Morning, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between. Coffee.
It’s too much.
That’s the point. It’s unsurprising and expected. It is supposed to overwhelm us and numb us. A case made by @itsjenniferwalter you can find at the end of this string. That's a good starting point to recognize where we are and what we can do. But there's more. We do have people in Congress. What should they do?
The truth is the Democrats in Congress look as useless, ineffective, and deceptive as their worthless posts in SM. Occasionally blocking a bill, here and there, is not enough. And it's not worthy of publicizing as if it's a big deal. It's not. Soon the Republicans will do away with the 60 vote procedure and the filibuster. Obstructing will turn to delaying and I see no movement towards the delay tactics that, in the end, it's all we have. Obstruct and delay.
Throw everything you can into the court system, use every obscure Congress rule to drag each GOP legislative effort for as long as possible, delay the delay procedures within themselves so an obstacle becomes two or three and a week becomes a month. Then do it again. Bring Congress to a legislative halt. Obstructing and delaying is a negative action, so we need a positive counter for it: shadow governing.
Democrats in Congress need to couple obstruction and delay with actions that show the country what they would do if they had power. Stop working on comedy laws, like regulating men's erections or ejaculations. That's useless and this is no time for jokes. Start working on actual legislation that we need with very serious work groups and legal work and do it without any Republicans. Set the stage for tomorrow.
Stop telling us the SCOTUS is corrupt. We know. Tell us how you're going to fix it, but not by listing good intentions. Do the actual work that will fix it right now. Create legislation to reform the Judicial system that is real and ready to go as soon as we have enough votes to do it. Yes, in 2026. Never mind the orange turd will veto it. It will be signed in 2028. Do the work now. Same goes for Women's Rights, Voting Rights (those are done, keep working on them), and so on.
Do all the necessary work that will allow the next Democratic President to sign into law dozens of executive orders regarding those bills 30 minutes after the inauguration and vote them in Congress without discussion, straight up and down, that same day so the president can sign them into law the next day. But do the work NOW. Pretend there are no Republicans. Legislate the crap out of everything we need. Have it ready to go. Show us what we want to see done being done.
It's not a waste of time, it's getting ahead while showing the country what life could be like under Democratic rule. Waste of time is trying to "work across the aisle" (barf) or spending weeks drafting comical bills to score some memes on SM. Stop wasting time like that. We don't need comic relief from elected officials; we can handle that ourselves. Every single issue that matters to us, every setback this administration creates, everything needs to be addressed with action.
Don't allow the Republicans to drive the agenda, create a shadow one that is as real as can be and will be good to go the minute they lose power. Galvanize the electorate with real laws that improve our lives. It doesn't matter they will never pass until 2026 or that they will never be signed before 2028. Do the work as if they had a chance now so they are ready when they actually are guaranteed to pass and be signed. Show us.
That should be the Democratic project for the 2026 campaign and the 2028 campaign. Show us everything we need as good to go laws, not "intentions". Don't use a fucking wish list as platform for next elections, use actual legislative work done and ongoing in Congress - without Republican participation - ready to be passed and signed on day one. Make us believe in you through your deeds, not just words.
In a nutshell, while obstructing and delaying everything the GOP has to offer, Democrats need to work as if there were no Republicans in Congress and they could make things happen. And if the MSM calls them fools double down and make them keep talking about what they are doing. Show us. They have four years; four years to work on all the legislation we need to be signed into law by the next Democratic President. That's the job.
This is why I had enough of the Schumers and Klobuchars. They are doing nothing but wait. Pointing fingers isn't legislative work; we can do that ourselves. We need to see work being done. Real work. I am discouraged by what I see in Congress but it's our responsibility to demand much more from our elected officials. We should. And we should reward them accordingly.
We have four long years ahead and I, for one, want to see more from Democrats than sitting around waiting, making worthless speeches about how outraged they are, or spending time making sarcastic jokes about reproductive rights. This country will be unrecognizable in four years. That cannot be the Democratic platform in 26 or 28. The solution must be the platform, and they need to start working on it. Right now.
Resist!
