I’m a Democrat who would like to see some Democrats lose in November.
At the top of that list is Abdul El-Sayed, the socialist-lite who is running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan.
According to a recent story in the Free Press: “Progressives believe El-Sayed will be a bellwether for the future of the Democratic Party. “What we do is that we break open the entire political calculus in America—period,” Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said at a recent New York fundraiser, according to The New York Times. “If Abdul can win in Michigan, anybody can win anywhere. Anywhere.””
Yes, precisely. That’s why I want him to lose. I want the populist hard-left to get knocked back on its heels. I agree with Carey Bloom who was also quoted in that same Free Press story. A lifelong Democrat and member of Temple Israel, the Michigan synagogue that a terrorist attacked in March, Bloom said, “We cannot let Abdul enter the Democratic Party because the Democratic Party will not be recognizable in our lifetime.”
Maine Democrat Troy Jackson rivals both El-Sayed and Graham Platner, who he replaced on the ticket, for abrasiveness. At a debate last week he told long-time incumbent Susan Collins to “shut up.” He should also be defeated. Those two losses would pretty much preclude my party from taking back the Senate, but they are all but guaranteed to seize control of the House and that will be enough to stop Trump. And, bonus, it should also discourage them from trying to impeach Trump yet again. That’s justified on the merits, but it’s a political fool’s errand.
And, on the Republican side, they should learn the lesson that Trump’s MAGA, hard-right blood and soil populism cost them control of the House and, I hope, many governorships and state legislatures. It’s the main reason that I’ll be voting for Democrat David Crowley for Governor here.
The ideal result for me would be that populism, in all its grotesque forms, would be turned out. Populism is a disease attacking American democracy. It is precisely what our Founders were afraid of, exactly what they set up our system of constitutional democracy to curb. Trump is just the kind of power-hungry autocrat that the Founders worried about and wanted to either preclude or frustrate. So far, their system has bent, but it hasn’t been broken. There’s still time to move back from the brink.
But we cannot move back from the brink with the hard-left equivalent of MAGA populism. In fact, the Democratic Socialist’s platform explicitly calls for the destruction of checks and balances and the creation of an all powerful House of Representatives. And if you think that’s just a pipe dream, consider that mainstream Democrats have called for packing the Supreme Court and eliminating the Senate filibuster under the belief that these moves would open the way for all kinds of hard-left legislation. They don’t seem to understand that it would also clear the way for all kinds of hard-right policies.
This is a broader problem among leftist populists. They live in some fantasy world where if only “the people” or “the little guy” would have power those people and that little guy would want what they want. Actually, they’re just as likely to want what Trump wants.
Populism is bad because it is based on scape-goating others for your problems. It sees the world as a simple place filled with evil oppressors and noble victims and so it discounts personal responsibility and initiative. Populism is emotionalism. It does not believe in restraint, reflection or objective analysis. It places too much faith in government to solve all problems and too little faith in the market to deliver a better life.
And it doesn’t matter which side it comes from. Both MAGA and DSA-influenced candidates are part of the same problem. That’s why — while I do want to see Democrats do well — I don’t want them to run the table. I want El-Sayed and Jackson to lose because I want AOC to be half right. This election will turn out to be a bellwether, but a lesson that the hard-left cannot win anywhere outside of the Bronx.
