Let me direct your attention to this thought provoking post at Naked Capitalism. The thrust of the argument made is that, should the Democrats not blow it, and they take one or more of the Houses of Congress this year, they should avoid investigations into Trump’s crimes and corruption, instead concentrating on promoting a legislative agenda, with the following suggested as composing part of that agenda:
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The argument is that while none of these things could be passed, they are all popular, and would set the agenda going into 2020.
I’ve made a similar argument. I believe I’ve made it here (too lazy to look), and I know I’ve made it ranting at Drinking Liberally. It’s simply not enough to be the not Republicans, we need to be the party of something. In part, by the way, that means forgetting this “pay-go” crap that Pelosi has used to hamstring the Democrats. If they can run deficits to give money to rich people, we can run deficits to help real people. The argument is simple actually. It is not reckless to borrow money to buy a house (i.e., make an investment); it is reckless to borrow money to give a party. Republicans do the latter, we can do the former.
I do differ with the author of the piece at Naked Capitalism. I think we can do both. That is, we can investigate Trump and promote progressive legislation at the same time. The problem is that it would require some strategizing and some party discipline, both of which the Democratic Party lacks. The investigations can be done in a sort of low key manner, with the Democrats talking very little about them, but just doing them. When they open their mouths, it should be to talk about health care, free college, etc. Sure, the media will cover the investigations, but with proper planning the Democrats could develop talking points to shift attention to policy.
The impediment to my approach, or that of the fellow at Naked Capitalismis the Democratic Party itself. It lacks the vision to do what he suggests. The people running the show will, no doubt, refuse to embrace a progressive agenda. They will want to prove to the DC punditry that they are responsible, which means occupying a middle ground that exists only in the Twilight Zone. They will pursue the investigations. They have no choice about that. Buy they will occupy themselves, on the policy side, with marginalizing the progressive wing of the party. After all, why make it easy to win in 2020 when you can make it a real challenge?
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