sorry digby, but you’re wrong this time

Preface: I have nothing but the utmost respect for digby, which is why I was surprised, taken aback, and inspired to write this. I still have the utmost respect for digby. I just disagree with her. Strongly.

Eugene Robinson nailed this right to the wall, and Adam Serwer missed the mark with his arguments for why Robinson was wrong.

Are voters behaving like spoiled brats? Robinson:

This isn’t an “electoral wave,” it’s a temper tantrum.

[...]

The nation demands the impossible: quick, painless solutions to long-term, structural problems. While they’re running for office, politicians of both parties encourage this kind of magical thinking. When they get into office, they’re forced to try to explain that things aren’t quite so simple — that restructuring our economy, renewing the nation’s increasingly rickety infrastructure, reforming an unsustainable system of entitlements, redefining America’s position in the world and all the other massive challenges that face the country are going to require years of effort. But the American people don’t want to hear any of this. They want somebody to make it all better. Now.

digby chimes in on Serwer’s side of things:

But, you know, Democrats are Americans too. And they are also without jobs (or unable to change them) and are losing their homes and savings in this economy. At least the Republicans feel they have a path to improvement; Democrats feel politically abandoned.

I call bullshit. It’s not abandonment to get 75% of what you wanted but not that magic 25%. It’s not abandonment to have more legislative initiatives pass — including a substantial and meaningful change to health care delivery and affordability in this country — merely because it didn’t pass with everything you wanted.

I keep seeing this call for a fight — on the part of politicians. digby:

But it doesn’t look like we’re going to see a confrontation. By all accounts we are actually going to see capitulation on the Bush tax cuts and an austerity program going into 2012. It’s pretty hard to get excited about that. But it will probably cure us all of our spoiled attitudes once and for all, so that’s something.

Let’s unpack that a bit. The tax cuts expire automatically on 12/31. The only question is whether there will be any modification to the tax code before then preserving middle class tax rates. My answer would be this: “Midterms make a difference.” The lame duck session post-Election Day will have defeated Republicans as well as Democrats. It remains to be seen what that group will do with their remaining time in office (and power).

So why have a confrontation over it, especially one that will result in more idiotic commercials about how “AmARCuns cain’t afford a taix increase.”? (seen that one? it runs a zillion times a day, thanks to EnergyTomorrow.org).

But beyond that, there’s plenty of reason to be excited. Plenty. And it’s even in a comfort zone for liberals and progressives. We are best in opposition mode, and still learning how to be any other way. Watch this panel on C-Span. It’s long, but well worth watching. This is a panel of DC press. Conservative, to be sure, but listen to what they are saying. This is the opposition. They have big plans. Tax cuts are the least of them. The very least.

There’s no transcript available, but they will tell you how “organic” the Tea Party movement is, how “surprised” they were to see it spring up out of nowhere, and how respectful of the constitution and founding fathers’ principles it was. They will tell you about their desire to unwind the welfare state and go back to the principles of “charity”, that Glenn Beck’s rally last weekend was about inspiring that.

What they won’t tell you: The organic nature was really 40 years of bitter bile igniting over the fact that there’s a black guy in the White House who wants to do things that progressives see as Republican in nature and which this “organic movement” views as an end to the principles of our nation. They won’t tell you that their heart’s desire is that charity should be an unequal affair, where the ones who have get to choose the have-nots they help, leaving others out in the cold. They won’t tell you that there is no desire to sacrifice what they have and what they are entitled to from the government — Medicare, Social Security, and even unemployment benefits. They just don’t want YOU to have it.

They won’t tell you that the noisy, hysterical, stirred and shaken minority knows progressive reforms — even incremental ones — spell an end to their tyranny.

Not fired up yet? That’s too bad, because if progressives turned their fire on this group and the press that feeds them, there would be no question about where the midterm elections would go.

How about this? Handing back Congress to the GOP in November means redistricting will be gerrymandered for even MORE conservatives in Congress, an even stronger tea party caucus, and chairmanships in the hands of people like Virginia Foxx, Michele Bachmann and Louis Gohmert.

Forget about austerity. Forget about public options and cap and trade. Forget about anything being done. It’ll just be more of the false, lying misleading attacks on this President, who will be forced to move even farther right instead of left.

History does not show any hard trend leftward after the right has a chance to load up their side of the aisle, nor does it give any indication that a conservative majority in Congress will somehow magically make things better. In short, there is no historical foundation to argue that handing Congress back to the Republicans is good for progressive ideals and goals. None whatsoever. Nor is there any historical evidence that conservative principles will bring more jobs or in any way preserve the middle class.

If these reasons don’t get anyone excited, nothing will. Be disappointed, but my shoulder will not be available to cry on. Robinson is right: Holding your breath and turning blue because you have NOT yet received what you believe you should and will therefore allow Republicans to take back control of Congress is spoiled child behavior.

Everyone has that choice and that right, but they should know what the ultimate payoff will be. It won’t be ours and it won’t be pretty.

Tagged as: Politics