Do Americans Want Their Democracy or A Pretend Democracy? The Midterms May Tell Us

By Donald A. Collins | 6 November 2021
Church and State

(Credit: YouTube / screengrab)

Don Lemon on CNN on Wednesday 11/3/21 came down hard on Biden’s performance as President saying in effect that Democrats weren’t governing.

Widely cited by many pundits was Youngkin’s victory as Governor in Virginia and strong Republican showings elsewhere.

One of Lemon’s guests, Jon Meacham, a respected historian pointed out Biden’s narrow margin of Congressional control compared to earlier Presidents, for example, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society legislative achievements, as a valid excuse for the process Biden is going through to get his bills passed.

You can read Meacham’s bio here.

Then Meacham said that if Americans want to keep their democracy, it will be up to them to understand where we are and insure our real democracy’s continuance.

In short, Meacham was saying don’t blame Biden for working with the poor hand he has been dealt.

Meacham sees a sharp turnaround if Biden gets his legislative package approved, going from cliffhanger to a surprise in the midterms.

It now pays to look at where we are now in the political evolutionary process that aspirant dictators from Hitler, Nicaragua’s Ortaga and other dictatorships here now how they came or come to power.

America was already great before Trump said he would make America great again (MAGA). In so doing, Trump continued the process begun by that charming Ronald Reagan when he attacked respect for our government and its myriad of faithful and effective people.

As Reagan, with his characteristically sly smile, said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help””.

In short Reagan was dismissing as undesirable all the good works of government that gave us, implemented and sustained by such people as Dr. Fauci at the NIH, or the job producing massive public works projects like the Hoover Dam, and on and on.

Reagan’s outrageous lying about government ineffectiveness, has proved over time to have paved the way and to be the precursor to Trump’s poisonous lies and possibly the destruction of our treasured democracy.

Indeed, while people are now, after Democrats lost a previously Blue Virginia, saying Biden is failing, as we await passage of his legislative program.

At least Biden is working at positive governance.

The non-governing GOP should be sorely tested in 2022! What does this party of NO have to offer?

It has nothing to run on except its Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s pledge to block everything Democrats propose! Even the standard request to probe what happened on January 6th, a key part of Trump’s continuing attempt to undermine our democracy.

McConnell now doesn’t even want to extend our national debt, greatly enlarged under Trump, who greatly reduced corporate taxes (35% to 21%) so rich companies could buy back their stock and further enrich themselves.

With the stock market at an all-time high, the only complainers should be the poor folks cheering madly for the Chief Insurrectionist at his absurd rallies.

So now comes Governor Youngkin, not quite a Trump supporter, bringing all the promises of what? Let’s see what he offers that the non-governing GOP has not.

Do Americans Want Their Democracy or A Pretend Democracy? The midterms may tell us.

Is Youngkin the new Ronald Reagan, subtly gliding us into snidely sneering at the good folks who daily teach our children? Will he prove to be the new Ronald Reagan, handsome, rich and deeply conservative?

So now we await the outcome of Biden’s efforts to legislate long delayed infrastructure renewal as well as a far too modest progress bill to help in reducing the gaping wealth gap between rich and poor in America.

You can read the September NY Times article on what hopes Biden had for his original 2nd bill here.

Now that 2nd bill, with its much smaller size ($3.5 to $1.75 trillion) and with many key programs cut, would at least be a promising start toward derailing the Trump drive for a new repressive form of democracy. Passing both bills will prove vital.

If those bills pass, Democrats have a shot, perhaps quite slim, of keeping the Congress in 2022.

Former US Navy officer, banker and venture capitalist, Donald A. Collins, a free lance writer living in Washington, DC, has spent over 40 years working for women’s reproductive health as a board member and/or officer of numerous family planning organizations including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Guttmacher Institute, Family Health International and Ipas. Yale under graduate, NYU MBA. He is the author of “From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013”, “Trump Becoming Macbeth: Will our democracy survive?”, “We Humans Overwhelm Our Earth: 11 or 2 Billion by 2100?” and “What Can Be Done Now to Save Habitable Life on Planet Earth?: Leaders Commit to Reduce Human Population”.

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