Here they go again
While many people spent 2021 and 2022 doomcasting about how disastrous the midterms would be for Democrats and the Biden administration – some even relishing the thought that a serious loss would ‘teach them a lesson,’ about not checking off items from their wishlist. On November 8, we not only averted disaster, but even strengthened the political power of local Democratic parties in a number of states. Now, before the new Congress has yet to be sworn in, people are already hand wringing about 2024 – if Democrats can win the White House again and if they’ve doomed their prospects for the Senate. A lot of you are already acting as though losing the Senate is a foregone conclusion and fretting over how many Republicans will take over.
The problem with that thinking – aside from it being two years in the future – is that it’s not necessarily based in reality. 2024 will be a difficult year for Democrats to hold the Senate – let’s not deny that – but our prospects for getting President Biden re-elected and winning back the House are pretty decent ones. Fortunately, the second most powerful Republican in the Senate gave us a huge gift just in time for Christmas.
Sen. John Thune who openly mused about using the debt limit to pave the way for Social Security cuts. The fact that Republicans were open about their plan to privatize Social Security is a big reason they lost as badly as they did on Election Day and it’s clear they haven’t learned their lesson. In fact, the GOP right now is still the same vile party with unpopular ideas as it was before Nov 8 – so that means we spend between now and 2024 making sure the Dobbs decision and killing Social Security stick to them.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making