Joe Biden made a speech last week before a joint session of Congress to mark his first 100 days in office. And what a 100 days it has been! The guy who promised to unite us, and govern from the center, has done anything but. It’s been a hard charge to the left, and any hopes of bipartisanship and working together lie smoldering in the ashes of yesterday’s promises.
It’s the agenda of the likes of Bernie Sanders and AOC that has ruled the day. Any hopes of common sense legislation or compromise has been thrown out the window.
Unlike during the bad old Trump years, when much of the legislation passed actually had significant numbers of both Republicans and Democrats voting for it, the hard left bills rushed through the House and Senate are passed with only Democrat votes, and nary a Republican who can stomach the far-left brew.
So what’s going on here? A couple of things. First of all, this isn’t your father’s Democratic Party. It’s not the party of John F. Kennedy, or Harry Truman, or FDR, or even Barack Obama. This is man-the-ramparts, re-distribute the wealth, we’re all socialists now stuff. Bernie Sanders, who famously honeymooned in Moscow, is the head of the Senate Budget Committee for God’s sake! Maxine Waters, who doesn’t believe Republican elected officials should be able to fill up their gas tanks without being harassed, is the head of the House Financial Services Committee. It’s “dogs and cats living together” time.
So yes, the Democratic Party is just further to the left than ever before. But it’s something else too. I think the Democratic leadership, Pelosi and Schumer and Biden, believe they’ve only got a limited time to get their liberal wish list across the finish line. I think they realize they’re going to get killed in the 2022 elections.
When Bill Clinton won in 1992, two years later Republicans came roaring back and took over the House for the first time in 40 years. And when Obama won in 2008, Republicans two years later won back the House in a dramatic way. And unless Republicans blow it, I think we’re likely to do it again next year.
So the Democrats are going for the fences while they still have power. Huge spending programs, higher taxes, open borders, packing the Supreme Court, adding new states, and on and on.
When does it end? Unless Democrats come to their senses, and realize that it’s the good of the country, and not the good of their party, that matters – November 2022.