir don’t get any cushy committee chairs, or (3) bad stuff happens in the streets, in which we all lose, badly, and well we will have deserved it. The DNC’s fiddling while the Republic burns is noted and logged. Nobody is going to follow a well-heeled clique that merely wants to rearrange deck chairs and swap which donor get the kickbacks. If that’s the alternative the Deplorables will continue to win. People are electrified by positive change, not just a stick to avoid.
OK, so I won’t tell you the public isn’t dumb enough to be fooled by more of the same. Of course they are. But Democratic inaction has nearly ruined this country. If you’re a liberal you need to stop messing around and start thinking about the long term. If you’re a moderate either help or get out of the way.
Voter anger isn’t all irrational. Plenty of us who would be loyal and pull hard for the blue team have just about had it with party hypocrisy. The Democratic caucus had better start getting results or face electoral extinction. I know I’ll never get a personal answer but feel free to circulate this to other Members you feel need a wake up or, if you’re deeply cynical, a laugh.
Your cheerful constituent,
